The Missing Power Layer of Modern Warfare
Episode publishedPodcast: The a16z ShowThe a16z Show
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All the things we wanna do is really about the soldier. In the mud, cold, wet, tired, hungry, what makes their lives easier or better. Your average soldier today, they're drawing just by themselves 30 to 60 watts of power continuously during their operations. So that's basically a mid tier laptop running all the time.
We are moving towards an increasingly electronic battlefield. There's really this missing power layer that is required to actually field all those systems. Chariot is building the tactical power layer for robotic warfare. We had a lot of passive capabilities that were able to hide, of sense without kind of giving away position, but needed the ability to go active when we needed to make an interception. That meant that we had to bring the 15 kilowatt generator that was 99% of the time running at 500 watts, creating this detectable signature both from the thermal acoustic signature and then the
So there are all these things that create a signature in environments where there shouldn't be signatures, and that means that we can be targeted.
So someone will go plug in a copy pot, and it'll take down the air defense radar.
Modern warfare runs on electrons. Drones, sensors, electronic warfare systems, edge AI. Every capability the army wants to field draws power. But the infrastructure delivering that power hasn't kept pace. For decades of counterinsurgency, diesel generators and fixed forward operating bases were enough. Today, the battlefield is distributed, decentralized, and contested. Every generator running at 1% capacity is a targetable thermal signature. Every fuel convoy supplying it is a liability. The question isn't how to power more things. It's what the right things are and how to make that power inv
We're here today with Adam Warmoth and Alex Miller. Adam is the founder and CEO of Chariot Defense, which builds next generation power systems for the battlefield. Before that, he led engineering at Anderle and product at Archer Aviation. And Alex is the CTO of the US Army where he runs all things technology. He's the driving force behind the Army's push, thank you, to get new tech into soldiers' hands fast. Adam, Alex, welcome to the a 16 c show.
Yeah. Thanks for having me. Take care.
Maybe just getting right into it. Adam, for listeners, in sixty seconds, what is Chariot building? Who's the end user? And what does winning look like for you guys in the field?
It's a great question. Chariot is building the tactical power layer for robotic worker. The reason why Chariot needs to exist in the world is we are moving towards an increasingly electronic battlefield at the same time that is becoming more distributed, more decentralized. And we're building kind of these new systems or pushing these new systems down to these operational mobile forces that now need to sustain equipment, have organic capabilities around command and control, around county UAS, around air defense, EW, all of these electronic systems. And there's really this missing power layer t
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