GA-ASI’s MQ-9B: The right UAV for persistence, power, and performance
When assessing the state of the art of unmanned aerial systems, it’s critical to be very clear about what various aircraft can and can’t do – and could never do.
Carter, who served under President Barack Obama, tried to push the Defense Department into the technological future.
By Lee Ferran and Valerie Insinna
“The DTTI has struggled to maintain momentum in recent years, but this new project may signal a renewed mutual interest in substantial progress for capability benefits,” says Chris Bassler of CSBA.
By Aaron Mehta
The famously hoodie-clad founder of the Defense Digital Service defends his legacy as he prepares to hand over the helm.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
As the Pentagon and the defense industry rush to keep up with the shift to great power competition and the fight for tech workers rushing for Silicon Valley, the idea of technology incubators is catching fire.
By Paul McLeary
Project Maven has made huge strides in its first year, but the key is remaining open to updates from whoever has the best idea for new algorithms, and new code, a military leader says.
By Paul McLeary
The push from Capitol Hill follows a year of the Pentagon promising to do more, and do it quickly, when it comes to developing and buying next-generation technologies.
By Paul McLeary
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.
- Air Warfare, budget, Congress, Global, Land Warfare, Naval Warfare, Networks / Cyber, Space, Threats
Clash of Strategies: Capability Or Capacity, Today Or Tomorrow?
As the Pentagon finishes its strategic review, the stage is set for another struggle over whether to ready for a high-end war with Russia or China or just manage the current, much lower intensity battles around the world. In military terms it’s a choice between capability and capacity. The outcome will shape the four services…
By Mark Cancian
A project called Hack the Air Force is paying “white hat” hackers over $130,000 for finding weak points in its websites, the service announced this morning. It’s the Defense Department’s third “bug bounty” – a high-profile initiative of Obama’s last Defense Secretary, Ashton Carter, that’s survived under Trump. [CORRECTED FIGURES} Hack the Pentagon found 138 unique,…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
WASHINGTON: Admitting there’s a “raucous debate” in the US military about whether humans should allow robots to decide when to pull the trigger, the nation’s Nr. 2 uniformed officer told the Senate today that he doesn’t “think it’s reasonable to put robots in charge of whether we take a human life.” Gen. Paul Selva, the…
By Colin Clark
CAPITOL HILL: Can Congress finally break the logjam of the Budget Control Act and increase spending on defense? Yes we can, said the cautiously optimistic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Why are the chances any better this year than for all the failures since 2011? Because, Rep. Mac Thornberry told reporters this morning,…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has laid out a measured and cautious spending plan that puts near-term readiness needs first in his first budget guidance memo. The memo, out this morning, largely defers major equipment modernization until 2019 and limits increases in the size of the force to “the maximum responsible rate” (emphasis ours). So,…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
WASHINGTON: Sure, the Navy needs more ships, but first and most urgently, it needs to fix the ships it already has. That’s what Navy leaders are telling Donald Trump. “When the transition team came around to all of us in the building and asked us what we could do with more money right now, the…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
ARLINGTON: The Air Force got blasted from Donald Trump’s bully pulpit before the President-Elect was even inaugurated. It looks like 2017 — the youngest service’s 70th year — will be full of presidential turbulence. [We rolled out our crystal balls for our 2017 forecast. Click to read the whole series.] Outgoing Air Force Secretary Deborah…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
As Secretary of Defense, Carter set the military on its current course: containing Russia and China with high-tech investments in AI, networks, and long-range weapons.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.