equal parts industry veterans who’ve done this before” and those new to the defense industry.
The founder also says he’s aware of the gravity of building weapons during a time of unprecedented advances in AI and global political unrest. He points to Ukraine’s drone “Spider Web” attack on Russian bombers as an example of the new kind of pinpointed, AI-powered warfare that has already arrived.
Thornton believes that along with other young defense tech contenders, his company is building weapons for this new reality more affordably than traditional defense contractor offerings.
He emphasizes that his work is done in conjunction with layers of national defense decision makers. “The work we do is done in direct contact with the State Department, with the Department of Defense, with congressional members,” he says.
Moving forward, Mach will use the new funding to build out manufacturing capabilities and develop several new products in R&D that Thornton won’t publicly discuss yet, including some kind of new propulsion engine.
