Manufacturing on our minds
Issue 10: 'Freedom's Forge' book review, Isembard's launch in London, & dispatches from our new contributor in Ukraine

Good afternoon from the team at Resilience Media
Only four days to go until The Future of Defence Tech Manufacturing & Innovation in Munich. Join the US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and Munich Security Conference Tech & Innovation Thursday, Boston Consulting Group, and Resilience Media to hear from BRAVE1, DIU, Frankenburg Technologies, Fincantieri, NIF, Orqa, SmartCap, Solideon, and more. Send us a message if you’ll be in Munich, too.
Continuing our focus on manufacturing, last week we attended the launch party for manufacturing startup Isembard in London, and were excited by the possibilities that this new approach to manufacturing could bring to the European manufacturing base. Read more here.
We are also bringing you our first Resilience Media book review. Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, by Arthur Herman, was a big source of inspiration as DIU and Resilience Media programmed the stage for this week’s event on the topic. More in our new Book Review section below.
We are also pleased to introduce our new contributor, Oleksandr Ihnatenko. Oleksandr is a journalist currently covering the Ukrainian defence tech ecosystem from his home city, Kyiv. His previous work has appeared in AIN.ua, Svidomi, and Coda Story. He holds a Master's degree in International Relations from the Central European University, Vienna. We are thrilled to have him working with us to cover the Ukrainian startup and defence tech ecosystem. His first piece is below, Dispatches From Tech Force in UA.
-Leslie, co-founder, Resilience Media
Freedom’s Forge by Arthur Herman opens in a geopolitical landscape that looks eerily familiar: a rising superpower, global supply chain instability, and a Western defence industrial base that isn’t properly resourced or prepared for a conflict. Herman’s prescient historical work was written before the Russian invasion of Crimea and is about a period that predates NATO, yet it provides a blueprint today for how the Western industrial base could be mobilised. Read the full review here.
Resilience Media’s contributor in Kyiv, Oleksandr Ihnatenko, attended the Tech Force in UA event last week. Tech Force Ukraine is a trade body for defence technology companies, established in 2014. It describes its members as “strengthening the Ukrainian army with unmanned robotic systems and software products,” and its mission statement is “to develop entirely Ukrainian responses to military threats to preserve people's lives and the sovereignty of the state.” Continue reading Oleksandr’s dispatch here.
Brave1 Defence Tech Innovation Forum: the event in Kyiv on February 18–19 arrives at a pivotal moment for Ukraine’s defence tech ecosystem. As the defence tech industry gains momentum, Brave1 has curated a platform that showcases the tech innovation developed by Ukrainians to defend their country, and brings together global stakeholders, from manufacturers and investors to government representatives and defence experts. More here.
AI
Comand AI raises €8.5m to build battlefield software for officers
Google owner Alphabet drops promise over ‘harmful’ AI uses
Drones
Reimagining the American War Machine
The first ever all-drone assault by Ukraine
NATO
Europe must step up to safeguard its future
Opinion: I’m the Prime Minister of Poland. Europe Has Got the Message
Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian Power Systems Disconnected from Russian ISP/USP System
Shopping for Arms? Ukraine May Soon Be Your Best Bet
With Trump’s Backing Uncertain, Europe Scrambles to Shore Up Its Own Defenses