Defense Systems
Blue Devil Block 2 airship has friends in high places
A pair of influential U.S. senators are upset about Air Force plans to cut the 370-foot-long Blue Devil Block 2 airship program and have informed the Defense Department that they believe it would be "a significant failure to stop work and not deploy" the platform to Afghanistan.
Defense Systems
Poseidon P-8A delivered to Navy, ready for BAMS integration
Naval Air Station Jacksonville celebrated the arrival of the first new, network-enabled P-8A Poseidon multi-mission aircraft in late March.
Defense Systems
Global Hawk has staunch defender in Congress
Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), a member of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, says he will recommend continuing funding for the Global Hawk Block 30 unmanned aircraft, which the Air Force plans to put into storage as a key part of a comprehensive budget-cutting effort.
Defense Systems
Big data poses big challenge for military intelligence
As sensors continue to generate enormous volumes of data, DOD planners are struggling with techniques to ensure such data remains useful to warfighters.
Defense Systems
Who will get to fly Navy UAVs?
The Navy has decided that unmanned aerial vehicles weighing more than 55 pounds will be operated as adjuncts to manned aircraft systems.
Defense Systems
Pakistan rejected offer by US to scale back UAV attacks
U.S. officials offered key concessions to Pakistan's intelligence chief in January regarding the use of unmanned aerial vehicles against al-Qaeda in the southwest Asian nation in an effort to regain the trust of Pakistani officials, but the offers were rejected.
Defense Systems
Watch out, China, US spy drones headed your way
The Australian government is considering allowing the United States to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles to a coral atoll in the Indian Ocean where they might conduct surveillance missions of that ocean and also the South China Sea.
Defense Systems
Robotics juggernaut seen as unstoppable
The use and proliferation of robotic systems by the U.S. military will likely continue unabated because they offer far more advantages than disadvantages.
Defense Systems
Press delete: Sandia's idea for nuclear-powered UAV not practical
A research project by Sandia National Laboratories to create a nuclear-powered unmanned aerial vehicle that could stay aloft for days without refueling was eventually cast aside because "political realities" would not allow its development.
Defense Systems
Revamped satellite launch schedule expected soon, Shelton says
The Air Force will soon release the terms of its revised multiple-year approach to purchasing launch services for military and intelligence satellites, says Gen. William Shelton.
Defense Systems
DOD must fix glitches in satellite programs, says GAO
The Defense Department continues to struggle on next-generation military satellite programs with such problems as cost overruns, shortages of ground-segment software and problems with beyond-line-of-sight terminals, reports the General Accountability Office.
Defense Systems
Army PM DCATS transition means many contracting opportunities
The Army's Defense Communications and Army Transmissions System program is ready to issue new contracts to industry.
Defense Systems
UAV connectivity top challenge with shift in terror war
The military will rely more frequently on commercial communications satellites for connectivity needed to operate unmanned aerial vehicles and provide the bandwidth required to handle more sophisticated sensors and the data they transmit.
Defense Systems
ITT Exelis gets GPS III satellite payload deal
ITT Exelis has won a $32 million contract to build the navigation payloads for the third and fourth Global Positioning System III space vehicles.
Defense Systems
EMARSS is gone, but the integration lab lives on
Army LTC Dean Hoffman, product manager for Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance Systems, discusses what's next for the service after its Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System failed to receive funding in the 2013 defense budget.
Defense Systems
Navy dreams of ocean-traversing undersea robots
It may not be in the cards yet, but the Navy hasn't given up hope that one day it will have underwater UAS that can journey across the ocean. And in fact, some universities are already working on the technology.
Defense Systems
Can US and Pakistan mend differences over UAV strikes?
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will convene a special meeting of his nation's parliament March 20 in an effort to improve his government's strained relationship with the United States.
Defense Systems
New names, new contract structures alter UAS market
The military unmanned aircraft systems market is changing in more ways than one.
Defense Systems
WGS: Model satellite procurement with cost-cutting efficiencies
Once intended as a satellite project meant to plug a major gap in communications capabilities for the U.S. military, the Wideband Global Satcom constellation has emerged as the primary backbone for moving the Defense Department’s wideband data.
Defense Systems