Um, what's been weighing on them and, and what could break positively?

Yeah, it's a, it's a good question.

Um, and honestly, it's a little bit of a conundrum 'cause if you look at the fundamentals for defense, like you pointed out, uh, global demand across most defense end markets, not just, you know, missiles, munitions, nuts and bolts is very, very strong.

Um, US exports are actually very high in different regions of the world.

Uh, you know, our, um, I would say export markets shifted a bit.

But, um, so kind of across the board we're seeing that.

If you look at, uh, outlays from the US Treasury that, um, are generally a coincident indicator, uh, for defense spendings or, you know, uh, defense outlays, um, they're at record highs.

When I was visiting the, uh, CEO roundtable for Hanwha Aerospace last week, one of the key priorities for the company's new product launches next year is all focused on these low-cost, um, drone projects, which will not only include the existing, uh, laser products like Cheongwang from Hanwha Group, but a lot of the new products are set to be launched.

Um, but aside from launch costs and sort of getting to reusability or at least getting to the point where a cost decline that much more, what are some of the other challenges of space-based or orbital data centers?

Yeah.

Let's hope NIMBY is not an issue, right? Uh, uh, maybe it would be if you're on the moon or you live on an asteroid.

But so, you know, NIMBY is not an issue.

So where, where are the challenges? Um, the, the first challenge we already talked about.

Can you build this infrastructure affordably? And the real driver for that is launch.

So let's assume you, you check that box.

Um, how does satellite options, you know, the cost of satellite broadband, um, currently compare to more conventional offerings, um, both in terms of, yeah, the price paid, but also, uh, the effectiveness or the speed? And where do you think we could be, um, in a few years, ten years?

So when they come by your booth, which is booth number C8719, what are the things they're saying to you and they're looking for and how do you all address that as a company?

The most common thing I've been hearing, which is kind of fun, is somebody walking up and just saying, I want to talk to you.

Usually, you know, having worked at other companies, you're pulling people in.

We have people coming to us and we are their first stop at the show.

Sometimes you have shows and you're waiting for traffic flow to hit your way by noon, one o'clock.

We've been starting really right as the show started.

It's been insanely exciting this year.

that kind of hits on something, well, obviously you guys make great products from, you know, the Pearl Nexus, your cameras now and all that, but it's not just a device, it's a platform, right? So talk a little bit about that.

How has that product done for you?

Well, I'd say Pearl Nexus by far is our number one product.

It has completely transformed the company.

Years ago, we were kind of known as a broadcast company.

We are now a higher education company.

Where the camera is situated, you can't see our EC20 on the table over there.

But you can also lift.

there's nothing it's but everyone's busy you're busy also but that idea that that it is the opening of a conversation to meet somebody new at a show like this not the one chance to try and get a po put out or something like

out.And Ron, we talk about, uh, orders from China, and we talk about certifications, but the really big overarching thing is supply chain, isn't it? That's, that could be the showstopper, um, and, and, and-

Yeah.

Yeah, 100%, right? Um, and, you know, I think, you know, the, the unfortunate thing with the, uh, the, the, uh, facility that GKN had in Southern California with the tank filled with, I can never pronounce the name of the chemical, that you use to, to make windows and windscreens is just one example of where things can kinda go off the rails in the supply chain.

Um, you know, the supply chain from, you know, everybody I talk to seems to be getting back to normal, but still fragile.

And, you know, normal before COVID and everything we've been through was still kinda fragile.

So, you know, the, I think the risk to everybody's ramp, right? I mean, whoever you are, whatever you're building, is, is supply chain, and to some extent, labor.

And as you guys all know, we're in an environment where, you know, commercial OE is ramping, defense across multiple programs is ramping globally, and then also you've got, you know, the industrial gas turbine market ramping to support, uh, the build-out of the hyperscalers.

How are they doing, Ron?

I'm an

aerospace engineer, and back in the day, I actually worked for Boeing.

That's where you went.

If you wanted to work on airplanes, you couldn't go anyplace else.

You really couldn't.

That's not the case today.

Welcome.

Yeah, hey, thank you.

So Northrop today reported and they took a charge on their B-21 bomber.

The charge was $477 million.

That wasn't expected.

That weighed heavy on the quarter.

And Northrop had been seen as a relative safe place to go.

Any risk there for the likes of RTX and Northrop?