Flight demos will take place in summer or fall 2023, but it remains unclear whether development will turn into a bonafide program of record.
By Valerie InsinnaB-21, hypersonics and more: How digital development is driving industry innovation
Technological advancements are key to keeping pace with customer demands and evolving threat landscapes.
“The ability to intercept and destroy airborne threats in the air is groundbreaking and offers a strategic change in the air defense capabilities of the State of Israel.” the head of research and development in the Israeli Defense Ministry, Brig. Gen. Yaniv Rotem, told BD.
By Arie Egozi
CSIS’s Todd Harrison said he believes that the “many challenges” to the SHiELD concept can be overcome “with time and money” — and could well be worth expending because of the potential benefits.
By Theresa Hitchens
“I think it can be done as an experiment, but as a weapon system to equip an airplane with the kinds of lasers we think necessary…that combination of things doesn’t go on one platform,” Mike Griffin, head of Pentagon research. “So, I’m just extremely skeptical of that.”
By Paul McLeary
WASHINGTON: Two days after North Korea’s latest missile launch, the US conducted a successful test of its homeland missile defense system for the first time in almost three years. Codenamed FTG-15, today’s event was also the system’s first test ever against an “ICBM-class” target, as opposed to lesser surrogates, the Missile Defense Agency announced. The painful…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
HUNTSVILLE, ALA.: Three years after the Missile Defense Agency mothballed its massive Airborne Laser, MDA is planning to reboot the concept for a new era. The old ABL was Boeing 747 with a human crew and tanks of toxic chemicals to generate power. The new idea a high-altitude, long-endurance drone armed with a more compact…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
TYSON’S CORNER: New laser technology looks promising as a way to shoot down Chinese-style massed missiles. But laser projects have overpromised and underdelivered for decades, from Reagan’s Star Wars in the eighties to the Airborne Laser, canceled in 2011. Now proponents must convince the skeptics — particularly in Congress — that this time is different. “Right…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Enterprise-wide training: the Army’s $3.5B program for multi-service combat readiness
The competition for Warfighter Training and Readiness Solutions will bring together training networks, combat training centers and live ranges across the DoD enterprise.
WASHINGTON: Lasers are déclassé even in science-fiction nowadays – the guys in Avatar and Mass Effect shoot bullets – and the big Air Force and Army laser programs of the last decade were ignominiously cancelled. So I was surprised at last week’s Navy League Sea-Air-Space conference to hear “directed energy” technology mentioned by no less…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
