Defense Systems

A U.S. X-37B space plane is slated to test a new way of rapidly changing its orbit, part of the Space Force’s quest for fuel-sipping maneuverability.The spacecraft will experiment with aerobraking, which uses Earth’s atmosphere to slow…

An AI-powered replacement for the repository of intelligence on foreign militaries is headed for the Pentagon’s classified network, where it will help pioneer new security techniques and become fully operational about a year later than…

It takes just a moment to add a new app to your phone, but adding a sensor to a military radar display takes years. That’s why air-defense troops must bounce between multiple systems, wasting precious seconds as they scramble to identify…

The Air Force picked longtime defense IT contractor Leidos to develop and manage the guts of the service’s next-gen command, control, and communications network Defense One has learned. The $303 million contract covers “planning,…

The Marine Corps is gingerly introducing its new Amphibious Combat Vehicle to its intended habitat—the coasts of Asia—two years after two surf rollovers led the Corps to suspend the vehicle’s water operations.One requirement: no big…

The U.S. Navy’s next ballistic-missile submarine is already late and over budget—and the actual overrun might nearly quintuple the service's projections, a government watchdog agency says.“Our independent analysis calculated…

A second phase of Replicator—the Pentagon’s year-old, high-profile effort to buy thousands of cheap-ish autonomous weapons—aims to procure defenses against small drones.Dubbed Replicator 2, the effort will focus on the threat to…

LONDON—When defense chiefs from the U.S., UK and Australia met reporters after their AUKUS meeting here on Thursday, they touted an agreement to share a submarine-hunting torpedo. But when asked whether Australia was concerned about the…

LONDON—A collaborative, AI-powered effort to hunt enemy submarines shows that AUKUS is working, U.S. defense officials said ahead of a meeting of the U.S., UK, and Australian defense chiefs here.“It's a change in how we do things and how…

The Space Force is halfway through its two-year experiment of monitoring fitness via smartwatches instead of physical fitness tests. The service’s top enlisted leader recently shared his experience with the program—and how he envisions…