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  • Army, Navy conduct key hypersonic missile test

    Army, Navy conduct key hypersonic missile test

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    The Army and Navy on Thursday completed a successful all-up round test of the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, potentially paving the way for the services to begin fielding the long-awaited system.

    The glide body was developed jointly between the two services. The Army plans to integrate its version of the system, the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon, into a mobile ground platform. The Navy will integrate its version, dubbed Conventional Prompt Strike, into a ship-launched capability.

    “This test builds on several flight tests in which the Common Hypersonic Glide Body achieved hypersonic speed at target distances and demonstrates that we can put this capability in the hands of the warfighter,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said in a Pentagon statement.

    The launch took place at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Defense Department did not offer further details about the event, which represents the glide body’s second successful all-up round test this year.

    Hypersonic systems can fly and maneuver at five times the speed of sound — and the Pentagon has been trying to field them for decades. The Army had planned to make a LRHW fielding decision by the end of fiscal 2023, but delayed that milestone after several aborted tests last year. The service now plans to make a fielding decision next year.

    Doug Bush, the Army’s acquisition executive, told reporters this earlier this year that the all-up round test is critical to making sure the system is “safe and effective” and ready to field.

    The Navy, meanwhile, plans to start fielding Conventional Prompt Strike on its Zumwalt-class destroyer in FY25 and its Virginia-class submarine in FY29.

    Leidos is the prime contractor for the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, and Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for both LRHW and the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike program.

    Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.

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  • British troops test laser weapon as cheap option to fry drones

    British troops test laser weapon as cheap option to fry drones

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    PARIS — British Army troops fired a high-energy laser from an armored vehicle for the first time, using beams of infrared light to destroy dozens of flying drones, in what may be a cost-effective way to address the threat of unmanned aerial systems, the Ministry of Defence said.

    Soldiers from the U.K.’s 16th Regiment Royal Artillery, which specializes in providing air defense for ground troops, used the laser mounted on a Wolfhound armored personnel carrier to destroy drones at a variety of distances and speeds, the MoD said in a statement on Wednesday.

    The ubiquity of drones over the battlefield in Ukraine, where infantry typically operates under a constant buzz of multiple UAVs overhead, has Western armies racing to find countermeasures. The U.S. Army in September tested laser-equipped Stryker combat vehicles to destroy drones, while France deployed a vehicle-mounted prototype anti-drone laser during the Paris Olympic Games.

    “This is still an emerging technology, but the world has changed and we are seeing more use of drones in the battlespace,” said Stephen Waller, directed-energy weapons team leader at the MoD’s Defence Equipment & Support organization, or DE&S. “This requires a more cost-effective solution to protect our troops.”

    Ukrainian troops are using thousands of drones every week, including first-person view drones that can cost as little as a few hundred dollars apiece but can be lethal when packed with explosives, while small commercial quadcopters costing a few thousand dollars are used for scouting and adjusting artillery.

    The “virtually limitless” ammo supply of laser weapons could make them more cost-efficient than some alternatives, the MoD said. This year’s Eurosatory defense show in Paris featured counter-UAS measures ranging from cannons with airburst munitions to net-firing drones, rockets packed with metal balls, jammers and spoofers.

    The British Army’s experimental laser weapon uses advanced sensors and tracking systems to maintain lock on target, according to the MoD, which has said the setup is fully portable and easy to operate. As part of its Land Laser Directed Energy Weapon Demonstrator program the ministry in July tested the laser on enemy drones at distances of more than 1 kilometer at its testing range in Porton Down.

    “Having the capability to track and eliminate moving drones will give U.K. troops a better operational advantage and these successful trials have demonstrated that we are well on our way to achieving this,” Waller said.

    The MoD will now assess the steps needed to develop laser weapons for future frontline use by the British Army, the ministry statement said.

    The 16th Regiment Royal Artillery tested the laser, developed in cooperation between the Ministry of Defence and an industry consortium led by Raytheon UK, at Radnor Range in central Wales. The weapon is being developed under a £16.8 million (US$21.4 million) contract from the British government.

    In the live test, the soldiers destroyed dozens of quadcopter drones within the constraints of the Radnor range, the MoD told Defense News, without providing details. Radnor, situated in a steep valley, features a 5-kilometer-long testing range for 40mm cannons and aerial countermeasures.

    Every engagement using the laser weapon removed a drone from the sky, and what was notable was “how quick a drone can be taken out,” Warrant Officer Matthew Anderson, trials manager for the Army’s mounted close combat trials and development group, said in the statement.

