The U.S. Navy successfully conducted a first test-flight of its MQ-4C Triton aircraft, a wide-spanning 47-foot long surveillance drone equipped with high-tech, next-generation sensors able to conduct surveillance, reconnaissance and communications-relay missions over thousands of miles ocean, service officials said.
During the 80-minute flight in restricted airspace in Palmdale, Calif., the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft, controlled by ground-based Navy and Northrop Grumman personnel, reached 20,000 feet, according to a Navy statement. [Continue reading…]
May 22nd, 2013 | Drones, Navy, The Defense Biz | No Comments
Tagged as: Global Hawk, Maritime UAS, Navy, Triton, UAS
Congressional Republicans say they support the U.S. military’s laser weapons and directed-energy programs designed to protect troops by zapping apart potential threats, from incoming rockets to drones flying overhead.
A panel of the House Armed Services Committee singled out the Army’s Solid State Laser Testbed and the Navy’s Laser Weapon System as “items of special interest” in its draft of the 2014 defense authorization bill, which sets policy goals and spending targets for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. [Continue reading…]
May 22nd, 2013 | Lasers and Ray Guns, Less-lethal, The Defense Biz | 1 Comment
Tagged as: budget, Laser Weapon System, LaWS, Solid State Laser Testbed
The U.S. president should tell the leader of China’s communist party that its cyber attacks against Western targets threaten to undermine the Chinese economy and social order, an analyst said.
When asked what President Barack Obama should say to President Xi Jinping at their next meeting in June, James Mulvenon, a vice president at Defense Group Inc., a technology company in Vienna, Va., was blunt. [Continue reading…]
May 21st, 2013 | Cyber | 18 Comments
Tagged as: China, cyber espionage, Mandiant
The U.S. Defense Department has released a security guide for smart phones and tablet computers made by Apple Inc., setting the stage for their wider use on military networks.
The Pentagon’s Defense Information Systems Agency last week approved a so-called Security Technical Implementation Guide, or STIG, for devices running the iOS 6 operating system. The software developed by the Cupertino, Calif.-based company runs the latest versions of the iPhone, iPad, iPad Mini and iPod Touch. [Continue reading…]
May 21st, 2013 | Comms, Cyber, The Defense Biz | 12 Comments
Tagged as: Apple Inc., BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone
Lockheed Martin released the video of the first ever Vertical Take Off conducted by an F-35B Short Takeoff/Vertical Landing (STOVL) Lightning II test aircraft. The test was completed May 10 at Naval Air Station Patuxen River, Md.
The historic, albeit brief, flight occurred just a month after the Joint Strike Fighter program completed the first ever F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing during a night-time test mission. the F-35B is the Marine Corps version of the Joint Strike Fighter. [Continue reading…]
May 20th, 2013 | Air, F-35 Watch | 39 Comments
Tagged as: F-35B, Joint Strike Fighter, Vertical Take Off
