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 →

UPDATED Washington: A new problem — described in a Pentagon email as “not a serious issue” — has been found with the wings of the Air Force and Marine versions of the F-35. The problem is with the wing’s forward root rib and was discovered in standard durability tests. The ribs — which provide the… Keep reading →

Washington: Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, where the F-35 is assembled, wrote presumptive Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter today, expressing “disappointment” with Carter’s “apparent lack of commitment to the success” of the largest “defense acquisition program in our nation’s history.” Cornyn is clearly part of a greatly stepped up lobbying effort by Lockheed Martin to… Keep reading →

Washington: The old saying, ‘if it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense’ has become more or less the mantra among attendees at this year’s Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International trade show. Affordability and cost savings have been the buzz words among the companies at this year’s show, for everyone from the top-tier defense… Keep reading →

Washington: The Joint Staff wants the Navy and the Air Force to run two of their high-profile unmanned aerial drones from one control station, despite Navy efforts to scuttle the program. The Joint Staff told the service teams in charge of the Navy’s Broad Area Maritime Surveillance UAS and Air Force’s Global Hawk UAS to… Keep reading →

Washington: Northrop Grumman is searching for new customers for a new multi-mission, modular and “affordable” unmanned air system, a Northrop official said Wednesday. The Bat UAS is a relatively lightweight B-2 lookalike that promotes its ability to quickly change sensor packages and fuel capacity. So far, Northrop has a contract to deliver a number of… Keep reading →

Washington: A relatively small unmanned aircraft struck a C-130 cargo plane over Afghanistan, injuring no one but raising questions anew about whether drones can fly safely in American airspace. For more news and information on the swiftly-changing defense industry, please sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter. You can also catch us on Twitter @BreakingDefense.… Keep reading →

UPDATED Washington: The Raytheon-Boeing team building took another significant step ahead of Lockheed Martin in the $5 billion Joint Air To Ground Missile competition, successfully testing its rocket motor for helicopter flight. Raytheon officials said the fifth and sixth rocket engines were subjected to temperatures as low as -65 Fahrenheit and successfully fired after being… Keep reading →

Washington: Falling budgets will force the Army to boost adoption of unmanned systems and to look more closely at the ethical and moral implications of killing people using autonomous systems, two senior Army officers said Tuesday. Although the Army has been working with unmanned programs for decades, it still is not moving as fast as… Keep reading →

UPDATED Washington: DARPA, the Pentagon’s advanced weapons division, lost contact with a test version of a new weapon designed to hit any target around the world in less than an hour. For more news and information on the swiftly-changing defense industry, please sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter. You can also catch us on… Keep reading →