DefenseNews

How in-house tech and soldier tinkering is changing the Army

FORT JOHNSON, Louisiana – A new Army-made software application is allowing soldiers to identify a target and send a fire mission in under a minute when it used to take 15 minutes. Those same soldiers have rigged cheap drones with a cheap, off-the-shelf circuit board and sensor to make electronic decoys of their command posts, throwing enemy fires off target. This brave new world in Army…
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DefenseNews

Signal battalions to be rebuilt for modern combat, Army says

The Army is restructuring its signal battalions as advancements in technology and a laser-focus on its network dovetail with a shift from brigade to division-centric combat plans. Final details for restructuring the battalions came after years of merging job specialties in signal fields. Army Lt. Gen. John Morrison, deputy chief of staff for Army G6, which implements command, control…
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DefenseNews

Missile Defense Agency eyes discriminating space sensor launch by 2029

The Missile Defense Agency expects to launch a new sensor designed to discriminate between complex ballistic missile targets by the end of the decade, according to agency director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins. The discriminating space sensor, or DSS, is a key part of MDA’s vision for a space-based missile-tracking layer, Collins told Defense News in a recent interview. The capability will complement…
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DefenseNews

Netanyahu’s hernia surgeon gets a seat on Rafael board

JERUSALEM – Israel’s defense sector is in an uproar over a surprise appointment on the board of directors of government-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, whose weapons permeate the entire ecosystem of the country’s sprawling defense apparatus. Alon Pikarsky, head…
DefenseNews

Army’s high-energy laser competition to kick off early next year

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The U.S. Army plans to choose a few teams from a larger pool to compete to develop its Enduring High Energy Laser, or HEL, system for short-range air defense in early 2025, Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch, the Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office director, said last week. The Army will carry teams through design and development and plans to select a winner to build an…
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