[Barrin92]

I think the fact that Anduril in particular is involved is relevant because Palmer Luckey and the whole Thiel company orbit around it are extremely divisive and there's a military / civil divide along political axis in the US. Here in Europe that's usually not the case and Helsing being a European company in particular now with the security situation on the continent just isn't going to cause much furor.

[dralley]

The irony is that Luckey and Musk, despite their personal issues and divisiveness, are some of the better defense contractors in terms of actually providing good value for dollar and getting things done on time. Compare against, say, Boeing.

I suggest that the Europeans should get over their moral reservations about military industries quickly because the upcoming US administration is not likely to be as helpful as previous ones in the event that Russia decides to test the integrity of NATO.

[davedx]

> I suggest that the Europeans should get over their moral reservations about military industries quickly

Which of us Europeans are you referring to exactly?

Sweden joined NATO and many countries in the bloc have increased spending. In the Netherlands we sent fighter jets to Ukraine to try and help in the war against Ukraine.

This comment is just downright ignorant and condescending. I guess this is how Trump voters view Europe though?

[flumpcakes]

I agree - and what's funny is that according to this blog it was the US community that rejected US MIC companies, and the EU community didn't reject the EU MIC company.

[dralley]

We're commenting on a long essay about making tech conferences hostile to any kind of defense contractor presence, that prefaced itself with a "content warning" simply because a handful of defense contractors were mentioned. That kind.

That obviously doesn't represent most Europeans, and of course there are many Americans that hold similar views. But I do also think it's true that Europe still hasn't really "woken up" to the scale of the problem on their hands.

On spending, most nations that don't directly border Russia are only barely meeting the goals they set forth a decade ago and they're doing so at the last possible moment, to say nothing of the complete inadequacy of that goal given the largest war since WWII is now happening at their doorstep.