You seem to have a very specific idea of "defense startup" as something focused on ordnance? munitions? general explosives? Most defense startups are not in that arena, they are in, broadly, information systems, intelligence, and logistics. Others are in communication systems (satellites, radios), cryptography, sensors, drones (these days), etc. Personnel and cargo transport are largely the domain of established players, but if you think you can make a next gen helicopter, ship, ground transport, etc. as a startup it's an option, too.
For all of those, there happens to be a lot of overlap (but not always as steady income) with commercial sectors. Remote sensing, for instance, is big in many industries like oil, agriculture, and even power and telecom (better ways to inspect deployed infra than sending out a person to climb towers or drive along lines through remote regions). So the feast and famine cycle can be mitigated, should defense funding dry up, by dual purposing the systems and the startup's general capabilities.
For the explosives and delivery systems:
The big difference between a defense startup and some nerds blowing things up in the desert would be discipline and proper engineering. Your best bet would be to recruit current or former DoD engineers who already know this stuff, they do it for a living. Either from bigger contractor firms, civil service ranks, or current officers and enlisted (the latter will have a good grasp on the regulations in this situation as a lot of the time they end up tasked with learning and enforcing them). Look to the research labs and existing test ranges to find people. You will also likely end up located at one or more of the various ranges because getting time there will probably be easier than all the environmental assessments you'd have to do to acquire and operate your own range.
Comments
You seem to have a very specific idea of "defense startup" as something focused on ordnance? munitions? general explosives? Most defense startups are not in that arena, they are in, broadly, information systems, intelligence, and logistics. Others are in communication systems (satellites, radios), cryptography, sensors, drones (these days), etc. Personnel and cargo transport are largely the domain of established players, but if you think you can make a next gen helicopter, ship, ground transport, etc. as a startup it's an option, too.
For all of those, there happens to be a lot of overlap (but not always as steady income) with commercial sectors. Remote sensing, for instance, is big in many industries like oil, agriculture, and even power and telecom (better ways to inspect deployed infra than sending out a person to climb towers or drive along lines through remote regions). So the feast and famine cycle can be mitigated, should defense funding dry up, by dual purposing the systems and the startup's general capabilities.
For the explosives and delivery systems:
The big difference between a defense startup and some nerds blowing things up in the desert would be discipline and proper engineering. Your best bet would be to recruit current or former DoD engineers who already know this stuff, they do it for a living. Either from bigger contractor firms, civil service ranks, or current officers and enlisted (the latter will have a good grasp on the regulations in this situation as a lot of the time they end up tasked with learning and enforcing them). Look to the research labs and existing test ranges to find people. You will also likely end up located at one or more of the various ranges because getting time there will probably be easier than all the environmental assessments you'd have to do to acquire and operate your own range.