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Paul Lwin’s story—an immigrant from Burma turned Navy veteran and now the CEO of a fast-growing autonomy startup—reads like the kind of American success story the left pretends to celebrate while undercutting every day. His company, Havoc, just closed a headline-grabbing $100 million Series A, a sign that private capital still backs those who actually build capabilities rather than lobby for them.
Havoc’s pitch is straightforward and practical: don’t waste time reinventing hulls, buy proven platforms and outfit them with superior autonomy software that can operate across domains and scale fast. The company says it already has dozens of vessels mission-ready and claims thousands of hours of testing and billions of data points informing its stack—real-world grind, not think-tank theory.
That practicality is exactly what matters when competitors like Anduril and deep-pocketed Saronic are racing to dominate the unmanned surface vessel market with their own full-hardware plays and futuristic shipyards. Big defense firms and venture investors are circling, which is healthy competition—but it also means the government must avoid picking winners by political fashion and instead buy what works.
The urgency behind all this investment is not hypothetical. The Strait of Hormuz has become a global flashpoint, with attacks, drone strikes, and attempts to choke off shipping driving the Pentagon to look hard at remotely operated and autonomous boats that can take risks the Navy won’t. When geopolitical rivals are testing our resolve at sea, we should be doubling down on innovative American firms that can deliver capability quickly.
Conservatives who love both a strong military and a thriving private sector should cheer the mix of veteran leadership and venture capital showing up at Havoc—backers reportedly include strategic defense investors and major industry funds that know the stakes. The smarter path is to streamline procurement, reward rapid iteration and fielding, and let companies like this compete on performance, not political connections.
Paul Lwin’s rise from refugee to military-savvy entrepreneur is the kind of no-nonsense, can-do story America needs more of: grit, service, and results. If Washington wants to keep American seas and supply lines open, it should get out of the way, fund what works, and support the kind of private innovation that keeps adversaries guessing and our forces safer.
