Defense Systems

High-power laser weapon advances to field testing

The HELLADS project, funded by DARPA and the Air Force Research Lab, is shooting for a small, lightweight laser capable of 150 kilowatts of output.

Science & Tech

NSA Trying to Track Your Smartphone Finger Strokes

Smartphone technology built by Lockheed Martin promises to verify a user's identity based on the swiftness and shape of the individual’s finger strokes on a touch screen.

Science & Tech

The Pentagon Is Rethinking a $475 Million Cyber Defense Proposal

Nearly a week after extending the terms of its original proposal, U.S. Cyber Command revoked a 5-year contract offer that aimed to backfill significant staffing shortages.

Ideas

Why the New Arab Military Pact Isn't Worth The Ink It Was Written In

The plan drawn up yesterday by the Arab world’s military chiefs is unlikely to go any farther than the Cairo conference room where it was concocted.

Threats

Carter: The US Military Is Training an Iraqi Army That Doesn't Want To Fight

The main problem with Iraq's battered and depleted military is the same one facing Iraq as a whole—the country effectively no longer exists as a unified state.

Business

CIA Ends Its Climate Research Program

Just days after the president said climate change was an 'indisputable' national security threat, the intelligence community ends its satellite data-sharing program with scientists.

Defense Systems

Cutting-edge glasses give Marines a clear view of augmented reality

The glasses, developed by ONR, were used for the first time with the Augmented Immersive Team Trainer.

Defense Systems

Air Force gives Lockheed $735M deal for satellite support

The contract calls for continued support of three generations of satellite communications.

Policy

What President Obama Thinks on Iraq, Iran and Israel

Obama speaks about the state of U.S. policy in the Middle East in a wide ranging interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg.

Threats

A New Turkish-Saudi Thaw is Helping Rebels in Syria and Worrying Washington

Turkey and Saudi Arabia are finally working together to fight terrorism, and that’s good and bad news to the Obama administration.

Threats

Navy Unveils Video of Manmade Islands in South China Sea

Defying Chinese orders to get lost, a Navy P-8 patrol plane flew over the reefs Beijing is turning into full-fledged footholds.

Threats

Iraq Is Losing Control of the Nearly 100,000 Militiamen Enlisted To Fight ISIS

Almost three dozen Shiite militias have joined Iraq's fight against ISIS, a battle initially thought to be short-lived. As the militias extort from the population, the public's patience is wearing thin.

Business

Punish US Generals for Mismanaging Afghan War Funds, Says Inspector General

The Army failed to stop the construction of never-to-be-used $36 million command center.

Defense Systems

NRL patents a small, orbital space junk sensor

The low-power, low-cost Optical Orbital Debris Spotter will allow for greater monitoring of the space debris threatening critical satellite infrastructure.

Defense Systems

China's military calls for 'online Great Wall'

Amid a massive military build-up in the South China Sea, the PLA argues in a commentary that "sovereignty" in cyberspace is the front line in competition with the West.

Defense Systems

How brainwaves could teach software to ID threats

ARL has started research into using the EEG readings of experienced soldiers to train algorithms that would in turn help future soldiers.