Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. has written for Breaking Defense since 2011 and served as deputy editor for the site's first decade, covering technology, strategy, and policy with a particular focus on the US Army. He’s now a contributing editor focused on cyber, robotics, AI, and other critical technologies and policies that will shape the future of warfare. Sydney began covering defense at National Journal magazine in 1997 and holds degrees from Harvard, Cambridge, and Georgetown.
With the second battery now bound for the US, the Israeli-made missile defense system must prove it works with American command networks. “We have a very detailed plan to do the integration,” Rafael’s Pini Yungman told me.
With shrinking budgets and a growing need for new technologies, “the Army will need to make a compelling case to Congress to fund new capabilities and truncate legacy programs,” said CSBA’s Tom Mahnken.
As threats evolve, the winning model ties digital engineering to manufacturing capacity and a reindustrialized supply chain.
Want to make a mini-tank that carries two passengers in back? Or put the heavy weapons on one vehicle and the passengers in another? Go for it, the Army’s armor modernization director told industry.
The Army wants a wheeled howitzer that can keep up with its Stryker units, so the Israeli firm is shipping its 8x8 ATMOS gun to Yuma, where it’ll fire “hundreds of rounds.”
“There’s going to be winners and losers,” Gen. Ed Daly told us. “[But] this transition… is not code for ‘reducing the workforce.’”
General Dynamics has already delivered at least two of its Mobile Protected Firepower prototypes to Fort Bragg, but BAE is lagging behind – although it says its MPFs will make the Army’s Jan. 4 deadline to start testing.
The MQ-9B and Gambit Series represent parallel capabilities that address global challenges for security head-on.
In future wars, AI, networks, and analytics won’t just help target precision weapons: They can also liberate combat units from long and vulnerable supply lines. But to make that work, AMC commander Gen. Ed Daly told us, frontline troops need a constant flow of data.
“We expect adversary actions directed against the homeland,” from cyber attacks to foreign-fomented protests, the new Army Installations Strategy warns. Bases in the US are no longer out of adversaries’ reach – so how do you defend them?
The Army will give companies more time to refine their designs for the Bradley replacement, but there’s a four-month gap in funding in fiscal 2023.
“It’s really important that we don’t let these issues get swept up in … political transitions between administrations,” warned the head of Air Force Global Strike Command.
Partnerships with outside industry are a cornerstone of the kingdom’s ambitious growth strategy.
Army Contracting Command still accounts for 45 percent of all DoD Other Transaction Authority obligations, but the Air Force and, belatedly, the Navy are starting to catch up.
GA is building a prototype 300-kW missile defense laser for the Pentagon and a 250-kW airborne version with Boeing.
Artificial intelligence developed to hunt terrorists can help track Russian and Chinese targets as well – especially amidst murky, chaotic conflicts in the “grey zone” between peace and open war.
The cutting-edge IVAS targeting goggles took a $230 million hit, while the latest upgrade to the venerable CH-47 Chinook – which the Army doesn’t actually want – got a $165 million boost.