Palmer Luckey

Defense contractors tend, on the whole, to be a pretty faceless crew, indistinguishable in their dark suits and hence little known to the world outside the military-industrial complex. Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril Industries, strives to be different, invariably sporting a uniform of Hawaiian shirts, shorts and flip-flops – projecting an iconoclastic image attractive to venture-capital investors, somewhat in the manner of former crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried. He beguiles journalists with exciting monologues about the great things his vision can accomplish for US defense, making him, according to a glowing profile in the Financial Times, “arguably the most crucial figure bringing Silicon Valley to the front lines of American national security.