The Army has sent lawmakers a $2.2 billion unfunded priority list for FY25, while US Central Command says it would happily funnel an additional $450 million towards regional security.
The Army’s new Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Mingus recently sat down with Breaking Defense to discuss a few of his priorities that include network changes to include transitioning from a ‘C2 Fix’ to ‘C2 Next.’
“We're actually getting [soldiers] involved in how we're helping to design the force….My view is that we are going to see a lot of refinements from the field that will really help us figure out how we need to adjust," said Army Chief Randy George.
From more sophisticated systems like the Air Force’s collaborative combat aircraft to cheap kamikaze weapons, the drone had its heyday in 2023 — and promises, coupled with AI, to be a much bigger part of future warfighting.
“It is an urgent issue. ... We need counter UAS capabilities at scale,” said Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Bill LaPlante. “We need lots of money, we need production lines to go up fast.”
The start-up declined to identify its American customer, but budget documents show that Special Operations Command is investing in counter-UAS technology bearing the “Roadrunner” name.
"Our objective during this live fire exercise was to shoot down UAS from dawn to dusk," Col. Robert McVey told Breaking Defense.
“What we don't know yet from directed energy systems, necessarily, is... how to fight [with] lasers on the battlefield, how to integrate kinetic and non-kinetic effectors,” said Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch.
“Lasers are complicated. This is not a humvee that's sitting in the motor pool,” said Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler.
“The threat is always going to evolve. We actually see this every day when we watch what's happening in Ukraine and Israel,” said Col. Michael Parent, the lead for the RCCTO’s Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems office.
Company CEO Yonatan Zur described the spoofing system, which the firm says has been in operation for a couple years, to Breaking Defense.
Matt Jones, an executive at Electro Optic Systems, told Breaking Defense the company's container-based 36-kilowatt laser is ready to deploy.
“It's been a little bit slower than we would have liked… but I think their view is they really want to get to the single vehicle counter UAS, and then they want to proliferate that worldwide,” said Michael Coulter, the president of Leonardo DRS International.
“There are some technical challenges to being able to share it, but ultimately, it's really an authority….We can at least pick up a phone and relay that there is a threat inbound,” Maj. Gen. Clark Quinn, the deputy commander of Ninth Air Force, Air Forces Central.
ARLINGTON: As Russia and other adversaries stock up on drones, rockets, and missiles, the US Army is building up defenses to shoot them down. But that Short-Range Air Defense force has been devastated by a decade of cuts. The service’s plan to revive SHORAD involves deploying to Europe about 50 more of its current Avenger […]