PENTAGON: Live by the radio, die by the radio — unless, maybe, you switch to lasers, which are much harder to detect and interfere with. That’s why the Defense Department recently awarded a three-year, $45 million grant to a tri-service project for a laser communications system. “This is basically fiber optic communications without the fiber,”…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: Pentagon procurement chief Frank Kendall just approved the Navy’s top-priority program, the Columbia-class nuclear missile submarine, to start detailed design work and engineering. Known in Pentagonese as a Milestone B decision, undersecretary Kendall’s okay lets the Navy spend the $773 million Congress voted for the program in last month’s Continuing Resolution. [CORRECTED:] The projected procurement…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.One of the oddest military drones aborning reinvents a stillborn technology from 1951. That’s because the unmanned aircraft revolution is resurrecting configurations that were tried more than a half century ago but proved impractical with a human pilot inside. The case in point: Northrop Grumman’s new Tern, a drone designed to do everything armed MQ-1 Predators…
By Richard WhittleWASHINGTON: With Russian jammers blasting Ukrainian radios off the air, the US Defense Department’s racing to regain its edge in electronic warfare. But there’s been no comprehensive strategy to guide all the armed services’ efforts — until now. The first Defense Department-wide electronic warfare strategy is “basically finished” and headed to Secretary Ashton Carter’s desk…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: Can the Pentagon afford its Third Offset Strategy? From anti-ship missiles to artificial intelligence, the military is experimenting with a host of high-tech systems to counter increasingly sophisticated Russian and Chinese forces. That effort is essential, said the Defense Department’s procurement chief, but there’s one problem: If we want to go beyond experiments and…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.NATIONAL HARBOR: This time, General Atomics’ secret weapon isn’t the drone. It’s the mechanical arm that catches it in mid-flight — and then hauls it into the back of a C-130 cargo plane, also in mid-flight. General Atomics, which builds the iconic Predator, has rolled out its offering for DARPA’s Gremlins program, blandly called the…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.DARPA HQ, ARLINGTON, Va.: Reporters must stop asking Will Roper about the Arsenal Plane, because he hasn’t picked which aircraft will be rebuilt as a high-tech truck for long-range missiles and other weapons. Speculation has centered on the Air Force B-52, but the Strategic Capabilities Office director made clear that choice is, well, up in the…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is sitting on ticking fiscal time bombs: a slew of high-priority programs that are at especially high risk for cost overruns. Some particularly big-ticket programs, like the B-21 bomber and the Ohio Replacement submarine, are in the early stages of technical development, where cost growth is more likely than it is later on in…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.UPDATE MDA Deputy says transfer talks with services “making progress” WASHINGTON: Long-range R&D for missile defense is being squeezed by near-term needs, warns a new report from the Center for Strategic & International Studies. The problem? The duties of the Missile Defense Agency keep expanding even as its budget shrinks. CSIS’s solution? Reform MDA in either…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.UPDATED: Carter Touts Import Of Biotech CAMBRIDGE, MASS.: Special operations troops will test a high-tech headset that “uses noninvasive electrical stimulation” to help the brain learn better marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat skills, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said here today. This cutting edge example of “enhanced human operations” — a highly controversial field — is just…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: William Roper’s Strategic Capabilities Office is exploring some of the most innovative concepts in the US military. Imagine a militarized version of Pokémon Go, helping Army soldiers locate real-life threats instead of cartoon monsters. Imagine robot brains in a box — an “autonomy kit” — that Navy sailors can install on a patrol boat…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.The military is devoting more and more attention to the threat of hostile drones on the battlefield, but what to do about the dangers posed by tiny micro-drones, especially in urban areas, where simply shooting them down isn’t usually a good option? Eight finalists in a technology challenge sponsored by the Department of Defense, Department…
By Richard WhittleWASHINGTON: When do laser weapons finally become real? The low-hanging fruit for a near-term application looks like it’s shooting down enemy drones before they can target US forces. Both the Army and Marines are testing vehicle-mounted “counter-UAS” (Unmanned Aerial System) lasers, while the Navy already has a bulkier model aboard the USS Ponce in the…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.