How U.S. Navy shipbuilding sank so low

Guest: U.S. Army Col. Joshua Glonek, commander 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. Related reading: "How two units are learning from each other as the Army moves to modernize," from Sam Skove reporting in October; "Army embraces Ukraine-style warfare with new all-drone unit," also via Skove, reporting from Louisiana's Fort Johnson in September; And in reruns there is "Defense One Radio, Ep. 161: A trip to Louisiana with the Army’s new recon unit," featuring Skove speaking about his trip to Louisiana.

Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel discusses his how his service's modernization strategy will shape the future of air combat in an increasingly complex security landscape. Guest: Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel, director of Force Design, Integration and Wargaming at Air Force Futures; he's interviewed by Defense One air warfare reporter Audrey Decker. Related viewing: "AI in the Skies," January 28, 2025.

Patrick Tucker describes a Defense Department in transition as Russia's Ukraine invasion approaches the four-year mark. Related reading: "Ukraine military-aid donors aim to set Kyiv up through 2027, Pentagon says," Tucker reported on January 7; And "Kyiv’s donors set production goals to regularize arms donations to Ukraine," he reported two days later.

We listen back on more than a dozen guests from conversations across 2024.  Guests (in order): Fabian Hinz, research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies; Bruce Hoffman, senior fellow for counterterrorism and homeland security at the Council on Foreign Relations, and co-author of "God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America"; Karolina Hird, analyst and Russia Deputy Team Lead at the Institute for the Study of War; Elliot Ackerman, co-author of "2054: A Novel"; Mackenzie Eaglen, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she works on defense strategy, defense budgets, and military readiness; Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Chris Blattman, economist, political scientist, and Ramalee E. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies at the University of Chicago, and author of the 2022 book, "Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace"; Mick Ryan, retired Australian Army major general, strategist, and author of “White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan"; Dmitri Alperovitch, chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator, a geopolitics think-tank in Washington, and author of “World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century"; Sam Skove, former Defense One staff writer; Mark Montgomery, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington and senior director of FDD's Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation; Peter Tamte, founder and CEO of Victura; And Brent Sadler, retired Navy captain and senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

Guests: Audrey Decker, aerospace reporter for Defense One; Patrick Tucker, science and technology editor at Defense One. Related reading: Some Republicans remain unsold on Hegseth Russia in talks to send fighter jets to North Korea, INDOPACOM says ‘Multi-headed monster’: Biden, Trump officials address China-Russia-Iran coordination ‘Shock the system’: Startups and DOGE take over Reagan forum Defense officials hopeful incoming administration keeps funding cutting-edge tech

Guests: Brian Potter, Senior Infrastructure Fellow at the Institute for Progress and author of "Why Can't the U.S. Build Ships?" from September 2024; And Nicole Foy, ProPublica’s Ancil Payne Fellow, writing on immigration and labor; her report "An Immigrant Died Building a Ship for the U.S. Government. His Family Got Nothing" was published in October 2024. And don't miss our complementary podcast episode, "How U.S. Navy shipbuilding sank so low."

Guests: Matthew Paxton, president of the Shipbuilders Council of America; Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va.; Ret. Navy Capt. Brent Sadler, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation; And Ret. Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Sources and additional reading: Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background and Issues for Congress (PDF); U.S. Navy budget materials; "Navy adds $1B to unconventional effort to boost sub production," by Lauren Williams, reporting Sept. 2024; Defense Department's 2024 Defense Industrial Base strategy; And "Restoring Our Maritime Strength: An agenda for the next president’s first hundred days," by Brent Sadler and Jerry Hendrix, writing in the National Review in late October.

A decorated Marine veteran and a video game maker revisit one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. military history.  Guests: Elliot Ackerman, author and contributing writer at The Atlantic; Peter Tamte, founder and CEO of Victura; And Defense One science and tech editor Patrick Tucker. Sources and additional reading: "Goodbye, My Brother," by Elliot Ackerman, writing for Esquire on March 23, 2017; The video game "Six Days in Fallujah"; "Ultra-Realistic Modern Warfare Game Features Awaiting Orders, Repairing Trucks," a satirical video produced in January 2011 by The Onion; "Virtual reality exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): a meta-analysis," published August 2019 in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology; "Trauma, treatment and Tetris: video gaming increases hippocampal volume in male patients with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder," published April 2020 in the Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience; And "Putting the Gaming Experience at the Center of the Therapy—The Video Game Therapy® Approach," published June 2023 in Healthcare.  

A retired U.S. admiral shares what he learned from a recent trip to the wartorn country. Guest: Mark Montgomery, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington and senior director of FDD's Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation.

Defense One staff summarize the leading developments from this year's Association of the U.S. Army conference in Washington.  Guest: Sam Skove, staff reporter; Patrick Tucker, science and tech editor. Find Defense One's complete AUSA coverage here.