MICRO JOURNEYS PODCAST
About Dan Marrujo
Daniel Marrujo is a former Chief Strategy Officer and former Director of the Office of Research and Technology Applications (ORTA) at the Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA).
Mr. Marrujo began his career at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, AZ., developing missile guidance systems for their advanced programs. He then moved to DMEA, in his hometown of Sacramento, CA., working for the Trusted Integrated Circuit (IC) program office. In conjunction with working on the Trusted IC program, he began working towards the development of DMEA’s reliability capabilities and was selected to lead the National High Reliability Electronics Virtual Center (HiREV).
Mr. Marrujo also established the NRO’s VS&E program which has executed a number of solutions protecting National Security. As a subject matter expert, he has provided his technical expertise in multiple DARPA, IARPA and National Security Space programs. His focus areas are Microelectronics Obsolescence, State of the Art Microelectronics Acquisition, State of the Practice Microelectronics Sustainment, Advanced Packaging, Supply Chain Risk Management, Semiconductor Reliability, Semiconductor Reverse Engineering and Semiconductor Radiation Effects.
In 2016, Mr. Marrujo was selected as DMEA’s Chief Strategy Officer, directly supporting the DMEA directorate. In this position, Mr. Marrujo works with DMEA senior leadership to define and represent the integrated DMEA message and strategic path forward for future engagements.
Latest Episodes
In this episode of Micro Journeys, host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Lieutenant Colonel Jim Lawson, product manager for the Long Range Precision Munition program, live at African Lion 2026. Lawson walks through the medium-range lethal variant of the Army’s launched effects ecosystem, a tube-launched, rocket-boosted munition designed to fold into a compact form factor before deploying sweeping wings and telescoping flight surfaces mid-launch. The conversation covers the system’s live-fire success at the exercise, its sensor and warhead payload, and how it fits into the Army’s broader vision for networked, collaborative strike capability.
The discussion goes deeper into how the munition operates as part of a “wolf pack” of autonomous and semi-autonomous payloads working together to penetrate contested airspace and strike strategic targets such as integrated air defense systems. Lawson explains the targeting process in detail — how an operator assigns an image with metadata to designate a target, and how that target can be tracked and even changed mid-flight. He also addresses the practical realities of fielding the system, from vehicle integration options to the direct feedback loop between soldiers using the controls and the engineers refining the program.
The episode frames the Long Range Precision Munition as a flexible, networkable answer to modern strike challenges — a system built to launch from multiple platforms, retarget in real time, and incorporate battlefield feedback directly into its ongoing development.
In this episode of Micro Journeys Inside Access, host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Benjamin Fowl, Head of Growth for Wild West Systems, at African Lion 2026 to examine a compact drone weapons platform designed to be small, fast, and difficult to detect or shoot down. The conversation covers the system’s platform-agnostic design, its field-tested integration with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and the mechanics of how the drone fires, aims, and returns to base for reuse.
The episode dives into a core challenge facing forces operating in complex terrain: how to deliver a kinetic capability that is lightweight, reusable, and adaptable to the platform a unit already has on hand, without requiring heavy logistics to get the system into and out of theater. Fowl explains how a 3D-printed mounting rail allowed the 173rd to adapt the weapon system to a drone they brought from Italy, going from a modified CAD file to a field-ready mount in under 24 hours.
The solution centers on a platform-agnostic weapons payload, built around a Picatinny rail, that can be swapped between reconnaissance and kinetic missions and refined directly through feedback from the soldiers using it in the field.
In this episode of Micro Journeys Inside Access, host Daniel Marrujo sits down with Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Leonguerrero, U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa | Advanced Capabilities Directorate at African Lion 2026 in Morocco, to unpack the command and control technology powering the largest exercise AFRICOM hosts on the African continent. The conversation traces how a multilanguage translation tool, moving fluidly between English, Arabic, and French, has compressed a twenty-second communication delay down to just three or four seconds, giving soldiers from more than 40 partner nations the ability to coordinate almost instantly at the tactical edge.
The discussion moves beyond the hardware to the structure behind it: a “three pillars” model of military, industry, and academia working in tandem, and a network-first, platform-agnostic approach the Lieutenant Colonel compares to NASCAR, prioritizing the driver over the car. That structure, paired with a top-down culture change from senior leadership, has cut fielding timelines for new capabilities from months or years down to hours or days. But faster fielding and wider international connectivity also raise the stakes on the security side, since more allies sharing data means more surface area for adversaries to target.
The solution the Lieutenant Colonel describes is layered: AI-driven cyber protection tools that monitor, block, and learn from threats in real time, combined with a deliberate effort to keep academia and industry out of the lab and in direct contact with soldiers on the battlefield, so lessons learned translate immediately into usable technology.
