The McHale Report Podcast
Episodes
PODCAST: Military aftermarket suppliers, counterfeit parts, component recreation
03 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
During this podcast with Dan Diesz, VP of Design Technology with Rochester Electronics, we discuss the military aftermarket world, component recreat...
PODCAST: Military sustainment reform, obsolescence, aftermarket trends, and more.
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Military platforms often last for decades, long past the life spans of modern computing components and boards. System designers for these aging platfo...
Sentient radio, MOSA and DoD acquisition, engineering talent
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Momentum behind the the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) modular open system approach (MOSA) mandate is growing, especially as it was reaffirmed by...
RF signal chain, military space market, and MOSA in space
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The demand for high-reliability RF components in military space applications is growing as is the use of commercial innovation in Low-Earth Orbit and ...
Sensor processing at the edge, being SOSA aligned, and DoD acquisition process
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How artificial intelligence (AI) at the edge is defined often depends who you are speaking with and their market. For military electronics I think the...
Recruiting women engineers, military RF & microwave design trends, and more
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The defense technology community has a recruitment challenge on its hands when it comes to competing with the commercial technology world for engineer...
Metamaterial radar systems, COTS components, and RF invisibility cloaks
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Leveraging metamaterials for radar designs, engineers at Echodyne are enhancing the capability of small radars for applications such a counter-UAS [un...
MOSA, AI, and unsafe programming languages
26 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Modular open system approach (MOSA) strategies such as the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard are changing how the Depar...
Space electronics trends, supply chain challenges, MOSA, and more
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rebranded after being bought by Veritas Capital from CAES, Frontgrade Technologies is now a stand-alone company focused on the space market - military...
Defense supply chain issues, COTS procurement, MOSA, and more
26 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The procurement challenges facing defense technology companies range from a slow U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition process to supply chain ...
Military 5G designs, SATCOM on the move, ISR networks
30 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Defense integrators are starting to adopt 5G technology for satellite communications (SATCOM) on the move applications through various programs aimed ...
Semiconductor supply chain, radar & electronic warfare designs, engineering talent
31 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Complex radar and electronic warfare systems drive innovation from RF and microwave designers while supply chain shortages continue to give them heada...
Microelectronics for space, and supply chain bottlenecks
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Supply chain bottlenecks, small satellites, complex adversarial threats in space and electromagnetic spectrum domains are all driving innovation at th...
Deep dive into Pentek acquisition by Mercury Systems and radar/EW market trends
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This spring Mercury Systems acquired Pentek, a designer of FPGA single-board computers, data-acquisition boards, recording systems, and other products...
Leveraging ARINC 818 for military avionics and sensor applications
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The ARINC 818 digital video interface and protocol standard is used throughout commercial and military cockpits for avionics display applications. As ...
Short VPX and the military's demand for smaller form factors
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements are pervasive throughout defense electronics platforms. Electronic footprints continue to shrink s...
Capturing data from ultra-wide band radar systems
25 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ultra-wide band radar systems are generating unprecedented amounts of data and require storage systems that can handle the high bandwidth and what can...
Counter-UAV advancements pull from commercial innovation to dominate the spectrum
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Counter-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems are pivotal players on the electromagnetic spectrum. In this podcast, Emma Helfrich, guest host and asso...
Navigating GPS-denied environments and the perfect magnetic sensor
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Modern battlefields present many complex challenges for Army soldiers, one of which is how to operate in GPS-denied environment. In this podcast, Geor...
Small sats, custom microelectronics, and the end of Moore’s Law
04 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Small satellites and their reduced size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) requirements are challenging microelectronics suppliers to deliver the perfo...
PODCAST: AI and signal processing trends in electronic warfare and radar applications
28 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Electronic warfare and radar solutions are being driven by signal processing innovations such as the Xilinx RFSoC FPGA and OpenVPX computing solutions...
Defense industry response to COVID-19 pandemic
10 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Defense companies, be they prime contractors, system integrators, or third-party commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) suppliers, are deemed essential busin...
PODCAST: Defense avionics platforms benefit from FACE Technical Standard
30 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Technical Standard, created to enable reuse of software components across multiple avionics platform...
PODCAST: SOSA, Tri-Service Demo, AI and signal processing
19 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Open architecture initiatives such as the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) effort are showing tremendous momentum at the start of 2020, as demo...
C4ISR tech trends, RF innovation, AOC 2019 preview
25 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today the U.S. military and its allies face adversaries who are much more sophisticated in electronic warfare, signals intelligence (SIGINT), radar ja...
Thermal management challenges in military systems
28 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Thermal management of electronics in military systems is a continuous challenge for designers as the aircraft, ground systems, and naval platforms bec...
Military unmanned aircraft and counter-drone market update
28 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The military unmanned aircraft market is considered a mature market, but a market that is growing in the U.S. and globally thanks to the increases in ...
Driving open architectures in F-35 avionics and other military platforms.
10 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Open architectures will make tech refreshes such as the latest avionics modernization (Technology Refresh 3 (TR3)) on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter an...
Countering complex battlefield threats, faster DoD acquisition process, game-changing AI, and more
31 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Lessons learned in combat situations like Ukraine and anti-access area denial (A2/AD) environments have given U.S. defense planners a better understan...
RFSoC enabling radar/electronic warfare systems
11 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The insatiable need for bandwidth and data from military radar and electronic warfare systems is continuing to put pressure on embedded signal process...
Speeding up DoD acquisition process, military AI applications, DoD budget increase
26 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 budget request is considerably higher than last year with more funding slated for upgrades of air...
Deciphering the counter-UAV market
05 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones are proliferating beyond the battlefield into the commercial and consumer markets. However, many see them as...
Military Embedded Systems - Cognitive radio, spectrum management, SDR tech development
28 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Cognitive radio and spectrum management continue to drive innovation among military communication system designers to enable more capability and faste...
Military Embedded Systems - Open standards for the Department of Defense
31 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Department of Defense (DoD) continues to embrace open architecture designs and open standards to enable more commonality in military sensor system...