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The anti-satellite test ban must not undermine deterrence

Maintaining space as a peaceful domain is a long-held objective going back to America’s earliest days on orbit. The administration’s goal to further define rules and norms in this regard is admirable. As Vice President Kamala Harris recently explained, it is important to drive toward an international consensus regarding “what is right, what is wrong, and what is acceptable” in space. Empowering this objective demands a full range of military tools. That includes holding adversary capabilities in space at risk to empower effective deterrence.

While the U.S. would like to prevent conflict from escalating to space, many of our adversaries do not share this goal. Instead, they see developing and fielding capabilities to hold our systems on orbit at risk as an opportunity to … (read more)

Unmanned

Zenith Aerotech Enables Persistent Communication

Persistent Elevated Communications Relay. Reliable communications is key to coordinating any critical mission—be they military, law enforcement, emergency response, firefighting, or disaster relief. But even radios must obey the laws of physics. So what happens when topography blocks line-of-sight communications?

You need an airborne relay.

Zenith Aerotech’s family of tethered aerial vehicles (TAVs) can provide that relay. Our TAVs can … (read more)

Army

Army expects Next Generation Squad Weapon to get to its first unit by next year

PENTAGON, Arlington, Virginia – For the first time in 65 years, the Army has changed its individual rifle, squad machine gun, optic and caliber of both weapons at the same time.

The Army announced Tuesday that it selected Sig Sauer to manufacture and deliver a 6.8 mm Next Generation Squad Weapon to replace the M4 carbine and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, which both fire the 5.56 mm round.

At a Wednesday media briefing, two Army brigadier generals and a colonel answered questions about the selection, the weapon, the ammunition and the fielding process.

The first batch of NGSW rifles and automatic rifles, along with their high-tech fire control optic, are scheduled … (read more)

Unmanned

Zenith Aerotech Provides Persistent Illumination

Whether working round-the-clock at a construction site or safeguarding critical infrastructure, you always need a good source of light. Zenith AeroTech provides that overhead illumination with our family of tethered aerial vehicles (TAVs).

Unlike standard rotary-wing drones, a TAV can hover over an area for days at a stretch while providing persistent, air-to-ground illumination from up to three high-intensity (16,000 lumens) light panels.

As a result, critical activities—like police investigations, search-and-rescue parties … (read more)

Unmanned

Zenith Aerotech Delivers Persistent Surveillance

Persistent surveillance used to be the sole province of large military formations. After all, they were the only ones capable of fielding fixed-wing, long-endurance drones like the MQ-1 Predator.

Not anymore, though.

Thanks to Zenith AeroTech, now even the smallest military, law enforcement, and humanitarian response unit can put eyes in the sky for … (read more)

Budget

$98 Billion Expected for Military Drone Market (nationaldefensemagazine.org)

Global spending on unmanned aerial vehicles is poised for a major expansion in the coming decade as militaries invest about $98 billion in new intelligence gathering and strike capabilities, experts say.

The Teal Group, an aerospace and defense industry market analysis firm, expects worldwide research-and-development and procurement spending on drones to rise from a projected $11.1 billion in 2020 to $14.3 billion by 2029 — nearly a 30 percent increase. R&D spending is forecasted to grow from $3.2 billion in 2020 to $4 billion in 2029, and procurement funding is projected to ramp up from $7.9 billion in 2020 to about $10.3 billion by the end of the decade.

“UAVs remains one of the most dynamic sectors” in the defense market, said senior analyst Steve Zaloga, co-author of the Teal Group’s recently released … (read more)

Navy

The Navy will build tactical cyber teams (fifthdomain.com)

The Navy will create tactical cyber teams in early 2020 as part of an order from the service’s top officer.

In a new strategy document released Dec. 4, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday said he wanted the service to develop a plan to field small tactical cyber teams by February 2020. He directed the Information Warfare Type Command and Fleet Cyber Command/10th Fleet to make it happen.

“I want to give tactical cyber teams, small tactical cyber teams to fleet commanders so that we can confuse the enemy and put ourselves in a … (read more)

Training

Pentagon Eyeing More Advanced Virtual, Augmented Reality Headwear (nationaldefensemagazine.org)

Technology improvements driven by the commercial sector are expected to yield virtual and augmented reality goggles that solve many of the problems associated with the headsets being used by the U.S. military today, experts say.

Virtual reality, or VR, immerses users in a computer generated environment, such as video gaming. Augmented reality, or AR, transposes data or other digitally created images on top of a real-world field of view, such as the yellow first-down marker or the orange strike zone box that TV viewers see when watching football or baseball games.

VR and AR headgear can improve the way troops train for high-end fights against advanced adversaries by providing digitally created enemy forces or other environmental factors that they might … (read more)

Uncategorized

Textron publicly unveils Next Generation Squad Weapon prototypes (defence-blog.com)

Diversified manufacturer Textron showcased prototypes of the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) in public for the first time during the 2019 Maneuver Warfighter Conference at the Maneuver Center of Excellence.

The revolutionary weapon system was introduced in two high-performance versions, the 6.8mm Next Generation Squad Weapon – Automatic Rifle (NGSW-AR) and Next Generation Squad Weapon – Rifle (NGSW-R). The NGSW-AR will replace the M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon, or SAW, in the Automatic Rifleman Role, and the NGSW-R will replace the M4/M41 Carbine in Brigade Combat Teams.

The goal of NGSW is to improve lethality, mobility and situational awareness of … (read more)