With America’s drone technology a disappointment on the battlefield, defense startups have joined forces with Ukrainian manufacturers to build better, war-proven aircraft for the U.S. military. U.S. startups have spent billions of venture-capital dollars in hopes of developing the small drones that the Pentagon says it needs for future conflicts, but many have produced only expensive aircraft that don’t fly very well. Ukrainian drone makers, meanwhile, have mastered mass-producing drones despite limited resources and are looking for new customers and capital.
Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, dressed in fatigues, visited a command post near the front in Kursk late March 12 to cheer on his military’s ejection of Ukrainian forces from much of the territory they had been occupying in the Russian border region.
The Department of the Air Force is turning to industry to shore up Platform One, the software development program created by the Air Force and used DOD-wide to create, integrate, and launch software. According to the solicitation posted March 12, the DAF is looking for vendors, technologies and system integrators to provide “dual-use commercial products and/ or services” for cloud management and infrastructure for the platform’s development, security and operations (DevSecOps).
The Army and Navy may soon use alternative methods for building barracks, including 3D printing, in an effort to reduce the financial burden, according to a Defense Department release. ... Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and Fort Bliss, Texas, have already both used 3D printing, the latter specifically for projects involving barracks.
A briefing slide offers a window into the philosophy of the consultant tapped to be the Pentagon's next industrial policy chief. “Embracing risk, investing into digital and securing the best talent will be key to competitive advantage in the decades to come,” Mike Cadenazzi, a managing director for consulting giant EY, wrote in a December 2022 presentation to defense investors.
The Space Force is scanning the commercial marketplace for space domain awareness capabilities that could be part of a future proliferated constellation, according to its top military acquisition officer.
While quantum computing hogs the hype—and the venture capital—military officers and officials increasingly see the biggest near-term possibilities in quantum sensors. ... But first, they have to work reliably outside the lab. To make that happen, the Pentagon’s outreach arm to Silicon Valley, the California-based Defense Innovation Unit, has just announced a slew of contracts to field test a dozen different quantum sensing systems.
The creation of a Space National Guard is getting a groundswell of support from Congress as bipartisan groups of lawmakers are submitting bills in both chambers to build it and eliminate an old proposal to move certain Air National Guard units from the states into the Space Force.
The Space Development Agency is recalibrating its procurement strategy for a next-generation constellation of military satellites, following lessons learned from initial deployments and critiques from government auditors. ... Following the deployment of its first batch of 27 military satellites last year, the agency is now acknowledging it needs to slow down and conduct more thorough testing before launching approximately 150 more satellites planned for this summer. SDA also will hire a dedicated contractor to serve as an integrator, ensuring all vendors’ satellites work together from the beginning.
The U.S. federal spaceport infrastructure is wobbling under the weight of ever-mounting numbers of commercial orbital rocket launches. While the Space Force invests billions of dollars into modernizing its sites, providers are intrigued by an alternate model: mobile launchpads at sea.
Military aviation movies that use actual aircraft carry a level of authenticity that is unmatched is provided by computer-generated imagery (CGI) or models, and lends realism that makes the viewing experience dramatically more immersive.