    The U.K. is working on other laser weapons, and earlier this year fired the DragonFire laser weapon against aerial targets for the first time. That weapon is being developed within a £100 million program with industry partners MBDA, Leonardo and QinetiQ, and the ministry said the technologies employed between the two weapon systems differ.

    Firing the DragonFire laser typically costs less than £10 a shot, with both the Army and the Royal Navy considering the technology for future air defense, according to the MoD.

    Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

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  • Defense tech firms establish AI-focused consortium

    Defense tech firms establish AI-focused consortium

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    Palantir and Anduril, two leading defense technology firms, announced today they’re creating an industry consortium to address what they see as hurtles impeding the Defense Department’s adoption of AI.

    “Our goal is to deliver the technological infrastructure, from the edge to the enterprise, that can enable our government and industry partners to transform America’s world-leading AI advancements into next-generation military and national security capabilities,” the companies said Friday in joint statement.

    Both firms are key players in the Pentagon’s AI and software ecosystem. Palantir builds platforms to analyze and distill data and Anduril develops a range of advanced hardware and software systems largely centered on autonomy and AI.

    The companies are teamed on the Army’s Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node program, an integrated, AI-defined targeting system set to begin fielding over the next two years.

    Palantir also provides the core software enabling the Army’s data platform that supports leaders across the force to provide overall visibility and support rapid decision-making — a contract it’s had since 2017. The Army uses it for unit readiness, managing combat power, logistics and installations and even recruiting.

    Anduril, meanwhile, is providing hardware and software for the Pentagon’s Replicator initiative, which aims to field thousands of small, networked drones by next August.

    For this new partnership, the companies will build on existing product lines, including Palantir’s AI Platform, AIP, and Anduril’s Menace, a software-defined command and control system.

    The goal is to address two key problems they see as inhibiting the U.S. military’s adoption of AI: data readiness and the lack of a secure pipeline for scaling industry’s AI models.

    To get after the second problem, the team plans to use AIP to deliver a cloud-based data management capability that can deliver AI data at all classification levels. They also plan to combine Palantir’s Maven Smart System with Anduril’s Lattice software to provide “a seamless operational capability” for developing and fielding new AI tools across the defense enterprise.

    “This platform is already in place and in use by Anduril and Palantir for their own corporate purposes, and with government contracts that enables this work to begin immediately,” the companies said.

    The plan is ultimately to grow the partnership to include more firms.

    News of the consortium comes amid announcements of several other industry collaborations involving the two companies. Anduril said Thursday it would team with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to use AI algorithms to improve the military’s counter-drone capabilities.

    And Palantir announced today it is joining forces with Booz Allen Hamilton to advance defense innovation among U.S. allies. That partnership focuses on modernizing defense infrastructure and using data-centric tools to improve collaboration among partner nations.

    Maintaining tech competition

    Two U.S. senators this week, meanwhile, introduced legislation that calls for the Defense Department to implement guardrails to maintain competition for major technology development programs.

    The bill — championed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, and Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. — targets DOD’s AI and cloud computing programs, portfolios that it says are dominated by a handful of Silicon Valley companies.

    “Right now, all of our eggs are in one giant Silicon Valley basket. That doesn’t only stifle innovation, but it’s more expensive and it seriously increases our security risks,” Warren said in a statement. “Our new bill will make sure that as the Department of Defense keeps expanding its use of AI and cloud computing tools, it’s making good deals that will keep our information secure and our government resilient.”

    Specific provisions in the bill include a requirement that DOD conduct an open competition for any AI or data integration programs with annual contracts worth at least $50 million.

    It would also direct the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and AI Office to ensure that any government data used to build or operate the military AI tools be secured and protected — particularly if it’s being stored alongside vendor data.

    Land warfare reporter Jen Judson contributed to this story.

    Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.

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  • Pentagon green-lights counter-drone strategy amid ‘urgent’ threat

    Pentagon green-lights counter-drone strategy amid ‘urgent’ threat

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    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signed off on a classified strategy Monday for countering drone threats in an effort to unify the military’s approach to protecting its facilities and personnel from weaponized unmanned aerial systems.

    “Unmanned systems pose both an urgent and enduring threat to U.S. personnel, facilities, and assets overseas,” the Pentagon said in a statement Thursday announcing the strategy. “By producing a singular Strategy for Countering Unmanned Systems, the Secretary and the Department are orienting around a common understanding of the challenge and a shared approach to addressing it.”

