Defense

  • The U.S. military almost launched fighter jets and discussed a possible shoot-down when an errant Navy drone briefly veered into restricted airspace near the nation\'s capital last month, a senior military official said Thursday. The Associate Press reports the incident underscores safety concerns with unmanned aircraft as defense officials campaign to use them more often during natural disasters and for homeland security. Navy Adm. James Winnefeld Jr., head of Northern Command, said Thursday that the August mishap could hamper the Pentagon\'s push to have the Federal Aviation Administration ease procedures for drone use by the military in domestic skies.

    September 10, 2010
  • The space agency\'s experience in reducing the number of its e-mail systems could serve as a model for others who are going down a similar path. NASA\'s benefits include cost savings, better cybersecurity and scalability to deal with the expanding need for mobile access.

    September 10, 2010
  • Agencies are turning to innovation challenges as a way to solve problems and get people from outside the government involved in coming up with solutions. The White House launched Challenge.gov Tuesday and 15 agencies already are using the platform to hold contests. DoD has four challenges on the platform looking at a variety of issues.

    September 09, 2010
  • The Air Force Services Agency wants to acquire Golf Enterprise Solution software. We learn how and why from Transformation Director Elinor Gonzales.

    September 03, 2010
  • Army moves on plan to build next combat vehicle, Air Force Tees Up Golf Course Software

    September 03, 2010
  • Dawn breaks at this, the Army\'s largest training post, with the reliable sound of fresh recruits marching to their morning exercise. But these days, something looks different.

    August 31, 2010
  • Learn more about efforts to provide senior Navy officers with more comprehensive training

    August 31, 2010
  • The Navy is educating deployed officers in culture and language.

    August 31, 2010
  • Rob Carey, the Navy CIO, signs an electronic signature policy to let Navy offices move to online processes. Carey said the memo is not a mandate, but serves as a catalyst for program managers who believe it makes business sense to move processes away from paper

    August 31, 2010
  • A team from the 45th Space Wing has successfully launched the first Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite with the mission of providing secure, protected communications capability across a wide spectrum of military mission areas, including land, sea and air warfare. Undersecretary of the Air Force Erin Conaton calls the launch \"historic.\" Its benefits, he says, will be felt in special operations, strategic nuclear deterrence, strategic defense, theater missile defense and space operations and intelligence. The 45th Space Wing\'s mission is to assure access to - what they call - the higher frontier and to support global military operations by delivering space effects that protect and defend the nation through global vigilance, reach and power.

    August 30, 2010
  • An expected flood of retirements in the technology industry is leading U.S. aerospace and defense companies to step up their support for educational programs that will encourage students to pursue technical careers. A study by Aviation Week magazine found that, among companies with more than 100,000 workers, 19 percent of employees are now at retirement age, and that the figure will jump to more than 30 percent by the end of 2012. In reaction, companies like Raytheon are sponsoring student robotics competitions and forming partnerships with technical schools in an effort to address the expected shortage of workers trained in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The problem hits home for aerospace and defense companies especially, as many engineering jobs in the field are only open to U.S. citizens.

    August 30, 2010
  • You may have seen or heard about the movie Transformers and the military theme in the movie. It may soon be more than a movie. For several years now the Pentagon has been looking into flying cars. Now they\'re working on a flying humvee. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has chosen two companies to participate in project Transformer. It\'s a fully automated four-person vehicle that can drive like a car and then take off and fly like an aircraft to avoid roadside bombs. Lockheed Martin and AAI Corp., a unit of Textron Systems are moving to the next stage.

    August 30, 2010
  • Ask any woman who serves in the Armed Forces what she thinks about the uniform that she wears, and she will likely say that she wears it with pride. But once you get beyond that pride, the question then becomes, how does she really feel about that uniform when you have to wear it day in and day out, especially in combat...and it doesn\'t fit just right? Both the Army and the Navy are taking steps to address the uniform concerns of their female members.

    August 30, 2010
  • Air Force restructures space program

    August 27, 2010
  • A failure by Navy air traffic controllers to follow standard procedures contributed to a midair collision that killed seven Coast Guard members and two Marines off Southern California last year, according to a Coast Guard report released Tuesday. The Associated Press says controllers at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, near San Diego, failed to notify the pilot of a Coast Guard C-130 plane that four Marine helicopters were in the area. The Marine flyers were also unaware of the Coast Guard plane\'s presence. The report said there is no single reason or person to blame for the crash on the night of Oct. 29, 2009. It made a series of recommendations to improve safety in the largely unregulated airspace.

    August 25, 2010