Missile Defense & Weapons

The U.S. Defense Department’s acquisition leadership has set up a “war room” in the Pentagon to assess the industrial base for hypersonic weapons ahead of a planned production ramp-up within a few years.

The U.S. Army will “very soon” demonstrate a ground-launched ballistic missile with a range greater than 500 km, the previous limit set by a now-defunct arms control treaty, Gen. Mike Murray said on March 4.

Can Ireland continue to rely on its British neighbors to meet its air defense needs, or should it stand on its own two feet?

U.S. defense officials are considering a “broad set” of scramjet-powered, hypersonic cruise missiles as the U.S. Air Force focuses in the near term on preparing a follow-on program to DARPA's Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept.

Britain is to develop a new nuclear warhead with the U.S. to arm its submarine-based deterrent.

The U.S. Air Force terminated one of two hypersonic missile prototypes a year before a planned decision point to divert funding for other priorities and preserve funding for the more advanced high-speed missile, the top acquisition official said Feb. 28.

Small Diameter Bombs and Miniature Air-Launched Decoys will demonstrate a new semi-autonomous weapon technology later this year, an Air Force Research Laboratory official says.

The AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) is the U.S. military’s most technologically ambitious hypersonic weapon.

Boeing has dusted off a 10-year-old advanced missile concept to show off “tactically relevant” technologies for the Air Warfare Symposium here this week.

U.S. Navy Fire Scouts need reliability boost; India buys U.S. helos; Norway sends F-35s to Iceland; Tunisia to buy light attack aircraft.

A new U.S. military assessment adds a hypersonic glide vehicle to China’s nuclear weapons portfolio.

The Royal Canadian Air Force has started test flying a Lockheed CP-140 maritime patrol aircraft fitted with a new missile warning system, a satellite antenna radome and other upgrades.

While lawmakers always declare the president’s request dead on arrival on Capitol Hill, this year there was more than the usual dismissal by a rival branch of government.

Russian Naval aircraft’s first flight; Space Force to integrate MILsatcom; F/A-18s tested in Finland; and Turkey’s armed drone.

DARPA fiscal 2019 budget request targets new weapons and communications concepts for contested environments.

How lawmakers and the administration are responding to the most surprising proposals in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2021 budget request.

China is testing an intercontinental-range hypersonic glide vehicle similar to Russian’s deployed Avangard system, U.S. Air Force Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy said in written testimony submitted to Congress.

Leonardo has retrofitted two Beechcraft King Airs with its Airborne Tactical Observation and Surveillance mission system for maritime patrols.

Next-Generation Interceptors could be emplaced in the ground by the end of the decade.

A multi-target air-to-air weapon and gun-armed close-support missile are among new projects DARPA plans to launch in fiscal 2021. New approaches to communicating in contested environments, attacking signals and countering laser weapons are also on the list.

Securing German funding for Future Combat Air System demonstrators is seen as a “decisive” milestone, but Berlin’s political inertia could affect momentum.

With its fiscal 2021 budget request, the U.S. Air Force has consolidated funding for its first three Vanguard science and technology programs, to provide a clearer understanding of efforts to accelerate the fielding of new capabilities.

The U.S. Army has canceled the procurement of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System and the Mobile Intermediate Range Missile programs in the fiscal 2021 budget to free up funding for higher priorities.

Making airlifters and refuelers more survivable and capable emerges as new priority.

European missile manufacturer MBDA has taken a stake in French software analysis company Numalis in a bid to strengthen the artificial-intelligence capabilities of future weapons.