CTalk
“Startups need to become a central element of the defense-tech ecosystem in Europe”
Marcel 'Otto' Yon, CEO of Autonomous Teaming, speaks to CTech at Calcalist, CTech and Bank Leumi’s Mind The Tech conference in Berlin.
Marcel “Otto” Yon, CEO of Autonomous Teaming
(Video: Encore)
At Mind the Tech Berlin 2025, Marcel 'Otto' Yon, CEO of Autonomous Teaming, highlighted the growing challenge of asymmetric threats in modern defense. Unlike traditional warfare, asymmetric attacks occur when adversaries leverage numbers or low-cost technologies to overwhelm expensive, sophisticated systems.
“When a Shahed drone costs maybe $10,000, but a Patriot missile to defend against it costs several million, that’s the asymmetry,” Yon explained. His company aims to defend against such AI-powered threats at scale, reflecting his long-standing focus on AI applications in defense.
Yon also emphasized structural barriers to innovation in European defense. He argued that startups need to become central to the defense ecosystem, bridging the gap with large, often rigid incumbents, and called for simplifying bureaucratic processes that slow decision-making.
“We need to empower the warfighters and bring decision-making down to the operational level,” he said. Yon believes that creating a unified European market and fostering collaboration between startups and established defense firms are critical to addressing these challenges.
You can watch the full discussion in the video above.
