Full interview: Ethan Thornton: War With China Will Be Over in days

This is our full interview with Ethan Thornton, recorded live on TBPN. We discuss why he started Mach Industries, why US can’t out manufacture China on drones, decentralized unmanned systems, how the defense industrial base “rotted out” under cost-plus incentives, and why Mach is rebuilding hardware bottom-up with heavy simulation and testing to move fast safely and reach manufacturing at scale. TBPN is a live tech talk show hosted by John Coogan and Jordi Hays, streaming weekdays from 11–2 PT on X and YouTube, with full episodes posted to podcast platforms immediately after. Described by The New York Times as “Silicon Valley’s newest obsession,” TBPN has recently featured Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Mark Cuban, and Satya Nadella.