    One-way aerial drone attacks have spiked in recent years, and the Pentagon has grown increasingly concerned by the threats they pose to the U.S. and its allies. For more than a year, Iran-backed Houthi rebel groups have been using small unmanned aerial systems, or UAS, to target ships in the Red Sea, and killer drones have featured heavily in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

    DOD officials have said the department is taking a layered approach to defending against enemy drones, meaning the U.S. will pursue a range of capabilities to disable these systems, from electronic warfare to kinetic weapons. The military services have a number of ongoing programs to develop and field this technology.

    Austin’s strategy is aligned with these and other high-level DOD efforts, including those led by the Joint Counter-Small UAS office, which was established in 2019 to coordinate counter-UAS development, tactics and training across the military services.

    The strategy also closely follows the second phase of Replicator, which is focused on rapidly fielding off-the-shelf counter-drone technology. Austin, who announced Replicator 2 in September, said the Pentagon plans to request funding in fiscal 2026 and set a two-year timeline for delivering “meaningfully improved” counter-UAS systems.

    An unclassified fact sheet released Thursday sheds some light on the department’s strategy, laying out five lines of effort it plans to pursue. These include: improving its ability to detect, track and characterize counter-drone threats; launching focused campaigns to counter “threat networks”; making counter-drone defense a core piece of its doctrine, training and policy; quickly fielding counter-UAS technology and prioritizing funding for these capabilities; and placing a greater emphasis on countering unmanned systems in its force development and design efforts.

    The strategy emphasizes the need for partnerships with Congress, defense and commercial industries and allies. It also pledges to create clear metrics to track its progress, though it’s unclear if those details will be publicly released.

    “This strategy marks a critical next step in the Department of Defense’s efforts to counter unmanned systems, but much work lies ahead,” the fact sheet states. “Although the rapidly evolving nature of the threats posed by adversary use of unmanned systems means that the department will need to continually reassess our efforts, this strategy sets a foundation for action to meet this challenge.”

    Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.

    Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.

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  • Anduril, OpenAI partner to boost counter-drone tech for bases, troops

    Anduril, OpenAI partner to boost counter-drone tech for bases, troops

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    Defense technology firm Anduril Industries announced this week it will partner with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to use the company’s artificial intelligence models to improve the U.S. military’s ability to protect its bases and personnel from drone attacks.

    “Anduril and OpenAI will explore how leading edge AI models can be leveraged to rapidly synthesize time-sensitive data, reduce the burden on human operators and improve situational awareness,” Anduril said in a statement Wednesday. “These models, which will be trained on Anduril’s industry-leading library of data on CUAS threats and operations, will help protect U.S. and allied military personnel and ensure mission success.”

    The companies did not disclose whether there is funding attached to the agreement, which continues a recent trend of large AI firms partnering with the defense industry. In November, Anthropic and Palantir announced they would work with Amazon Web Services to sell Anthropic’s AI models to defense and intelligence agencies.

    The partnership comes amid growing concerns about weaponized drones, which have been used against U.S. and allied forces in the Middle East and Ukraine.

    In June, the Defense Intelligence Agency reported that a slew of attacks by Iran-backed groups on shipping vessels in the Red Sea affected 65 countries and 29 major energy and shipping firms.

    The Pentagon is working to push cutting-edge counter-drone technology to the military services through the second phase of its Replicator program, created to bypass the sluggish acquisition processes that keep the Defense Department from adopting and scaling technology.

    Anduril is on contract to provide hardware and software for the first iteration of Replicator, which is on track to field thousands of small drones by next summer. The firm also announced a $250 million contract to deliver 500 of its Roadrunner counter drone systems to an unnamed Defense Department customer.

    And earlier this week, the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and AI Office awarded Anduril a $100 million contract to increase production of its Lattice Mesh networking capability. The Defense Department is already using the data distribution platform at a small scale, but the three-year CDAO contract will make it available to all services and combatant commands.

    Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.

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  • Anduril, OpenAI partner to boost counter-drone tech for bases, troops

    Anduril, OpenAI partner to boost counter-drone tech for bases, troops

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    Defense technology firm Anduril Industries announced this week it will partner with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to use the company’s artificial intelligence models to improve the U.S. military’s ability to protect its bases and personnel from drone attacks.

    “Anduril and OpenAI will explore how leading edge AI models can be leveraged to rapidly synthesize time-sensitive data, reduce the burden on human operators and improve situational awareness,” Anduril said in a statement Wednesday. “These models, which will be trained on Anduril’s industry-leading library of data on CUAS threats and operations, will help protect U.S. and allied military personnel and ensure mission success.”

