The U.S. Navy for the first time launched a drone from an aircraft carrier in what officials hailed as a historic milestone in naval aviation.
The batwing-shaped craft, known as the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System, or UCAS, on May 14 was catapulted 11:18 a.m. local time from the deck of the USS George H.W. Bush in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia Beach, Va., according to the service.
The U.S. military may be able to deploy unmanned hypersonic weapons as early as 2025, an official said.
The Air Force on May 1 successfully flew the X-51 WaveRider, an experimental “scramjet” made by Boeing Co., reaching up to five times the speed of sound for a record three and a half minutes. The service called it “the longest air-breathing hypersonic flight ever.” [Continue reading…]
China wants to be able to control the flow of information in the event of a war to thwart data-hungry adversaries such as the U.S., according to a Defense Department report released this week.
The People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, considers the strategy of “information dominance” a critical form of defense against countries that it views as “information dependent,” according to the Pentagon’s latest annual assessment of China’s armed forces. [Continue reading…]
In future years, U.S. Special Operations Forces must utilize next generation technologies and strategic partnerships to counter the threats posed by extremist groups, weapons of mass destruction proliferation and Anti-Access/Area-Denial challenges.
Highlighting a handful of impactful global technological and geo-political trends, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments also emphasized that while SOF forces will likely continue “kinetic” raids and counter-terrorism missions as needed, a greater emphasis will be placed upon foreign internal defense, building partner capacity, unconventional warfare and civil affairs. [Continue reading…]
U.S. Army artillery units in Afghanistan now have a screw-on fuze that converts standard 155mm howitzer rounds into precision-guided indirect firepower.
The Army recently fielded the XM1156 Precision Guidance Kit, or PGK, to A and B batteries of the 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment in Regional Command East.
PGK allows for more precise artillery and for fewer civilian casualties on the battlefield. The field artillery has already proven the effectiveness of expensive “smart” munitions such as the Excalibur round. Now they have a cheaper alternative, which still provides the same effective results, according to an Army press release. [Continue reading…]
