Drones are a growing presence on the battlefield and recognizing that trend, the Russian Defense Ministry has ordered that all branches of its military begin training in anti-drone combat.
Russian newspaper Izvestia reports that the first test of these new tactics came in October during training exercises on the Black Sea. Ground forces will also begin training to repel drones. read more
The Navy is taking a page out of its own “Top Gun” book, but this time for submarines instead of F-14s. The service is creating a unit designed to teach submariners how to fight their Russian and Chinese counterparts. The “aggressor squadron” is part of the Navy’s push to prepare for—and, with any luck, avoid—a major war with another major power. read more
The U.S. Navy is designing a big, powerful attack submarine to fight the wars of the future. The new class will be considerably larger and more capable than the current Virginia class, with an emphasis on undersea combat. The new sub, SSN(X) will be a quiet, deep diving, heavily armed submarine meant to take on all comers in the mid 21st century.
Traditionally, the U.S. Navy’s nuclear attack submarine (SSN) fleet was given the mission of chasing down enemy surface fleets and attack submarines. This hunter-killer role required a submarine to locate enemy ships, stalk them, and then unleash a deadly ambush with missiles and torpedoes. read more
Japan’s military, which has spent decades focused solely on self-defense, is making a new kind of weapon to deliver an explosive payload at supersonic speeds. The unconventional tech is designed to soften up enemy defenses with precision strikes before Japanese marines hit the beach, in a bid to help the country take back territory seized by potential adversaries in the future. read more
The U.S. Army has ordered a prototype of a weapon designed in a garage in Colorado Springs. The weapon is electrically fired, has four barrels and can fire all four rounds at once in a single devastating salvo. read more
The Pentagon’s newest air-to-ground missile is about to get a long range upgrade, allowing it to strike targets from farther away than ever before. read more
As the power of artificial intelligence grows, the likelihood of a future war filled with killer robots grows as well. Proponents suggest that lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWs) might cause less “collateral damage,” while critics warn that giving machines the power of life and death would be a terrible mistake.
Last month’s UN meeting on ‘killer robots’ in Geneva ended with victory for the machines, as a small number of countries blocked progress towards an international ban. Some opponents of such a ban, like Russia and Israel, were to be expected since both nations already have advanced military AI programs. But surprisingly, the U.S. also agreed with them. read more
The U.S. Army seeks a new armed reconnaissance helicopter that will range across the battlefield, acting as the eyes and ears of commanders on the ground. Planned for an introduction in the 2020s, the Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) would give the Army back a capability it lost when the service put its scout helicopters out to pasture. read more
New technology promises to give tankers an unprecedented view of the battlefield around them—without exposing them to lethal enemy fire. Camera systems, often linked to VR headsets, can provide soldiers with a real-time view of the world outside their tank, eliminating the often severely restricted view tankers are forced to fight with. read more
A new patent from IBM could bring new meaning to instant coffee. The patent describes a drone that could detect when a person is tiring and fly over with a cup of coffee on demand—so no need to worry if yours is the one street corner without a Starbucks.
In its patent, IBM imagines a drone, or unmanned aerial vehicle, flying over a group of people and: read more
