USS Hornet Defense Tech Hackathon

First edition · November 23–24, 2024 · USS Hornet, Alameda, California

A two-day hackathon aboard the USS Hornet in Alameda, bringing engineers, founders, military personnel, and investors together to build defense technology. The first edition paired overnight hacking, workshops, and mentoring with a public hardware showcase.

Originally presented as In Defense of the West.

Hardware showcase

The original program included a public hardware showcase on Sunday, November 24, from noon to 5pm, featuring robots, drones, and dual-use technology.

Mission profiles

UAV Operations · Radio Communications · Intelligence

Originally announced schedule

All times are Pacific Standard Time (America/Los_Angeles).

Saturday, November 23

• 10:00 AM: Registration
• 10:00 AM–12:00 PM: Team formation
• 12:00 PM: Kickoff speeches
• 1:00–5:00 PM: Sponsor and partner workshops
• 1:00–5:00 PM: Mentors circulate with teams
• 6:00 PM: Sunset PT on the flight deck
• 7:00 PM: Dinner
• 8:00 PM–overnight: Overnight hacking; belowdecks sleeping bunks
• 11:00 PM: Late-night snacks and drinks

Sunday, November 24

• 8:00 AM: Sunrise PT on the flight deck
• 9:00 AM: Breakfast
• 12:00–5:00 PM: Hardware showcase: robots, drones, and dual-use technology
• 3:30 PM: Judges circulate among teams
• 5:00 PM: Top five team presentations
• 6:00 PM: Top three teams selected and awards
• 7:00 PM: Dinner
• 8:00 PM onward: Robot-tended open bar and live music

This is the original announced program. The provider lists the event ending Sunday at 8pm; the narrative also advertised an afterparty beginning at 8pm.

Announced speakers and judges

Names and affiliations below preserve the original published lineup; they are not a verified attendance record.

Speakers

• Ben Kohlmann — F/A-18 Pilot, Cubit Capital
• Neal Conlon — USMC Veteran and Executive Sales Leader
• Dymtro Kushneruk — Consul General of Ukraine in San Francisco

Judges

• Jeff Wright — Chief of Fires and Autonomy @ Special Operations Command - Pacific
• Steve Taub — Senior Commercialization Advisor @ DARPA
• Dan Madden — Principal, National Security @ Squadra Ventures
• Mike Schaefer — Green Beret, UC Berkely
• Art Trevethan — CRUX Defense
• Chris Gentile — General Manager Tactical Autonomy @ Merlin
• Frank Reyes — US Navy, MD @ Maximus
• David Vernal — Former Director of Intelligence, Sixteenth Air Force
• Manveer Sandhu — Defense VC @ Plug and Play and Airforce Intel Analyst
• Morgan Hirtzig — Investor @ Venrock VC & U.S. Navy
• Dan Morse — Former 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment & 75th Innovation Command
• Junaid Islam — Secure Communications Expert
• Jonathan Lacoste — GP @ Space VC
• Suffiyan Malik — DraperU Ventures
• Cassandra Carothers — Managing Partner @ Departure Capital
• Will Lukach — F15-E Pilot, Head of Strategy @ Sailplane
• Romeo Ayalin — Futurist and Innovator
• Andrew Gibbs — Anduril Industries
• Katie Vasquez — Calibrate Ventures
• Zal Bilmoria — Founding Partner @ Refactor Capital
• Cameron Sinko — Anduril Industries
• Margarita Geleta — Researcher @ BAIR/Stanford
• Michael Laframboise — CEO @ Aurelius Systems
• Cameron Rowe — Founder @ Hover
• Elizabeth Soule — VP @ Hanwha Asset Management
• Tejashwa Tiwari — Product @ Codeium
• Yash Mittal — Product @ Codeium
• Joshua Vounatsos — Founder @ Horizont University

First-edition sponsors

Historical sponsorships as published on the original event website.

Problem Sponsor

Ukrainian Ministry of Defense

Platinum Sponsors

Codemetal · E1 Ventures

Gold Sponsors

fenwick · windsurf · zohouse · aws · lazarus

Silver Sponsors

omnistack · hover · openmind · open-babylon · merlin · elodin · restack

Publicly listed hosts

Hyperstition Incorporated · jia · Andrew Cote · Jeremy Nixon · Ascension - by AGI House SF · Nazar Gulyk · Artur Kiulian · Erika Bahr · Restack · Sophia Shvets · Verda K

Archive

This edition has concluded. Applications and registrations are closed. No final winner list or checked-in attendance total has been independently verified for this archive.

View the first-edition archive and original images