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Creating Military Innovation Institutes

Recent announcements by Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter, regarding the development of Defense Innovation Units Experimental – in Silicon Valley, Boston, and now Austin, have inspired many in the Department of Defense, including myself, to consider how we too can deliver innovation. Given the need to modernize American military forces after nearly two decades of

Robots are Here to Stay in the Army

Following the draft circulation last October, the Army has finalized and released a report on robotics and their applicability within Army strategy and doctrine. The Army’s “ Robotic and Autonomous Systems Strategy,” or RAS, released by the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command this week, details how the Army will incorporate emerging technologies into its force

Air Force to Retire MQ-1 Predator Drone, Transition to MQ-9 Reaper

The U.S. Air Force is preparing to phase out its MQ-1 Predator drones in favor of an all-MQ-9 Reaper fleet in 2018. The Predator”s retirement will effectively conclude the unmanned aerial vehicle”s 21 years of service with the Air Force. The platform supported intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions for the branch in addition to targeted

Army Awards $3 billion to 8 Companies for Space and Missile-Defense Testing

Eight U.S. defense companies will share $3 billion over the next nine years to help the U.S. Army rapidly develop and test prototype technologies for space, high altitude, and missile-defense capabilities. Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., announced eight contracts collectively worth $3.04 billion Thursday as part of the Design, Development,

Russia, Turkey and the Black Sea A2/AD Arms Race

While the Chinese A2/AD “bubble” in the South China Sea gives headaches to the United States and its allies in the Asia-Pacific region, further to the north, the newest Russian “bubble” is about to go online against Japan in the disputed Kuril Islands. Meanwhile, on the other end of Eurasia, in Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave, another

Why America”s Military Lusts over Laser Weapons (And May Never Get Them)

Directed energy has been a fetching technological idea for decades, but as Sandra Irwin wrote in National Defense in July 2015, the technology seemingly “has perennially been on the cusp of a major breakthrough.” Last summer, though, Jason Ellis of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory wrote a report for the Center for a New American

U.S. Army”s Laser-Armed Stryker Has Blasted Dozens of Drones

With terrorists, militant groups, and other potential opponents increasingly employing weaponized drones, the U.S. Army is becoming more and more concerned about the dangers unmanned aircraft pose to its soldiers. In one recent exercise, the service showed off one potential solution, a specially modified Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV) with a laser. The Army rolled

Army Explores 3-D Printing”s Future Applications for Soldiers, Force

A Soldier heads back to camp, grabs a power bar and unloads his gear. The power bar, which was “printed” minutes earlier, contains all the nutrients his body currently needs, according to sensors that are embedded in his uniform. While this may sound like a scene from a sci-fi movie, engineers and scientists at the

Path Forward For Army’s Modernization Priorities Takes Shape

The Army this week took another step in articulating what types of investments it deems necessary to support operational ideas about future ground warfare. The service earlier this year presented its “Big 8” initiatives, a list of modernization priorities designed to stay ahead of global threats and maintain overmatch against present and future adversaries. However,

Virtual Warfare: U.S. Navy Tests Technologies in 3D Aboard the USS Dahlgren

Late last August, just 50 miles south of Washington, D.C., a series of explosions rocked the normally placid Potomac River. The blasts came from artillery belonging to the USS Dahlgren, which was testing a new targeting system. Using a drone to observe its marks, the targeting system automatically recalculated its aim and retrained the Dahlgren’s

The Story of Ubicquia: from Street Lights to Smart Sensors to Smart Cities

How do you turn a ubiquitous item like street lights into a network of smart sensors to create a smart city that can monitor the environment, detect gun shots and so much more? Ubicquia is making cities across the globe smarter with Kairo, a customizable, light pole-based router that takes advantage of existing city infrastructure.

Informed Terminology for Non-Lethal Targeting

Words have meaning and perceptions drive behaviors. Information Operations (IO) has a unique challenge in the contemporary informational environment supporting the Commander’s intent through cultural and social sensitivities of partners, allies, and citizens. The deployment experiences of the 110th IO FSB over the past decade, in support of both Federal and Domestic missions, have proven