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New Changes Will See Marine Grunts Humping Farther Distances While Testing Combat Effectiveness

In September 2018, the Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert B. Neller directed that various Marine Corps units incorporate forced marches into combat readiness evaluations. That directive has resulted in new changes to training and readiness manuals that will see grunts moving farther distances while also testing combat effectiveness after a long hike carrying

Falcon Heavy Launch Paves the Way for Starlink and Air Force Satellites

Falcon Heavy has flown its first commercial mission, and there’s plenty more where that came from. The world’s most powerful operational rocket sent up the Arabsat-6A communications satellite from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Thursday, demonstrating its commercial viability following its test launch in February 2018. SpaceX successfully landed all three cores, paving the

Lasers: Beyond The Power Problem

WASHINGTON: Integration of lasers on ships and other weapons is the biggest challenge today— not power. Officers and officials say there are lots of devilish details to deal with before the US military can employ laser weapons on the battlefield, from beam control to targeting to controls you can operate without a PhD. “I’m not

AI May Read Soldiers” Intents, Anticipate Their Needs

Scientists at the Army Research Lab are studying how brain activity could be harnessed to optimize a performance of a human-machine team. By feeding artificial intelligence systems information about a soldier”s intent, advanced systems “could dynamically respond and adapt to assist the soldier in completing the task,” said Jean Vettel, a senior neuroscientist at ARL”s

Meet the Future Unmanned Force: Skybord and Valkyrie

Two new autonomous aircraft concepts that promise to redefine the Air Force’s unmanned fleet are moving forward. The latest, Skyborg, is an autonomous drone prototyping program underway at the Air Force Research Laboratory. Researchers hope to get the aircraft—expected to be cheaper than other platforms and easily replaceable—combat-ready by the end of 2023. Air Force

Space Force Plan Seen as Optimistic

The Pentagon is making optimistic assumptions, especially regarding congressional support, in its five-year plan for a U.S. Space Force (USSF), according to sources on Capitol Hill and in industry. The Space Force planning task force initial work plan is the first deliverable as directed by the Air Force secretary. The document was created in 30

Why Some Counties Are Powerhouses for Innovation

By the time the application window closed, Amazon had received 238 proposals from cities and regions throughout North America looking to become the second headquarters of the behemoth tech company. Amazon invited proposals especially from places that looked a lot like its native Seattle: metro areas with more than a million people; a stable and

Army Debuts Missile Defense Framework in Move to Counter Drones, Hypersonic Threats

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The U.S. Army released its new air and missile defense framework March 27 that aims to pursue multimission units and counter emerging threats like drones and hypersonic missiles, the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command chief told Defense News in an interview just ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global

DoD Is Rethinking What Defines a Major Aviation Accident

The Pentagon is considering revisions to the dollar amounts and damage levels that qualify an aircraft accident as a major mishap to better reflect the expense of repairing advanced jets. But such changes could lead to less visibility into the actual state of aviation safety, government watchdogs cautioned. Major aviation accidents are currently classified as

Army’s Multi-Domain Unit “A Game-Changer” In Future War

But modernizing the Army will take decades and tough decisions about everything from online propaganda to the National Guard. The Army’s experimental Multi-Domain Task Force is a “game changer” that’s turned the tide in “at least 10 wargames,” the commander of US Army Pacific says. “Plans are already changing at the combatant command level because

Rocket Lab Launches DARPA Research Satellite

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket climbed into orbit from New Zealand Thursday (U.S. time) with an experimental payload for a U.S. military research and development agency to demonstrate the performance of a compact, deployable antenna that could expand the communications capabilities of future small satellites. The 55-foot-tall (17-meter) rocket, powered by nine kerosene-fueled 3D-printed Rutherford

Marine Corps Eyeing Modular, Interoperable Robotic Systems

At the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, officials are grappling with an evolving threat environment that requires the development of cutting-edge capabilities to keep pace with adversaries, said Jeff Tomczak, the lab’s deputy director for science and technology. One area of focus is the infantry squad. The service wants to give Marines robotic systems that enhance