The a16z Show WSJ x a16z: The Next 25 Years of Defense Innovation
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Feb 17, 2026 
Katherine Boyle, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz who leads the American Dynamism practice investing in national security and defense tech. She discusses the 2022 cultural shift in Silicon Valley, how Ukraine and Starlink reshaped battlefield tech, the rise of mass-produced drones and attritable systems, and why reshoring supply chains and rebuilding the defense industrial base matter.
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Two Waves Of Defense Startups
- New defense startups fall into eras: primes selling directly to government and suppliers rebuilding the defense industrial base.
- Legacy primes are eager for AI, critical parts, and suppliers that can shift left into their supply chains.
Design For Mass Production
- Build attributable, mass-producible systems that are cheap and fast to manufacture rather than 'exquisite' billion-dollar platforms.
- Focus on scalability from 1 to 10 to 10,000 to meet modern warfighter needs.
Communications And Space As Key Domains
- Operators in Ukraine cited Starlink as the most critical battlefield technology, underlining communications' primacy.
- Boyle predicts future wars will be fought in space, making space infrastructure and attributable systems crucial.
