Science & Tech
‘Hellscape’: DOD launches massive drone swarm program to counter China
INDOPACOM wants to be able to find and hit 1,000 targets in 24 hours. Cheap drones are the answer—if DOD can make them quickly enough.
Science & Tech
New Chinese research examines how to get drones to target without GPS
But camera data can’t tell a drone whether hitting a target is a bad idea.
Threats
How innovation cells in Army combat units are harnessing soldiers’ ideas
Four divisions are turning projects around in record time, from leashed drones to mold trackers.
Ideas
Extend the Pentagon’s ban on China’s consumer drones
The rest of the federal government—and state and local agencies and even private-sector infrastructure companies—should quit using this Chinese technology.
Science & Tech
New AI laser system to guard US capital region from unauthorized aircraft
‘The first line of defense is actually that they will beam a laser at the cockpit of the aircraft.’
Policy
USAF wants its future robot wingmen to fly with sister services as well
And it wants them far more quickly than the typical acquisition program
Threats
Army looking to hide bases, speed up anti-drone capabilities amid modernization drive, Under Secretary says
The service also sees AI as key, but warns that data management is a major hurdle.
Ideas
What’s missing from the Quad’s ISR partnership
The year-old Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness can’t do the job with satellites alone.
Threats
‘More capable than anything we have’: lawmakers, witnesses, express alarm on UFO phenomenon
Witnesses recounted other-worldly events, but the head of the government office investigating those claims isn’t biting.
Defense Systems
