EP 98 — AimLock's Bryan Bockmon on Keeping Humans in the Kill Decision While Automating the Rest

The Keystone fire control module is weapon-agnostic from day one. Bryan Bockmon, CEO, President, & Chairman of AimLock, describes how the same edge computing system that directs a machine gun can be reconfigured for missiles, grenades, or lasers by rotating out effectors without rebuilding the platform. That modularity is a direct response to an increasingly common battlefield reality: adversaries iterate faster than any requirements-based acquisition process can respond, and single-purpose systems are obsolete before they're fielded.

Bryan also breaks down how AimLock used OTAs to compress the gap between prototype and deployable capability, why he believes the requirements-based procurement process will never work again, and what it actually costs in time and credibility to build defense tech a decade before the funded demand signal exists to support it. 

Topics discussed:

• Designing modular fire control systems that swap effectors and sensors to avoid obsolescence across evolving threat environments
• Automating target acquisition and engagement with human operators retained in the kill-decision loop
• Using other transaction authorities OTAs to prototype and test lethal systems outside standard federal acquisition regulations
• Building defense tech a decade ahead of the funded demand signal and the timing risk that creates
• Why single-purpose weapon systems fail against adversaries who iterate faster than requirements-based procurement can respond
• Contrasting small business iteration speed with large prime bureaucracy and the collaboration model that bridges them
• The counter-drone threat as an economic and tactical inflection point reshaping short-range air defense doctrine
• Why the requirements-based procurement process is no longer viable and what replaces it in practice

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