Hamas’ use of small commercial-grade drones, generally classified by the Federal Aviation Administration as Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS), should come as no surprise to those interested in national security. The terrorists employed Chinese-made SUAS to take out sensors along Israel’s Gaza security fence and later dropped a Russian-model grenade on an …
China’s recent decision to restrict exports of drones will blind Ukraine’s reconnaissance advantage in the war with Russia and constitutes an active intervention on Moscow’s side. The U.S. and its allies should respond by developing an industrial base that makes unmanned aerial systems. Failing to do so would all but guarantee that …
Any peace in the Ukraine war that allows a future resumption of Russian aggression is worthless. Diplomacy, economics, and most important, military provisions should constrain Russia from embarking on another campaign of grinding brutality. We must think ahead. The potential transfer of 100 MQ-9 Reapers from American storage to Ukraine, …
The Jerusalem Post features an article on January 13 that is important in calling attention to the fact that Rotax engines are in Iranian drones, and absurdly wrong on key points. The article is wrong on the company ownership of ROTAX and completely misleading on the question of how the engines got …
About that ROTAX Engine in Iranian Drones Continue Reading >>
Radar and jamming technologies are the keys to figuring out why South Korea was unable to down even a single one of the five North Korean drones that intruded into the South’s airspace December 26. Even though one of the North’s drones got as far as northern Seoul, it appears …
South Korea’s Tech No Match for Intruding NK Drones Continue Reading >>
An oil tanker owned by an Israeli billionaire was hit by a suicide drone off the coast of Oman on November 15. Israeli government experts believe the drone that struck the tanker was an Iranian Shahed-136 and suspicion immediately fell on Tehran as the likely perpetrator. Initial reports say no one was …
Iran’s Suicide Drones a Grave New Threat at Sea Continue Reading >>
For all of the advantages that loitering munitions (LMs) offer the US and near-peer states, their true threat may lie in the remarkable ease of their proliferation. Like chemical and biological weapons, LMs are made out of publicly available materials and processes that do not require a traditional industrial base, …
The Future of the Skies, Part III: Marines Lead the Way Continue Reading >>
As with the pikemen of Switzerland and the rifles of the American revolutionaries, preemptive, large-scale integration of novel technology often occurs first in those countries where necessity outweighs the pressure of tradition. Others innovate once conflict erupts and the strictures of peacetime wear thin. Russia has not faced the former …
The Future of the Skies, Part II: The Rise of Loitering Munitions Continue Reading >>
The war in Ukraine shows that the face of battle is changing in favor of small, less costly, and easily portable weapons that negate many of the advantages formerly held by large, complex, and expensive systems. The man-portable Javelin anti-tank missile is a good example. AeroVironment’s Switchblade is another. The …
The Future of the Skies, Part I: The Switchblade Arrives in Ukraine Continue Reading >>
