Drones

While many people are aware of Predator drones used for counterinsurgency operations, unmanned systems of a wide variety have relevance in a wide range of applications—including great-power competition. Unmanned aerial systems have been used in the war in Ukraine for artillery spotting with devastating effect, and swarms of drone planes and ships have been demonstrated by Chinese state firms.

Content

Defense Industrialist

Sep 14, 2016

How to man the unmanned: A counterpoint

By Ian Fairchild

Unquestionably, the Air Force needs to retain experienced operators if the service hopes to remain the most powerful air force on the planet. The question of how to best do this surfaces in many areas. How to retain more women and minorities? How to retain more fighter pilots? Earlier this week, Defense Industrialist editor James […]

Defense Industry Drones

Defense Industrialist

Sep 8, 2016

How to man the unmanned

By James Hasik

With enthusiastic recruits, from all corners, and with a lot of cash. In the New York Times this past Tuesday, Michael Schmidt wrote of how the the US Air Force, “Running Low on Drone Pilots,” is turning to contractors to reconnoitre battlefields. Many of these are “former drone or fighter pilots who are making double or […]

Afghanistan Conflict

Defense Industrialist

Aug 8, 2016

Don’t let pre-decisional become the enemy of good enough

By James Hasik

Early discussions between the military and industry are essential for finding financially sustainable ways of war. It’s a pretty big mess when the service secretary hasn’t heard about the latest procurement programs—which means that they’re maybe not really procurement programs. They’re at best, as Deborah James recently said with that awkward Washingtonian word, “pre-decisional.” As […]

Defense Industry Drones

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 […]

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Experts

Fellow

Thomas X. Hammes

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Conflict Defense Industry

Fellow

Dominika Kunertova

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

Artificial Intelligence Central Europe