About this episode

This episode explores why defense technology often fails to be deployed despite significant investment, focusing on integration and procurement challenges.

Billions are spent on defense technology every year. A surprising amount of it never makes it into real-world use. In this episode of Mission Critical: Defense and Aerospace Recruiting , Katherine Jerald sits down with Duke Hartman , CEO at Integer Technologies , to unpack one of the most misunderstood problems in the industry: why great technology so often fails to get deployed. Duke shares how the gap between innovation and implementation isn't about capability. It's about integration, incentives, and understanding the realities of how defense systems are actually used in the field. From procurement cycles to program risk, he explains why even highly advanced solutions can stall before they ever reach the warfighter, and what needs to change for innovation to translate into real operational impact. "If it doesn't fit into how the mission already works, it doesn't matter how good the tech is." This conversation goes beyond the surface level challenges of defense innovation to explore the structural reasons behind slow adoption and why the companies that succeed are the ones that design for reality, not just possibility. Inside this episode: – Why so much defense technology never…

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