EP 125 — GaardTech's Steen Bisgaard On The Robotic Fighting Echelon Reshaping Land Warfare

Steen Bisgaard spent over a decade in the Australian Army's Armoured Corps before founding GaardTech to build the combat robots he wished he had in the field. His concept of a "robotic fighting echelon," where autonomous systems hold terrain, deny access, and strike before human formations ever engage, is now being validated in live operations across four nations.

GaardTech's Jaeger robotic munition systems survive .50 cal fire and operate across land, littoral, and air domains. Built with full vertical integration and zero outside capital, the company manufactures across Australia, the UK, and the US. The Australian Army recently completed its first live UGV detonation using GaardTech hardware.

Topics discussed:

- Why robotic fighting echelons will define future land warfare

- Building a defense company on revenue instead of venture capital

- Vertical integration as a competitive advantage in robotic systems

- The 20/40/40 lethality matrix and defense budget gaps

- Jaeger robots built to deny terrain and survive direct fire

- Scaling internationally across AUKUS nations from 20 employees

- Standalone edge autonomy as an alternative to swarming

- Lessons from Afghanistan and Ukraine on robotic warfare

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