Defense

PARIS — Robin Radar got into drone detection in the early 2010s, when the company needed predictable targets to validate its bird-spotting radars, founder and CEO Siete Hamminga recalls. The Dutch startup considered partnering with a pigeon club to release homing pigeons, the executive told Defense News in an interview at the DSEI UK defense show in London earlier this month. In the end, the…

Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll says he is locked in a “holy war” on Capitol Hill as he works to convince lawmakers to grant the service more flexible funding authority for electronic warfare, unmanned aerial systems and counter-drone efforts. The resistance Driscoll has encountered in his first eight months in the job is part of a longstanding tension between the Pentagon and Congress over the…

PARIS — France said it’s fully committed to reaching a “mutually acceptable solution” with Germany and Spain this year on the next phase of the Future Combat Air System, as prospects for the next-generation fighter project remain troubled amid infighting amongst the industrial partners. France, Germany, Spain and the companies involved are “fully mobilized” to prepare phase 2 of the…