He’s a fighter pilot who flew F16s in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s an entrepreneur who started a cybersecurity firm. He’s a venture capitalist who invests in defence tech. 

And he was the first director of Pentagon’s Unit X – officially the Defence Innovation Unit Experimental – from 2016 to 2018. 

Meet Raj M. Shah. Who “hacked” the Pentagon to save it. 

What’s Unit X?

Think of the Pentagon’s Unit X – officially the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) – as the US military’s in-house startup accelerator, but with fighter jets instead of pitch decks. It’s the Pentagon’s boldest bet on breaking out of its own bureaucratic gridlock – and plugging directly into the bleeding edge of Silicon Valley tech. 

Its mission? To future-proof itself in a world where tomorrow’s threats don’t wait for paperwork. To fast-track emerging, commercial tech – AI, drones, lasers, hypersonic, biotech – into the hands of soldiers and into conflict theatres – at commercial speeds. 

And to keep its military edge in the world. 

It’s not just the US. India’s defence ministry has set up a not-for-profit company to foster innovation and tech development – critically through engaging with its rapidly expanding defence startups. The UK is all set to launch its own defence innovation unit to foster and adopt cutting-edge tech – and it, too, will enhance investments into defence startups. 

Why?

Because we’ve entered a new era of war. 

Welcome to today’s techno-battlefields 

It’s a time when commercial technologies are outpacing military ones. An iPhone 16 has more processing power than one of the most advanced fighter jets in the world, the F35 (which is on track to become the most expensive weapons program in Pentagon’s history, to boot). 

It’s a time of constant surveillance. Thanks to satellites, sensors, UAVs. 

Of a new arsenal of weapons. Hypersonic jets and subsonic missiles. Lasers and autonomous weapons. 

Of new mathematics. Where $500 Russian UAVs are destroying $10 million US tanks in Ukraine. Where Ukraine is 3D printing Rs. 300 basement candy bombs to beat Russian firepower. Where ISIS fighters foiled US Navy SEAL raids thanks to hobby drones sold on Amazon. 

And a new nexus between startups and national security. Consider the fact that OpenAI and Anthropic are training AI models for the US military. That defence startups across Ukraine are building low-cost robots. 

At SYNAPSE 2025

Listen to the man in the know. Raj M. Shah will unpack how he realised there was a problem with military tech – while flying an F16 at 3 am in the morning along the border between Iraq and Iran. His time at Unit X and how the US military levelled up in tech – at 0.01% of the US defence department’s budget. Why modern warfare is no longer just about multibillion dollar battleships, aircraft carriers, and stealth bombers. And Silicon Valley as the new defence industrial base. 

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