Why Allen built kinetic defenses against drones

Molly asks about drone warfare; Steve explains limits of electronic countermeasures and the move to kinetic solutions as drones gain AI and resilience.

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America’s industrial base is being rebuilt by a new generation of founders at the intersection of aerospace, AI, and defense. In this Sourcery episode, host Molly O’Shea sits down with three leaders driving the reindustrialization movement, Eric Allison (Chief Product Officer, Joby Aviation), Filip Aronshtein (CEO, Dirac), and Steve Simoni (President, Allen Control Systems)

Together, their stories highlight how capital-intensive, frontier-defining companies are raising billions from elite venture funds and strategics like Toyota, Founders Fund, Coatue, Craft Ventures, 8VC, Baillie Gifford, and Uber. The conversation captures the urgency, conviction, and vision behind America’s reindustrialization — from flying cars in Dubai to AI factories in New York to autonomous defense systems in Texas.

This conversation is part of Sourcery’s “Made in America” Mini-Series recorded at the Reindustrialize 2025 Summit.

1. Eric Allison: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-m-allison/

2. Filip Aronshtein: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fila/

3. Steve Simoni: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevensimoni/

4. Molly O’Shea: ⁠https://x.com/MollySOShea⁠

5. Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryvc⁠

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Chapters:

(00:00) Flying Cars, AI Factories, & Defense Autonomy

(00:20) Eric Allison on Joby’s U.S. manufacturing expansion

(02:00) Why Joby doubled down on vertical integration

(03:30) FAA certification and building the first commercial air taxi

(05:00) Going public via SPAC with Reinvent Technology Partners

(07:00) Joby’s proving flights in Dubai & quiet aircraft acoustics

(10:00) What the consumer Joby air taxi experience will look like

(14:00) Scaling a 2,000+ person company with AI and data systems

(17:00) Filip Aronshtein on reindustrialization urgency in Detroit