    The companies did not disclose whether there is funding attached to the agreement, which continues a recent trend of large AI firms partnering with the defense industry. In November, Anthropic and Palantir announced they would work with Amazon Web Services to sell Anthropic’s AI models to defense and intelligence agencies.

    The partnership comes amid growing concerns about weaponized drones, which have been used against U.S. and allied forces in the Middle East and Ukraine.

    In June, the Defense Intelligence Agency reported that a slew of attacks by Iran-backed groups on shipping vessels in the Red Sea affected 65 countries and 29 major energy and shipping firms.

    The Pentagon is working to push cutting-edge counter-drone technology to the military services through the second phase of its Replicator program, created to bypass the sluggish acquisition processes that keep the Defense Department from adopting and scaling technology.

    Anduril is on contract to provide hardware and software for the first iteration of Replicator, which is on track to field thousands of small drones by next summer. The firm also announced a $250 million contract to deliver 500 of its Roadrunner counter drone systems to an unnamed Defense Department customer.

    And earlier this week, the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and AI Office awarded Anduril a $100 million contract to increase production of its Lattice Mesh networking capability. The Defense Department is already using the data distribution platform at a small scale, but the three-year CDAO contract will make it available to all services and combatant commands.

    Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.

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  • US needs more AI investment, not just guardrails, defense experts say

    US needs more AI investment, not just guardrails, defense experts say

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    New White House AI guidance offers a solid framework for safely using the technology, but there needs to be more investment in the enabling infrastructure to better harness AI’s national security potential, Defense Department and industry leaders said this week.

    President Biden issued a first-of-its kind memorandum Thursday meant to provide guidance for national security and intelligence agencies on how to effectively and responsibly use AI to further American interests.

    “If the United States Government does not act with responsible speed and in partnership with industry, civil society, and academia to make use of AI capabilities in service of the national security mission — and to ensure the safety, security, and trustworthiness of American AI innovation writ large — it risks losing ground to strategic competitors,” the document states.

    Alex Miller, chief technology officer for the Army’s chief of staff, said he appreciates the White House’s leadership on the issue, but he’s concerned a lack of access to and funding for core, enabling technologies like cloud storage and computing power is slowing down the Defense Department’s integration of AI tools.

    “We haven’t done all the infrastructure work to set up the core technologies to do AI at scale,” Miller said at the Military Reporters and Editors conference. “If we’re really serious about it, there is a lot more investment we should be making at a national level.”

    Matt Steckman, chief revenue officer at Anduril, advocated for a more robust national push to make sure the U.S. leads competitors like China on AI adoption.

    “We need a national-level response,” said Steckman, who spoke on a panel with Miller. “I’m hoping this memo is the start of it, but I would go way, way further in order to get ahead of everybody else as fast as we probably can.”

    In a briefing Thursday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan acknowledged “critical gaps” in AI research and development funding. He said the Biden administration will work closely with Congress to increase funding for innovation along with the other requirements in the memo.

    “We’ve received strong bipartisan signals of support for this from the Hill,” he said. “It’s time for us to collectively roll up our sleeves on a bicameral, bipartisan basis and get this done.”

    Building trust

    Throughout the document, the White House stresses the importance of building a level of trust in artificial intelligence and calls on national security agencies to implement guardrails to ensure it upholds laws regarding civil rights, human rights, privacy, and safety.

    Organizations that leverage AI must use it in a way that aligns with “democratic values,” the document states.

    That means designating trusted sources that government agencies can rely on for AI-related inquiries, investing in workforce training, creating standards for evaluating the safety of AI tools and ensuring systems adhere to federal laws around equity, civil rights and consumer protection.

    “Artificial intelligence holds extraordinary potential for both promise and peril,” the memo states. “Responsible AI use has the potential to help solve urgent challenges while making our world more prosperous, productive, innovative, and secure. At the same time, irresponsible use could exacerbate societal harms such as fraud, discrimination, bias, and disinformation.”

    The document calls for extensive analysis related to fostering a robust AI talent pool, assessing the competitiveness of private sector AI firms in the U.S. and understanding existing barriers to establishing key AI infrastructure.

    It directs the Director of National Intelligence to work with DOD and other federal agencies to identify “critical nodes” in the AI supply chain and craft a regularly updated plan for mitigating risk to those areas.

    DOD and the intelligence community should also establish a working group with a wide range of responsibilities — from establishing metrics for assessing AI safety and effectiveness to accelerating AI acquisition efforts to ensuring the U.S. has a competitive AI industrial base.

    Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.

    Riley Ceder is an editorial fellow at Military Times, where he covers breaking news, criminal justice and human interest stories. He previously worked as an investigative practicum student at The Washington Post, where he contributed to the ongoing Abused by the Badge investigation.

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  • US needs more AI investment, not just guardrails, defense experts say

    US needs more AI investment, not just guardrails, defense experts say

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    New White House AI guidance offers a solid framework for safely using the technology, but there needs to be more investment in the enabling infrastructure to better harness AI’s national security potential, Defense Department and industry leaders said this week.

    President Biden issued a first-of-its kind memorandum Thursday meant to provide guidance for national security and intelligence agencies on how to effectively and responsibly use AI to further American interests.

    “If the United States Government does not act with responsible speed and in partnership with industry, civil society, and academia to make use of AI capabilities in service of the national security mission — and to ensure the safety, security, and trustworthiness of American AI innovation writ large — it risks losing ground to strategic competitors,” the document states.

    Alex Miller, chief technology officer for the Army’s chief of staff, said he appreciates the White House’s leadership on the issue, but he’s concerned a lack of access to and funding for core, enabling technologies like cloud storage and computing power is slowing down the Defense Department’s integration of AI tools.

    “We haven’t done all the infrastructure work to set up the core technologies to do AI at scale,” Miller said at the Military Reporters and Editors conference. “If we’re really serious about it, there is a lot more investment we should be making at a national level.”

    Matt Steckman, chief revenue officer at Anduril, advocated for a more robust national push to make sure the U.S. leads competitors like China on AI adoption.

    “We need a national-level response,” said Steckman, who spoke on a panel with Miller. “I’m hoping this memo is the start of it, but I would go way, way further in order to get ahead of everybody else as fast as we probably can.”

    In a briefing Thursday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan acknowledged “critical gaps” in AI research and development funding. He said the Biden administration will work closely with Congress to increase funding for innovation along with the other requirements in the memo.

    “We’ve received strong bipartisan signals of support for this from the Hill,” he said. “It’s time for us to collectively roll up our sleeves on a bicameral, bipartisan basis and get this done.”

    Building trust

    Throughout the document, the White House stresses the importance of building a level of trust in artificial intelligence and calls on national security agencies to implement guardrails to ensure it upholds laws regarding civil rights, human rights, privacy, and safety.

    Organizations that leverage AI must use it in a way that aligns with “democratic values,” the document states.

    That means designating trusted sources that government agencies can rely on for AI-related inquiries, investing in workforce training, creating standards for evaluating the safety of AI tools and ensuring systems adhere to federal laws around equity, civil rights and consumer protection.

    “Artificial intelligence holds extraordinary potential for both promise and peril,” the memo states. “Responsible AI use has the potential to help solve urgent challenges while making our world more prosperous, productive, innovative, and secure. At the same time, irresponsible use could exacerbate societal harms such as fraud, discrimination, bias, and disinformation.”

    The document calls for extensive analysis related to fostering a robust AI talent pool, assessing the competitiveness of private sector AI firms in the U.S. and understanding existing barriers to establishing key AI infrastructure.

    It directs the Director of National Intelligence to work with DOD and other federal agencies to identify “critical nodes” in the AI supply chain and craft a regularly updated plan for mitigating risk to those areas.

    DOD and the intelligence community should also establish a working group with a wide range of responsibilities — from establishing metrics for assessing AI safety and effectiveness to accelerating AI acquisition efforts to ensuring the U.S. has a competitive AI industrial base.

    Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.

    Riley Ceder is an editorial fellow at Military Times, where he covers breaking news, criminal justice and human interest stories. He previously worked as an investigative practicum student at The Washington Post, where he contributed to the ongoing Abused by the Badge investigation.

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  • Pentagon OKs first batch of private capital funds for loan program

    Pentagon OKs first batch of private capital funds for loan program

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    The first round of private capital funds flowing through a joint Pentagon and Small Business Administration loan program will invest $1.8 billion in more than 1,000 defense-technology companies.

    The Pentagon announced on Tuesday its Office of Strategic Capital approved 13 private funds to participate in the first installment of its Small Business Investment Company Critical Technology Initiative, or SBICCT. Established last fall, the effort aims to draw private capital funding to companies advancing technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, space and advanced materials that could have significant implications for national security.

