Defense Systems

The first set of operational satellites in the Space Development Agency’s future orbital network will be launched about six months late, as suppliers have struggled to meet the Pentagon’s timeline. Satellites in “Tranche 1” of…

After years of building bespoke networks to connect with individual allied and partner militaries, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is preparing to bring nearly two dozen countries into a single network in 2025. This INDOPACOM Mission…

The Pentagon still needs nearly 30,000 cyber workers, but the number of open positions has gone down significantly since last year, defense officials said Thursday. “The civilian vacancy rate is now down to 16 percent—that is a 4.8…

The Army is betting on digital engineering to save time and money as it develops its new infantry combat vehicle. “XM-30 is being built through a modular open standard that allows us, in theory, to more rapidly replace…

If GPS goes down, could aircraft navigate by comparing what they sense around them to detailed three-dimensional maps? A major satellite imagery company believes so.Maxar’s nascent Pinpoint tool will use a drone’s video feed to infer its…

Maxar’s chief product officer Peter Wilczynski, who joined the space-imagery company over the summer, is spearheading an effort to build navigation systems that use 3D maps instead of GPS. But the Palantir alum is also working to develop…

HONOLULU—The war in Ukraine shows how the United States must improve its acquisition process if it hopes to maintain military strength, the deputy commander of Pacific Fleet said Tuesday.Ukraine “provides us a great example of the…

Upgrades are making the Army’s battle network easier for soldiers to use, but it’s still not exactly what they’re asking for.“It's really good, but it is extremely complicated and…it's better than what we had before,” Col. James Stultz, who…

The lone Pacific brigade chosen for the Army’s new equipment strategy is finding that the new tech has unique advantages for its terrain — as well as challenges, the unit’s commanding general said Friday. The unit, the 2nd Brigade of…

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…