US Army taps industry for autonomous drones to resupply troops January 15 A drone carrying a mailbox of Swiss Post flies past July 7, 2015, above the airport of Bellechasse, western Switzerland, during a news conference. Two U.S. armed services are taking steps to acquire an autonomous aerial resupply capability for infantry brigade combat teams. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images) WASHINGTON The U.S. Army is tapping industry for drones that can deliver supplies to infantry brigade combat teams in the field, according to a request for information posted to the federal contracting website Beta.Sam.Gov on Jan. 13. Army Futures Command’s Sustainment Capabilities Development and Integration Directorate as well as the Marine Corps’ Capabilities Development and Integration office began looking in earnest at a concept called the “Joint Tactical Autonomous Aerial Resupply System,” about two years ago with the hope of getting a capabilities development document signed
New strategy wants to counter increasingly complex drone threats January 7 The Pentagon has released its strategy to jointly counter increasingly complex drone threats worldwide. Photo illustration via Epirus. WASHINGTON The Pentagon released a new strategy Jan. 7 to counter increasingly complex small drone threats, one that focuses on establishing a common threat picture, architecture and protocol across the services. The new strategy also sets up stronger coordination between other federal agencies in the homeland as well as with allies and partners abroad. Drones are getting cheaper and easier to use and acquire. Small drones run the gamut from being nuisances in the wrong air space at the wrong time to being deadly, aiding adversaries in serious operations such as lasing targets for fires or collecting intel or becoming a weapon itself. Technology development in autonomy and artificial intelligence is making swarming drones even easier to coordinate and integrate i
Pentagon’s first demo of small counter-drone tech set for spring January 8 Spc. Adam Wilhelmuses the Drone Defender V2 to disable a drone during training at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, on Aug. 19, 2020. (Sgt. Sirrina Martinez/U.S. Army) WASHINGTON The first opportunity for industry to demonstrate technology for the Pentagon’s enduring counter-drone capability will take place in April, according to the two-star general in charge of the joint effort. The Defense Department is developing a counter-small unmanned aircraft system capability for use domestically, in host nations and in conflict. The Pentagon established the Army-led Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, or JCO, and approved a set of requirements to help counter small drones in September 2020, which laid a path for how industry can develop technology to plug into a single command-and-control system.
Congress provides $130 million for hypersonic missile warning satellites Concept art from Northrop Grumman shows a potential architecture for defending against hypersonic missiles. (Northrop Grumman) WASHINGTON Congress increased the Missile Defense Agency’s budget by $130 million to fund a new satellite constellation capable of tracking hypersonic weapons. A satellites in low Earth orbit will provide targeting data for hypersonic weapons that are dimmer than traditional ballistics and can maneuver in flight, plugging a massive hole in the U.S. missile warning architecture. Lawmakers, who approved the appropriations package Dec. 21 by a majority wide enough to overcome a veto hinted at by President Donald Trump, had expressed concern throughout the year that the agency’s budget does not include any funding to develop the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS). While MDA leadership did ask Congress to fund the constellation, seeking $108 million for HBT
Congress boosts Missile Defense Agency budget by $1.3 billion December 21, 2020 The lead Ground-based Interceptor is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., March 25, 2019, in the first-ever salvo engagement test of a threat-representative ICBM target. The two GBIs successfully intercepted a target launched from the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll. (Photo courtesy of Missile Defense Agency) WASHINGTON Citing a disconnect between the Missile Defense Agency’s fiscal 2021 budget request and what it would need to meet national defense strategy goals, Congress has injected $1.3 billion into the organization’s budget in order to properly meet missile defense priorities, according to the FY21 appropriations bill that has emerged from conference committee on Dec. 21.