Content

Defense Industrialist

Apr 13, 2016

Like Predator, like Sea Hunter

By James Hasik

DARPA’s new robotic frigate might seriously change naval warfare. The prototype boat in DARPA’s ASW Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program, the Sea Hunter, is beginning sea trials. Sailing last week from Portland to San Diego, she’ll undergo two years of testing to determine whether an unmanned ship under “sparse human control” can trail Iranian, […]

Defense Industry
Drones
NATO Global Hawk

NATOSource

Jan 26, 2016

NATO’s Five Global Hawk Drones Due in Sicily by Year’s End

By Tom Kington, Defense News

NATO is due to have all five of its Global Hawks delivered by year end to a Sicilian air base where 600 personnel will keep them flying, officials said

Drones
Italy

Defense Industrialist

Nov 13, 2015

The LRS-B and nukes

By James Hasik and Rachel Rizzo

Does the Long-Range Strike Bomber need nuclear capability, and does nuclear capability need the LRS-B? Recapitalizing the air-breathing segment of the American nuclear triad has generally not been the US Air Force’s first argument for developing its new Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B). Sustaining a global capacity for massive, repeated, marginally economical surgical strikes has long been the […]

Defense Policy
Drones

Defense Industrialist

Aug 4, 2015

Russians and Robots

By Blake Franko

Financial and sustainment problems are taking the Kremlin’s military modernization drive towards drone warfare. The Russian military has been in full gear for the last several months, trying to prove to NATO and the world that Russia is a great power with a modern, professional military. While the Ukrainians, Poles, Balts, and Nords have taken […]

Drones
Technology & Innovation

In the News

Jul 2, 2015

Bruton on US Drones Operating from Somalia

By Bronwyn Bruton

Foreign Policy quotes Africa Center Deputy Director Bronwyn Bruton on the United States secretly operating drones from bases in Somalia:

Drones
Somalia
NATO's first unmanned air vehicle, June 4, 2015

NATOSource

Jun 5, 2015

NATO’s First Drone Rolls off Assembly Line

By NATO

The first of NATO’s five unmanned air vehicles rolled off the factory line in San Diego on Thursday, 4 June 2015.

Drones
Italy

Defense Industrialist

Mar 31, 2015

Force Structure That’s Too Big to Fail?

By James Hasik

Against more challenging adversaries, temper enthusiasm for returns to scale. Ever since I was a midshipman—way back under a Navy Secretary named Lehman—pundits, analysts, and strategists have been wondering whether the US Navy’s supercarriers are too big. And so again in 2015. The new Ford-class ships are a few billion more expensive than their Nimitz predecessors, and Senate […]

Drones
National Security
The Aerorozvidka project has 16 drones

NATOSource

Mar 10, 2015

Ukraine’s Drone Warriors

By Patrick Tucker, Defense One

The Aerorozvidka project is one example of what you might call a war startup.

Drones
Russia
MQ-9 Reaper, July 30, 2014

NATOSource

Feb 20, 2015

Importance of US Decision to Sell Armed Drones to Allies

By Paul McLeary, Defense News

A number of new programs being implemented by Washington and NATO partners may have a big impact on how Europe equips itself, and how and when they deploy their forces in the future.

Drones
NATO

Defense Industrialist

Jan 9, 2015

Unmanned Manning Problems

By James Hasik

Is the USAF trying hard enough to find drone pilots?   The US Air Force is looking for a few good drone operators. The hours are long. The work environment is substantially contained within conex boxes rigged as command centers. The business can get grim, at least on the other end of that video feed. As the squadron commander says […]

Drones
Technology & Innovation

Experts