WASHINGTON: Things could get a lot busier for the Navy’s fleet of Fire Scout drones with the service’s decision to drop plans for a new, medium-range unmanned aircraft. The larger C model version of the MQ-8 Fire Scout might fill some of the requirements left unfilled by the Navy’s decision to cancel the Medium-Range Maritime… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: Despite the tremendous impact unmanned systems are having on the battlefield, military leaders still struggle to get intelligence gathered from these systems into the hands of those who need it. The systems designed to stream raw data collected by the diverse fleet of unmanned systems in the field continued to hamstring combatant commanders and… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Army is inviting the other armed services to join in a demonstration this summer at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah of ground-based sense-and-avoid (GBSAA) technologies that may help win Federal Aviation Administration approval of far larger numbers of military drone flights in U.S. civilian airspace. Mary Ottman, deputy product director for unmanned systems… Keep reading →

PENTAGON: The decision to sideline the Global Hawk Block 30 aircraft was made because its sensors aren’t as good as those of the U-2 and the UAV costs more to operate, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told reporters today. The Global Hawks sensors are “not as capable” as are those of the… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The Navy’s premiere combat helicopter and unmanned drone can now operate in tandem during future combat operations after successfully completing initial tests late last year. Officials at Naval Air Systems command were able to link up the Lockheed Martin-built MH-60 Sierra with Northrop Grumman’s Fire Scout unmanned drone during a series of operational evaluations… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: A former senior Pentagon official with extensive knowledge of unmanned aerial vehicles expressed great skepticism of the aircraft supposed to be a stealthy RQ-170 shown on Iranian television today. We asked one of Washington’s most experienced UAV experts to have a look at the Iranian TV footage today. They say it’s a stealthy RQ-170… Keep reading →

WASHINGTON: The U.S must change its standards on what kinds of military hardware it won’t ship to its allies or risk being outgunned and out-manned in future wars, according to a top defense analyst. The Defense and State departments have ramped up cooperation with its allies in recent years through Foreign Military Sales and international… Keep reading →

Washington: The South Korean government is threatening to walk away from an almost $400 million Global Hawk purchase unless the Pentagon can bring the price down. According to a recent report in the Korea Herald, top decision makers in Seoul claim the revised cost estimate out of the Pentagon for the four-plane deal is nearly… Keep reading →

Robbin Laird, international defense consultant, has been in Paris interviewing French military officials about lessons learned in Libya. This is the first of two pieces he’ll do for Breaking Defense on what he’s learned. The Editor. A main point underscored by the French military was the impact of the political process on military planning. The… Keep reading →

On Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. military possessed just handful of robot aircraft. Today, the Air Force alone operates more than 50 drone “orbits,” each composed of four Predator or Reaper aircraft plus their ground-based control systems and human operators. Smaller Navy, Marine and Army drones number in the thousands. Since they do not need… Keep reading →