SAN DIEGO: Before the first human Marine hits the beach in the next war, long-range MUX drones will launch from ships to scout for threats. Next comes a wave of robotic small craft, Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boats (RHIBs) converted to carry sensors, jammers, missile launchers, even racks of mini-drones they can dump into the water to…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.Insights on digital transformation following successes on B-21 and Sentinel
Customers and employees are experiencing the ‘Butterfly Effect’ of digital transformation from key national security programs.
CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: NATO’s plans to defend the Baltic States are “inadequate” because they don’t take full account of Russia’s electronic warfare capabilities, a leading expert warns. The Russians are hardly invincible, Roger McDermott emphasized at CSIS on Monday. The story of them “shutting down” the Aegis radar on the USS Cook…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
UPDATED w/ Mahnken interview CAPITOL HILL: The US military is not ready for war against Russia or China, leading experts told the House Armed Services Committee this morning. How can Congress help? Champion new technologies that would otherwise drown in the Pentagon bureaucracy, they said, the way it did with the Predator drone and Tomahawk missile in…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
WASHINGTON: The US military is “not prepared” to conduct radio and radar jamming against high-end adversaries, a veteran electronic warfare officer now in Congress says. We have made major progress jamming terrorist communications in Afghanistan and Iraq, says Rep. Don Bacon, a retired one-star general who recently visited both countries. But even against such low-tech foes,…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
CAPITOL HILL: The Air Force is finalizing a high-tech “flight plan” for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance investments, the deputy chief of staff for ISR said here. The service can’t keep buying more and more drones to collect more and more data and then hiring more and more human analysts to plow through it, Lt. Gen.…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
CRYSTAL CITY: When the Navy publishes its Request For Proposals to design a new frigate, probably today, there should be no surprises for industry. That’s by, well, design. In stark contrast to the predecessor program, the Littoral Combat Ship, where the Navy changed key specs midway through construction at great expense, the frigate is a…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
ANNAPOLIS: There are maybe half a million sea mines in arsenals around the world. To find and clear them, rather than rely solely on a small fleet of small Littoral Combat Ships, the Navy now wants at least some mine-hunting gear on a vessels ranging from modified oil tankers to catamarans to aircraft carriers. The…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
A major overhaul is coming in software for missile warning
Space Systems Command’s FORGE program is the first, major missile-warning software modernization effort in 20 years.
AUSA: With the Army increasingly anxious about Russian drones, helicopters, and fighters, it’s racing to revive the Short-Range Air Defense (SHORAD) forces it largely disbanded after the Cold War. BAE Systems, which makes the heavily armed M2 Bradley troop carrier, is offering a Bradley variant festooned with radars, jamming antennas to shut down drones, anti-aircraft missiles, and…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
AUSA: The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle is the Army’s new truck, a versatile vehicle in the tradition of the Jeep and the Humvee. Today manufacturer Oshkosh Defense is showing just how versatile the JLTV can be, with two different ways to take down enemy drones, manned aircraft, and ground vehicles. First in our video clip…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
WASHINGTON: Don’t worry about Russia building a killer robot someday. Worry about the radio-jamming drones they have today. Despite a few grandiose claims and snazzy videos of robots shooting guns, Russia remains behind “the Chinese, Iranians, and the Turks” in developing armed unmanned systems, let alone the United States, CNA expert Samuel Bendett said this…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
HOLLOMAN AFB: We first heard about ThunderDrone from Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, who told a mystified audience that the Air Force would take part in an event none of us had ever heard of. “In two months, we’re going to have a big competition. They’ve rented out a big warehouse,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson…
By Colin Clark
HUNTSVILLE, ALA.: The Army keeps putting more powerful lasers on smaller vehicles. Battlefield lasers in testing today can shoot down snooping quadcopters and other small drones. By the early 2020s, however vehicles mobile enough to keep up with combat brigades – Strykers and FMTV trucks – will have power in the 50 to 100 kilowatt…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Yes, the Navy has cut short its Littoral Combat Ship program and started work on a bigger, tougher, better-armed frigate. But the small ships will still be big part of the future fleet, experts we spoke to agreed, and the frigate will carry on much of the LCS legacy. It’s true the Navy’s needs have…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
The return of the Russian threat has spurred US allies to pay new attention to collective defense, not just in Europe but in the North Atlantic. No ally is more critical than Canada, strategically joined at the hip with the US in NORAD. Recently, I had a chance to interview the head of the Royal…
By Robbin Laird