All roads in aerospace apparently lead to weapons.

We were working on a jet engine controller for a miniature engine. But turns out the first application this jet engine startup was targeting is cruise missiles.

And my boss still doesn't consider it defense work because the designs could be used for the other applications the client was pitching like power generation or commercial aircraft.

Except we were targeting features like being able to cold start at 50,000 feet, fitting the electronics inside the engine cowling, and having a total operational lifespan of two minutes.