Defense Systems

White House, not JCS, to coordinate terrorist targets for UAV strikes

White House counterterror Chief John Brennan will coordinate discussions as to which terrorist leaders will be the targets of armed unmanned aircraft strikes, signaling an important change from previous arrangements in which the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff initiated the discussion with other agencies.

Defense Systems

DOD achieves record throughput in WGS bandwidth test

Defense Department researchers were able to transmit a 1.3 gigabits/sec carrier signal through the Wideband Global Satcom constellation Hawaii facility in a test designed to determine the full capability that the next-gen satellites can provide to warfighters around the globe.

Defense Systems

New northern cyber division has threefold mission

The new Joint Cyber Center includes members from the intelligence, operations, and command and control divisions, and a team from the U.S. Cyber Command.

Defense Systems

China hard at work on offensive cyber weapons

China continues to develop cyber weapons that it is using to carry out computer network intrusions and data theft activities around the globe, according to an annual DOD report.

Defense Systems

NATO inks $1.7B deal for Block 40 Global Hawks

NATO officials have signed a $1.7 billion contract with Northrop Grumman for five Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles that the alliance plans to use for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

Defense Systems

Software app keeps smart-phone chatter secure

Several military and intelligence agencies are using an anti-hacking software application that delivers voice encryption to block call interceptions on smart phones.

Defense Systems

New Army lab does the heavy lifting before the NIE

Aberdeen Proving Ground facility tests and evaluates software and electronics bound for field evaluation.

Defense Systems

Navy plans to pinch pennies on NGEN

The Navy is looking for the best price it can get on the Next Generation Enterprise Network contract.

Defense Systems

House rolls back export restrictions on satellites

The House of Representatives has passed an amendment to the 2013 defense authorization bill that would ease export restrictions on commercial satellites and simplify their export to allies and partners.

Defense Systems

Common data sharing essential to AirSea Battle doctrine

The "AirSea Battle" concept championed by top Navy and Air Force brass has a long way to go since there is a noticeable lack of data-sharing protocol between the two military services.

Defense Systems

Defending mobile networks: An uphill battle against endless threats

COTS solutions are the mainstay of military security, but they bring their own issues.

Defense Systems

Why the US needs a robust cyber arsenal

The United States must find a way to display its arsenal of operational hacking weapons to deter domestic and international cyber threats, says the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Defense Systems

North Korea's GPS jamming poses recurring cyber threat

This time there were no injuries or deaths, but what about next time?

Defense Systems

Navy to test 4G LTE command and control network at sea

The Navy recently established a year-long pilot program for the Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike Group to test a portable maritime command and control system built around Oceus Networks' Xiphos cellular technology.

Defense Systems

Cybersecurity chief steps down, plans long Harley ride

White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt plans to step down at the end of May after serving as the Obama administration's point person for efforts to develop a national and international cybersecurity strategies designed to protect vulnerable computer networks.

Defense Systems

Army puts new comms systems to the test at third NIE

Several thousand soldiers participating in the Army's third Network Integration Evaluation under way at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico will test at least three key communications systems and evaluate another 36 systems.

Defense Systems

X-47B moves closer to carrier demo in 2013

Navy technicians will perform arrested landings and catapult launches of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland this year in preparation for a carrier demonstration in 2013.

Defense Systems

That's an order: The summer reading list from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has selected 18 books for his "Chairman's Professional Reading List" that he believes can help prepare personnel in all of the military services for the future.

Defense Systems

Army looks to GSA for fast purchase of vehicle radios

The Army might turn to the General Services Administration to fill an urgent need to outfit a brigade combat team scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan in 2013 with commercially developed, vehicle-mounted radios.

Defense Systems

DARPA wants small satellites to test fractionated concept

The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency wants bids from contractors capable of furnishing four small satellites that would be able to demonstrate its fractionated spacecraft architecture in orbit.