About Phillip
Phillip Buckendorf is the co-founder and CEO of Air Space Intelligence, bringing a unique perspective shaped by his education in political science and international relations in Germany. Frustrated by what he describes as Europe’s "degrowth mindset,” Phillip moved to the United States in his early 20s, seeking out the hotbed of innovation and technological progress.
Prior to founding Air Space Intelligence, Phillip worked in the autonomous vehicle industry. It was during this time that he developed his thesis about the evolution of software systems—from basic data entry tools to connected data displays to predictive systems that anticipate future conditions. This framework became the foundation for ASI's approach to logistics planning.
About Air Space Intelligence
Founded after extensive research into air operations centers across commercial airlines, government agencies, and maritime organizations, ASI develops predictive software that transforms how logistics planning occurs in both commercial and defense contexts. The company's core innovation is shifting from static displays showing current conditions to dynamic simulations that predict how operational environments will change over time.
Initially focusing on commercial airlines, Air Space Intelligence partnered with Alaska Airlines as their first customer—a strategic choice that allowed them to validate their approach while still being able to support the customer effectively with a small team. Today, their technology impacts approximately 25% of all U.S. air traffic, and that number is growing by the day.
The company was designed from inception as a dual-use technology, with the commercial business serving as a proving ground before targeting defense applications. After achieving commercial success, ASI expanded into defense logistics, particularly focusing on contested logistics scenarios. Recently, they announced an expansion beyond air logistics to multi-domain capabilities spanning air, sea, and land—recognizing that effective logistics requires seamless integration across all transportation modes.
Key Takeaways
Transition from Static to Predictive Displays: The fundamental innovation driving ASI’s business is the shift from displays showing current conditions to simulations that can predict future states. Traditional logistics planning creates a mismatch between planning horizons (6-10 hours) and information displays (showing only current conditions). By simulating how weather, resources, and other factors will evolve over time, planners can optimize against future conditions rather than present ones. This shift represents a fundamental change in how decisions are made, requiring significant user adaptation but delivering dramatically improved outcomes.
The User Adoption Challenge: When introducing predictive systems to operators who have spent their careers making decisions based on static displays, the technical challenges are often easier to solve than the human ones. Companies must design their products and implementation processes with this challenge front and center, recognizing that even the most powerful technology fails if users can't adapt to new decision frameworks. This insight applies across defense technology adoption, not just in logistics.
Building for Long Sales Cycles: Operating in regulated industries with extended procurement timelines requires specific company design choices. ASI hardened itself "from all angles" against long sales cycles—structuring financing to support extended runways, designing go-to-market strategies that built on initial successes, and fostering a company culture where internal operations remained fast even when external processes moved slowly. This comprehensive approach prevented the company from being derailed by the extended timelines common in both commercial aviation and defense.
The Outsider-Insider Balance: True innovation in legacy industries requires a careful balance of outside perspective and domain expertise. ASI began with a team of industry outsiders to ensure they wouldn't simply recreate existing approaches. Only after establishing this foundation did they selectively add industry veterans with a specific profile: those who brought extensive experience but were "willing to forget all of it" except when necessary to prevent critical mistakes. These individuals were typically those who "have been in the industry for quite a while but never really fit in," seeking faster-moving environments but constrained by traditional organizational structures.
The Overlooked Logistics Vulnerability: While much of the defense innovation ecosystem focuses on autonomous weapons, industrial base, and specific regional threats like Taiwan, Phillip highlights a critical vulnerability receiving insufficient attention: contested logistics from the homeland to forward positions. With 80% of U.S. forces and the industrial base located at home, the ability to move resources to where they're needed becomes a critical center of gravity. As Phillip notes, China's strategy includes "blocking the U.S. from its homeland to get stuff out," beginning with homeland infrastructure and telecommunications. This perspective reframes defense priorities to emphasize the connective tissue between capabilities rather than just the capabilities themselves.
For more on Air Space Intelligence: https://www.airspace-intelligence.com/
For the Air Space Manifesto: https://www.airspace-intelligence.com/thesis
For more on Phillip: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phillipbuckendorf/
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