Building Momentum

Did some awesome teambuilding today at Building Momentum! I have always wanted to try welding and it was amazing!

Whether it’s engaging disengaged service members or motivating Gen Z, there’s a pathway to reignite passion and purpose in the military space. Tune in now to learn how to tap those informal and formal military networks in this week’s episode of Defense Mavericks with Jesse Levin (Defense Entrepreneurs Forum), Jay Long (Parlay Finance), and Brad Halsey (Building Momentum). 🎙️ Watch or listen here: https://lnkd.in/ezXTnXyv #NetworkingForInnovation #InformalNetworks #NationalSecurity #MilitaryInnovation #DefenseTech #SecurityReadiness #InnovationInDefense #GovTech #FutureOfDefense #Innovation #DigitalTransformation #DefenseMavericks #Podcast #RyanConnell | Vince "Swath" Pecoraro | Keith W. Gibson, CFCM, SCPM | Bonnie Evangelista | Anne Laurent | Sana U. Hoda | Tattiana Peters |Lori-Ann Rissler | Dr. Dolores Kuchina-Musina | Ryan Connell | Savon Thomas | DoD Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office | John Ferry | BENJAMIN MCMARTIN | Karen Krause-Bencal | AcqBot | Kevin Kostka | Jason R. Preisser | Benjamin Griffin | Jess Resig | Garrett Wright |

Adding our weird to Austin! #KVG #DMC #DMC2024 #DefenseManufacturing with Priyanka Malhotra, BSME, Tryggve Rogers Building Momentum, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology

This photo is from my first year at Building Momentum in November of 2018. We were in Kuwait running three sessions at once: One was our standard Innovation Bootcamp where I was teaching folks coding, 3D printing, welding, and more. One was with a group going through an sUAS course with Henry Sullivan. And the last group was an EOD group that was learning advanced coding and electronics from Albert Vega, PhD. The week culminated with an activity in a mount town where the sUAS group and my group went against the EOD operators to try to find fake ordnance and people. Spoiler: the operators didn't win. That was 2018. This was 4 years before Ukraine showed us the future that many already saw coming. A lot has changed in the world but the necessity to teach warfighters in the field this technology has only become more paramount. How are you preparing for the next (and current) conflicts? #training #sUAS #coding #AM #Innovationbootcamp #buildingmomentum #learning Building Momentum

🍂 What an amazing time we had at the Rios Partners 2024 Fall Offsite! 🍂 Our team gathered at Building Momentum in Alexandria for a day filled with collaboration, learning, and fun. From engaging workshops to team-building activities, it was a fantastic opportunity to strengthen our bonds and align on our goals for the upcoming year. This event is integral to our success as it fosters teamwork, innovation, and a shared vision for the future. A big thank you to everyone who made this event a success! #TeamBuilding #Collaboration #FallOffsite #Teamwork #RiosPartners

Why would we ever use a tank again? At the bare minimum we should remove humans from tanks starting today! Remote controlled tanks is something we can do now. Given everything we have seen over the past few years there is no compelling reason to have humans in tanks ever again and I’m not convinced 120mm rounds will be required in any future combat. Today drones can place munitions very accurately within buildings or on vehicles thereby challenging the need for the large area ‘boom’ a 120mm round provides. The push back I get from pro-tankers is what if the environment is jammed — which it will certainly be. Drone tanks will be rendered useless. Yes, you’re right, they will…if we don’t change or modify anything. But in this push back comes my biggest point — future warfare is ONLY THE CAT AND MOUSE GAME. Speed is the most damaging weapon. Technology today and tomorrow is extremely powerful and user friendly. Gone are the days where a Ph.D. is required to operate a software definable radio. Also, gone are the days where DARPA, NASA, the research labs are setting the pace of technology advancement. Today it is industry light years ahead of the government, just point to the fact $800 drones are rendering multi-million dollar tanks useless. The cat and mouse game DOES require fast problem solving and disposable solutions which are antithetical to how large companies make their money. The American advantage is that we are traditionally innovative, clever, and risk tolerant. We can make a solution, test it, realize it is wrong, and try again. Silicon Valley, before it became supplicant to VCs, used to operate this way. And large corporations that make their money on repair parts, maintenance contracts, and FSR support hate temporary solutions and fast design cycles. Imagine any large war and how fast our (and the enemy’s) ships, satellites, planes, tanks, subs, etc. are all destroyed. Then what? We don’t practice ‘then what?’ We need to train and empower our warfighters to live in the cat and mouse game. To solve problems rapidly and build imperfect solutions to inform next steps. Speed will be everything. Problem is that we don’t practice this as a military. Small pockets of groups are starting to conduct exercises with resource deprivation as a parameter…but this needs to be inculcated across the whole DOD. Our biggest advantage in warfare will be our ability to pivot, and pivot, and pivot. I look at how we are investing $100s of millions perhaps even billions of dollars in the next version of the Abrams tank, the M1E3, which won’t even be operation until the mid 2030’s. WHAT?! Why are we doing this? By then most countries will have robust drone and jamming/anti-jamming programs. And we will look at the M1E3, shrug our shoulders, and put in on the shelf with the F-22 and F-35. Will make a nice diorama though…