Shaun Waterman
Recent stories by Shaun Waterman
DARPA Eyes Quantum Sensors That Are Easier to Buy, Tougher in the Field
Earlier this year, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, launched its new Robust Quantum Sensors program. It seeks to solve fundamental engineering challenges that have hampered the transition of quantum sensing from the laboratory to the battlefield, as well as a more esoteric ...
Experts: ‘Kudos’ to Air Force Progress on Kill Webs, but Some Problems Persist
The Air Force has made progress integrating its own kill webs and figuring out how to break the enemy's, but its partnership with industry on the issue has been hampered by programmatic silos and classification issues, executives from three of the biggest U.S. defense contractors ...
Why Intelligence Agencies Think They Can Finally Build a Common Picture for Warfighters
The defense intelligence community has tried three times in the past decade to build a “common intelligence picture”—a single data stream providing the information that commanders need to make decisions about the battlefield. The first two attempts failed. But officials say things are different today.
Researchers: US Bombs May One Day Use Chinese GPS Signals
One day, U.S. military personnel might target smart weapons using location data from Chinese or Russian versions of GPS, researchers from the Air Force and Space Force said at the AFA Warfare Symposium on March 4.
How Is the Space Force Handling Civilian Personnel Cuts?
Looming cuts to the Pentagon’s civilian workforce will present a particular challenge to the Space Force with its proportionally high number of civilian Guardians, leaders said at the AFA Warfare Symposium.
USAF’s Software Startup, Kessel Run, Pivots ‘Back to the Future,’ as Some Cry Foul
Kessel Run is pivoting. The Air Force’s original software factory, which brought modern digital application practices like agile development and DevSecOps to the military, is changing the way it does business.
DARPA Eyes Protections for Common but Critical Computing System
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking for “revolutionary” ways to protect from hackers that workhorse of modern computing, the data bus, a standardized component that allows different pieces of IT equipment—including those in aircraft and weapons systems—to communicate.
USAF’s ‘Aircraft Shelter Gap’ with China Creates a Flaw in Deterrence: Report
Pouring concrete to make hardened shelters for aircraft on the ground may not be as sexy as building next-generation fighter jets, but it may be just as important for the U.S. in a potential conflict with China, according to airpower scholars.
Experts: US Not Organized or Equipped for the Coming Electromagnetic Wars in Space
Space-based capabilities like GPS and satellite communications are vital to modern warfighting—and they are also most easily attackable via the electromagnetic spectrum via jamming or spoofing the radio transmissions that provide their command and control. But the Department of Defense’s electromagnetic warfare efforts in space ...
DOD Officials See Progress in Tackling Weapons Cybersecurity but a Long Way to Go
The Pentagon’s cyber and IT professionals have made progress raising awareness among senior military leaders about cyber threats to weapons systems and other critical technology, but there are still some who don't take it seriously enough, DOD Chief Information Security Officer David McKeown told an ...
Spectrum Warfare Wing Boss on the Hunt for Tools to Reprogram F-35 and Others Faster
Col. Larry Fenner, the commander of the Air Force’s only Spectrum Warfare Wing, came to the Association of Old Crows electronic warfare trade show looking for tools he can use to automate key parts of his mission workload.
How Congress, DOD Can Help Small Businesses Meet New Cyber Rules
Congress and small business advocates are working on a series of fixes for a new Department of Defense cybersecurity certification program they fear will otherwise be a major disincentive for smaller, nontraditional defense suppliers to bid on Air Force and other defense contracts.
As Space Gets More Crowded, Space Force Needs New AI Tools to Keep Up: Experts
Machine learning AI (AI/ML) is quite different from the generative AI large language models that have captured headlines and public imagination in the last two years, but it is vital to help human analysts sift through and make sense of the huge amount of data coming ...
GPS Without Space? DOD Looks to Quantum for an Answer
The Department of Defense is eyeing localized quantum sensors as a radical alternative to space-based Global Positioning System satellites in the face of increasing threats to GPS signals needed for precision navigation and timing.
Cyber Guardians Get Some Friendly Competition While Training to Defend NRO
When Delta 26, the Space Force unit that defends the National Reconnaissance Office from cyberattacks and online espionage, wanted to stage competitive training exercises this year, they used a private sector cyber range for part of the contests and run them at an unclassified level, ...