Lockheed Backs Fortem’s Counter-Drone Push

Fordham CEO, Jon Gruen, joins us now. And, actually, the breaking news of of the last twenty four hours is $50,000,000 series b. Lockheed participated in that. That's a that's a sizable round. You know, what do you need that capital for? And congratulations. Thank you very much. Really appreciate it. And we absolutely need it to continue to scale. So we are, doubling manufacturing this year. We are doubling our bookings. We're adding 250% of floor space, and, all of that requires capital to to do. Okay. So let's go to the case study that that Lockheed CEO, Jim Tucker, just outlined to me. Right? They approach you. They they like your technology. Mhmm. How does that then work? The the the mission, the the plan. Yeah. It's been a great, partnership with Lockheed Martin. It started on the venture side. So we were, you know, earlier in our stage and engaged with the venture team. They really validated our core technologies and then enabled once they had done that and put a little venture money into us, then we had exposure to the rest of the corporation, and we're able to go find the right projects for our, technology to be applicable to. And so over time, that has grown, and we've done a number of of projects and products that have real traction in the market. So this current investment is really a reflection of that, of the market traction, of the capabilities of our integrated products. You know, we... We're here in Skunk Works, in The United States, California. I appreciate that. What... What's happening in in Europe and Ukraine Mhmm. In the war in Iran, you know, the drones in warfare, that's the learning, I think. Right. You know, that's what I'm hearing from from from this Pentagon and from from, Jim himself. Mhmm. Where does Ford fit in in that? Yeah. We're we're we're instrumental in that. So we've been in all of those war zones for four to five years. We have learned all those hard lessons, and so we are very out in front and rapidly developing the technologies and the products that are going to be the forefront of warfare in the future. Because that data that I shared, right, right, Bloomberg's Zoe Thomas put that together, that's like the the drone spending. Is that different from counter drone spending? Like, there's a distinction in those those road maps. Right? Yes. Today, drone and counter drone are different budget line items typically and bought by different customer sets. And so it is, a a dynamic of the market and and having to... But it is a cat and mouse game in some sense. Right. So rapid development on the Just find that fascinating. Right? Offensive side, you have to be out in front on the defensive side. And defensive typically means layers to be effective. So it's not a one for one. It's more I need a layered solution of sensors and effectors to really be ready for any of those dynamic threats. You're an American company. Mhmm. How are you able to do business with our West allies, with the NATO allies? Partnerships. So whether it's Lockheed Martin internationally That's the sales channel, basically. Or some other partnerships. Basically, any customer today, if you have a best of breed product, if you have the right product, they will buy it from you. And so it's... We are definitely looking to make sure that we have enduring partnerships around the world that allow us to continue what we've built there, but it really, you know, ends up being you... You've gotta be the best. And what happens next for you, John? What what what is your priority for growing this this company? I think exactly that. Staying out ahead. So staying out ahead of the demand on the products, we have to deliver, you know, scale that we've never done before, but then at the same time, staying ahead of that offensive threat curve. We've gotta make sure we're taking the data, applying it into our new products, and then having the partnerships to deploy it out there at scale.