    Along with the funds’ expected private capital investments, the funding the Small Business Administration is making available through the SBICCT loans could bring the total investment amount to approximately $2.8 billion. The program has additional proposals in the pipeline that could increase that to more than $4 billion.

    Over the last 20 years, the Pentagon has seen a drop in private capital investment into the technology areas it deems critical. Many of those areas are hardware intensive and require significant funding to generate a meaningful return for investors. Jason Rathje, who leads the Office of Strategic Capital, told reporters the SBICCT Initiative is specifically targeting that challenge.

    “The ‘so-what’ of this program is it allows us to incentivize the capital markets to start investing more into our critical technology areas because it changes the return profile,” he said.

    By partnering with the Small Business Administration, the Defense Department wants to take advantage of the organization’s track record of directing venture capital funding toward projects that have significant economic impact.

    “This first group of SBICCT Initiative funds represents a consequential milestone in demonstrating the power of public-private partnerships to build enduring advantage by growing and modernizing our supply chains, strengthening our economic and national security, and benefiting the development and commercialization of critical technologies that are key drivers of our U.S. industrial base,” Heidi Shyu, under secretary of defense for research and engineering, said in a statement.

    The Office of Strategic Capital was established in 2022 to drive private sector capital toward defense technologies. Tuesday’s announcement follows the Pentagon’s establishment last month of a $1 billion fund to provide direct loans to companies that make in-demand defense component technologies. The effort aims to help companies fund the construction of equipment needed to scale production across 31 technology areas it has deemed critical to U.S. national security.

    “In our 2024 investment strategy, we talked about how we needed to build different strategies for different parts of the capital market and different parts of our critical technology space,” Rathje said. “What we have been able to do over the last year is really accomplish the programs, the financial products that OSC is offering.”

    Lending tools like these are new to the Pentagon, but federal agencies like the Energy and Commerce departments have a long history of using credit programs to support key industries. OSC projects its SBICCT Initiative will continue to grow. More than 100 funds have expressed interest in the effort, and the Pentagon will now accept applications on a quarterly basis.

    Editor’s note: This story was updated on Oct. 23 to correct information provided by the Pentagon about the total investment amount.

    Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.

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  • Taiwan taps satellite hookups to help down invading drones

    Taiwan taps satellite hookups to help down invading drones

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    MILAN — The Taiwanese military is testing a satellite-connected setup of drone countermeasures as part of a massive effort to bolster the island’s defenses of critical infrastructure and core communications network amid an uptick in Chinese probing.

    The tests come as Taiwan is seeing Chinese military activity in the waters around the island, including drones flying within the country’s air defense identification zone. China views Taiwan as a rogue province and has threatened to take it back by force.

    Tron Future, a Taiwan-based company, has been supporting the government in integrating counter-drone systems with Taiwan’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites through its T.SpaceRouter user terminals, expected to boost the island’s wartime communication resilience.

    The T.SpaceRouter is a lightweight satellite communication terminal that uses active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology, envisioned to double as a kind of communication antenna relying on regional private 5G coverage.

    “As our anti-drone systems will be able to connect with LEO satellites by the end of 2025, each C-UAS installation site can serve as a regional military communication hub with LEO satellite backbone – this will help prevent systemic collapse of the core communication network in potential future conflicts,” Dr. Yu-Jiu Wang, chief executive of Tron Future said.

    The Taiwan Space Agency has launched an experimental satellite project dubbed Beyond 5G, which aims to develop two high-performance LEO spacecraft that will be deployed at an altitude of 600 kilometers.

    Last year, Wang told Defense News that at the height of tensions, the company’s radars deteced as many as 100 Chinese surveillance drones above the island in the span of a week.

    According to the vendor, the Taiwanese military also recently began testing a variety of counter-drone active and passive radars, including Tron Future systems, as well as jammers.

    These include achieving at least a 6 kilometers effective detection range for drones over the sea, with one of the target references being a Mavic 3 Pro, for active and passive radars, and at least a 4 kilometer effective jamming capability for drones, Wang said.

    The government is expected to sign a contract with the winning contractor within two months as part of an order that could total tens of millions of dollars.

    “A total of 26 sets of anti-drone systems need to be installed, with 13 sets to be completed within five months after signing the contract, and the entire procurement to be completed within 10 – the systems will be installed on the frontline islands closest to China,” the CEO said.

    He noted that the closest distance from Taiwan’s outer islands to China is roughly 2 kilometers.

    Taiwan is a major producer of computer chips, which means the country’s semiconductor factories are assumed targets in a potential Chinese attack besides military sites.

    Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

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