Palmer Luckey on Threats, Autonomy, and the Future of American Power

The battlefield is changing faster than the weapons on it. In this fireside chat recorded live at West Point's Castle Lecture series, Brig. Gen. Shane Reeves, West Point Dean and show host, sits down with Mr. Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus VR and Anduril Industries. The conversation covers autonomous systems, defense manufacturing, and the leaders who will have to make it all work under fire. Episode Timestamps 00:00:00   Introduction and Guest Bio 00:01:11   Opening Conversation 00:06:21   Origin Story: Homeschool to $2 Billion 00:08:21   The Geopolitical Landscape: Russia, Ukraine, China 00:10:44   Don’t Overfit to Ukraine and The China Threat 00:13:31   Building a Military We Can Actually Manufacture 00:16:42   The WWII Industrial Analogy 00:19:53   China, Taiwan, and the Amphibious Problem 00:22:16   Drone Technology and Autonomous Systems 00:23:51   Counter‑UAS: Layered Defense and Reusable Kinetics 00:27:50   Policy, Bureaucracy, and What Is Already Changing 00:29:25   What Do You Look for in a Young Leader? 00:31:49   Q&A with Cadets 00:42:09   The Subterranean Domain 00:45:20   Closing: Socrates, ChatGPT, and Inspiring the Next Generation Like, share, and save this episode! This episode does not imply Federal endorsement.