podcast

The Defense Tech Startup YC Kicked Out of a Meeting is Now Arming America | E2280

25.04.2026
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Today’s show:

The US military is running low on missiles, but now, Firehawk Aerospace is using 3D-printed solid rocket propellant to cut production costs in half and 5x U.S. output.

Plus: PhD researcher Maruchi Kim just built camera-equipped earbuds that perform on par with Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and could be the next wearable AI platform hiding in plain sight.

Guests

Will Edwards: https://x.com/williewockets

Firehawk Aerospace: https://firehawkdefense.com/

Maruchi Kim: https://x.com/maruchikim

VueBuds project: https://vuebuds.cs.washington.edu/

Related Links

This Week in AI: https://www.thisweekinai.ai/

“Ghost Murmur: The Heartbeat-Tracking Tech That Has Experts Questioning the Laws of Physics”: https://www.military.com/feature/2026/04/18/ghost-murmur-heartbeat-tracking-tech-has-experts-questioning-laws-of-physics.html

Neurometric: https://www.neurometric.ai/

Meta Ray-Bans: https://www.meta.com/ai-glasses/

Hanwha Defense USA: https://www.hanwhadefenseusa.com/

Raytheon: https://www.rtx.com/

Pilatus PC-24 corporate jet: https://www.pilatus-aircraft.com/en/pc-24

PlaneSense: https://www.planesense.com/

Slopes app: https://slopesapp.com/

Speechify: https://speechify.com/

Electronic Frontier Foundation: https://www.eff.org/

Timestamps:

Are all these layoffs really AI's fault?

Why laid off people should start their own companies

Northwest Registered Agent - Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist

Plaud: If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — you need a Plaud NotePin. You can check it out at https://Plaud.ai/twist and use code TWIST for 10% off!

Will Edwards of Firehawk joins the show

What are Solid Rocket Motors (SRMs)?

Render: Find out why 5 million developers are already using the all-in-one cloud platform, Render. Go to https://render.com/twist and apply for the Render Startup Program to get $500-$100,000 in free credits, depending on your stage and backers.

Who are Firehawk's customers?

Reimagining and reinventing the US military

How do missiles fit into the military's operations?

Agree - Stop chasing invoices at https://agree.com and tell them Jason sent you to get 50% off for life!

What's next on the roadmap for Firehawk?

How to make propellant (with easy to find ingredients)

A cheaper way to fly private

Ro.co: Ro's insurance checker will let you know if your coverage includes GLP-1s for FREE. Go to https://Ro.co/Twist for your free insurance check.

Maruchi Kim of Vuebuds joins the show!

Why are VueBuds better than meta glasses?

The biggest VueBud use cases

Jason wants to use VueBuds on the slopes

Jason's advice for angel investors: never underestimate anyone!

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