Lockheed's DePietro: There's a "speed mismatch" that needs fixing
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Photo illustration: Axios Visuals. Photo: Courtesy of Lockheed Martin.
Joe DePietro, the vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin's C6ISR business, has a need for speed.
- Inside the defense buying-and-selling world, there's "a speed mismatch," he told Axios. "Innovation? Fast. Threat? Fast. Acquisition and fielding? Slow."
- "While we're working with the customers, and we're doing things like OTAs and other stuff, there's this other piece of it," he added. "We've got to focus on what we can control and match the urgency of the threat environment."
Why he matters: DePietro has decades of experience in the defense industry. His current portfolio is key to identifying and tracking threats and coordinating takedowns.
Q: When you hear "future of defense," what comes to mind?
A: For me, there are two contexts.
- One is the warfighter side, since I served in the Navy and worked in this industry a long time. I get into multi-domain operations, autonomy and AI, human-machine teaming, and then space as a warfighting domain, resilient command and control.
- But the executive side, to me, is like: We're moving from a brute-strength discussion to maneuvering in ambiguity with precision and agility. We've got to be able to make decisions fast. Information is power.
Q: What's a national security trend we aren't paying enough attention to?
A: It's global supply chain. We need to view supply chain integrity not as a logistics problem but as like a frontline strategy. That's a big thing.
Q: What's your secret to a successful overnight flight?
A: I am really good at being able to do two things on a plane, either work or sleep.
- When the time presents itself, when I've got to take that long fight, I'll probably knock out some work in the lounge and I'm down.
Q: What time do you wake up? What does the morning routine look like?
A: It depends what country I'm in. I have a pretty distributed business.
- If I'm here in the U.S. it usually starts out somewhere around 5am. Wake up. Get a good workout in. And then get to the office by about 7-7:30.
Q: What advice would you give your younger self?
A: This is probably the toughest one of your questions, honestly. It's to be present.
- When you focus on success and you're thinking about doing great for your family and the American dream, making the next generation better, you might miss moments that are really important. So, be present in those moments.
