DefenceTalkNorthrop Grumman has announced an agreement to collaborate with Trex Enterprises Corporation to bring celestial navigation technology to the precision targeting capability provided to the U.S. military and allied forces. Trex Enterprises has developed and matured the core technology for providing a highly accurate celestial navigation subsystem for use in military products and scientific applications. […]https://www.defencetalk.com/northrop-and-trex-enterprises-to-introduce-celestial-navigation-to-soldier-precision-targeting-laser-systems-50091/

DefenceTalkSpace is fundamental to the economy, the military and the way of life in the United States and officials must continue to guard against challenges in the domain from adversaries, the commander of Air Force Space Command said today. Gen. William Shelton shared with students at George Washington University here some of his worries and […]https://www.defencetalk.com/shelton-discusses-importance-of-space-defense-50056/

DefenceTalkToday’s emerging military technologies-including unmanned aerial vehicles, directed-energy weapons, lethal autonomous robots, and cyber weapons like Stuxnet-raise the prospect of upheavals in military practices so fundamental that they challenge long-established laws of war. Weapons that make their own decisions about targeting and killing humans, for example, have ethical and legal implications obvious and frightening enough […]https://www.defencetalk.com/technology-one-step-ahead-of-war-laws-50045/

DefenceTalkThe sale of two intelligence satellites to the UAE by France for nearly a billion dollars could go south after they were found to contain American technology designed to intercept data transmitted to the ground station. The equipment, costing 3.4 billion dirhams ($930 million), constitutes two high-resolution Pleiades-type Falcon Eye military intelligence satellites, which a […]https://www.defencetalk.com/france-uae-satellite-deal-shaky-after-us-spy-tech-discovered-onboard-50043/

DefenceTalkThe Army’s rapid fielding of network systems to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan led to vastly improved communications capabilities on the battlefield — but also increased network complexity. The service is now moving to simplify and reduce the number of network management tools its communication officers, known as S6s, use to manage the tactical […]https://www.defencetalk.com/combining-network-management-tools-makes-managing-network-easier-saves-money-50041/

DefenceTalkRussia launched an upgraded version of its Soyuz rocket on Saturday, successfully delivering a scientific satellite into space. The Soyuz-2.1v light class rocket includes a new engine design. “The operational crew at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome (in Russia’s Arkhangelsk Region) has successfully conducted a unique launch of a light-class Soyuz-2.1v rocket carrier with Volga upper stage […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-launches-upgraded-soyuz-rocket-49990/

DefenceTalkYears before Soldiers used cell phones and social media, and when long-distance calling was expensive, service members would often communicate from remote areas to home via “MARSgrams” or MARS telephone patches. These services were provided free of charge by the volunteer amateur or ham radio operators worldwide who make up the Military Auxiliary Radio System […]https://www.defencetalk.com/armys-military-auxiliary-radio-system-still-relevant-in-internet-age-49966/

DefenceTalkIn one year, Northrop Grumman took a satellite communications system normally used in space and transformed it into a high-functioning, low-cost communications system that can be used on aircraft. The satellite communications (SATCOM) system was successfully demonstrated on board the company’s Firebird demonstrator aircraft. Until now, no small communications system has been able to send […]https://www.defencetalk.com/northrop-reinvents-satellite-communications-for-aircraft-49946/

DefenceTalkESA’s Galileo satellites have achieved their very first aerial fix of longitude, latitude and altitude, enabling the inflight tracking of a test aircraft. ESA’s four Galileo satellites in orbit have supported months of positioning tests on the ground across Europe since the very first fix back in March. Now the first aerial tracking using Galileo […]https://www.defencetalk.com/galileo-achieves-its-first-airborne-tracking-49937/

DefenceTalkThe US Army has for the first time successfully tested a vehicle-mounted laser that managed to shoot down incoming mortar rounds and drone aircraft, officials said Thursday. Installed in a dome-shaped turret atop a military vehicle, the high-energy laser hit more than 90 mortar bombs and several small unmanned planes over a six-week test at […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-military-reveals-laser-can-down-drones-mortars-49923/