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Ashwin Varma

@ashwinvarma97.bsky.social
382 followers 356 following 762 posts

Currently: MD Student @UTHealthSA. Former: Associate @BCG, Clinical Trials @MDAndersonNews, External R&D @Celgene, Summer Associate, @Lux_Capital. Views my own.

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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
@mikeblack114.bsky.social thoughts on this? Seems actually good to have anothe shipyard? www.reuters.com/business/aer...
reuters.com
New Maryland defense shipyard gets $6.6 billion commitment and Trump visit
Defense tech firm Anduril unveiled plans on Tuesday for a $3.7 billion shipyard in ‌Maryland that is expected to generate 3,100 jobs, in a ceremony attended by President Donald Trump.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Do you have a sense of what we’re doing to protect gulf shipping (vs preventing Iranian shipping)? It’s not close in escorts à la 88. But it seems to be working if ships are making it out of the straight to keep flows near pre war levels?
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The pump price that is stinging right now I think is mostly diesel and that is a function of refinery capacity not supply of crude.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
My assessment is that the blockade is one of the only strategically intelligent things we’ve done. Also it seems that whatever “zone defense” quasi escort system we’re implementing is working? Thoughts?
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Luckily both my and my parents' districts have HASC members. They shall be getting a very irate phone call from me tomorrow.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I want to see the faces of INDOPACOM staff right now.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Well it was nice having TLAMs
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Uhhhhh. Fact check @mikeblack114.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
politico.com
Hill investigates after F-35 parts diverted to Hong Kong
The incident raises the possibility that top secret weapons technology may have been exposed to a foreign adversary — including China.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
What do you think is the optimal ascm for them to have? Is their current mix adequate?
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Who is the acquisition official who is responsible for turning this into a POR? Or did orders come from civ leadership?
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
We're not seriously going to do a Gallipoli for Bab are we lol?
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Looks to be a heavier warhead than most of the other entrants, 500 lbs. www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/09/...
cnbc.com
Andreessen- and Thiel-backed defense startup opens U.S. missile factory as it exits stealth
Founded in 2024, Covenant is speeding up lower-cost missile manufacturing for the U.S. military.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Oh. Do we have any PACs left? x.com/Osinttechnic...
x.com
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Another entrant in low cost cruise missiles. @davidalman.bsky.social @mikeblack114.bsky.social x.com/kaufmanmic/s...
x.com
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Say more about the difference between the WW2 strategy process and what we have now?
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Out of curiosity is there value in keeping carriers on deployment for so long outside of active combat scenarios? Like right now there is active combat, but why not keep them in port longer when there is no active combat.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
As someone who also buys weird foreign books, what does your partner say about this lol. Mine is fed up.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I truly think the Japanese performance at Guadalcanal is an excellent display of how NOT to run a campaign. What a shambling debacle.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
If flows are increasing, I want to know how it happened, and will grudgingly accept CENTCOM has done something useful.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I’ve given up on understand what’s happening here.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Something something mature precision strike regime
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Silver lining - no choice but to pivot to Asia because all the Middle East bases are destroyed?
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Do you think he made obvious mistakes in allowing that to happen? Eg, dumb operational plan?
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
You mentioned he “flopped” against Iran. How would you divvy up the flop? He was given a poor strategic start (can debate if he’s at fault for that). But past that, how would you assess the faults.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Rather, what’s wrong with “operationally intense”; consequential - in a bad way seems obvious.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
What’s the issue with his statement?
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
GNSS must be an integral part of that because the drift rates on MEMS gyros are horrid. Although super cheap. If correct, why hasn’t GPS jamming worked better? Just hard to jam in mid course?
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Because afaik, even RLGs alone are not enough to get you to accuracy levels needed for conventional warheads.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
In fact I’d love to understand better how the diffusion happened. Was it just GPS availability being extended to regional powers?
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Diffusion of ballistic missile technology that is accurate enough to hit fixed targets reliably such that you can use a conventional warhead has been a very annoying development.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Fascinating to watch my country commit strategic suicide in real time.
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Reposted by Ashwin Varma
Mike Black @mikeblack114.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
lmfao
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Is it not easier to cut the fiber optic lines than put a kinetic effect on a very small target?
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I also find that you never have enough detail (obviously) to make the conclusions they are making.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Do you think the WSJ piece then is directionally accurate about how such an exercise would have proceeded? As @davidalman.bsky.social has shown, must be deeply skeptical of most WSJ defense pieces.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Any armor buddies want to comment? @whatismoo.bsky.social
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I’m sure this will go over well here :) www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
wsj.com
Exclusive | U.S. and Ukrainian Forces Went Head-to-Head in an Exercise. Ukraine’s Drones Won.
A battlefield drill this spring showed that the U.S. military hasn’t fully absorbed the lessons of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Should be (vs. JSOW / JDAM)**
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
I find this confusing. Are we not taking advantage of stealth for air defense penetration and or not doing SEAD missions? The whole US way of war à la ODS involves an intense starting period where stealth / stand off / SEAD destroys enemy air defenses.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
A central theme of the last two wpaiodes of WarTalk has been the fact that we have overused stand off munitions (JSOW / JDAM) due to concerns over risk of forces. open.substack.com/pub/chinatal...
open.substack.com
WarTalk: Ammo + CCAs Are Dumb?
what’s left in the magazine after six months of Iran
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Everyone around me who I respect has said this book is correct. However, I will say, as someone who was reading it as a “generally intelligent, but not domain expert” person, I don’t actually think it proved its argument.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Of note, if anyone here has a connection to see the F-35 plant here in Ft. Worth would be much appreciated 🙏
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
At the Ft. Worth Aviation Museum - can clearly see the conical camber used on the F-102
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Deal Team 6 has done its job, now it’s up to the production managers.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Stephen Feinberg about to play the role of Knudsen in WW2, taking blame for not conjuring material out of thin air.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Imma need a fact check on this.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Idk, I think you can support Driscoll statement alone, without reference to SV / Anduril. This is a market, part of that involves firms failing and rising. Primes have appeared and disappeared in the past, now shouldn’t be different.
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Like how are they getting expenditure numbers and why is their method bad?
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Ashwin Varma @ashwinvarma97.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Say more? Slash do you have a post you’ve already written 😂? Why do we allow this disinformation to proliferate if we know it’s wrong.
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