US Army / Haley Myers In the desert of Utah’s Dugway Proving Ground, the Army trained for the future of war under the watchful eyes of a drone “wolfpack.” The Experimental Demonstration Gateway Exercise (EDGE) 22 ran from April 25 through May 13, and the task at its center was figuring out how soldiers will work and fight alongside a swarm. A drone swarm is almost like a disaggregated airplane. By putting sensors and weapons on many separate little aircraft, each with their own wings and engines and directions, the military can still scout and attack from the sky, while having the built-in ..read more

Monica Barbaro in "Top Gun: Maverick". Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films Planning on catching Top Gun: Maverick? If so, there’s no need to do any pre-flight homework to prepare, besides perhaps screening the 1986 original first. You can expect fighter jets, beach sports, an aircraft carrier, and plenty of references—through dialogue, music, and visuals—to the ‘80s classic.  But anyone with a fascination for military aviation might be interested in learning more about the flying elements of the new film, which The New Yorker concluded “far outflies its predecessor ..read more

Sea Hunter. US Navy / Kevin C. Leitner Every other year, the US military gathers forces in Honolulu to practice for war in the Pacific. This year, the exercise will feature a formation of entirely uncrewed robot boats. Announced May 13, the newly created “Unmanned Surface Vessel Division One,” or USVDIV One, will let the Navy and the rest of the military practice how to fight war with and alongside giant sea drones. As the military rehearses for a potential future war, it will do so alongside a wholly new category of machine. “USVDIV One will be a catalyst for innovation as we employ unmann ..read more

A vision of the Liberty Lifter. DARPA To land on beaches in the future, DARPA is pursuing a type of very large seaplane popularized by the Soviet Union. In a video shared May 18, the Pentagon’s blue sky projects wing envisions an ultra low-flying “Liberty Lifter” as a capable transport and cargo plane for getting goods to shore efficiently in places without a ship-friendly port.  To understand why this branch of the DOD is interested in such a craft, it first helps to consider a phenomenon called “wing-in-ground effect.”  “There is a history of attempting to develop aircraft creat ..read more

This is the Serval. Nexter You would be surprised at how old the vehicles are in many Western armies. From battle tanks to troop transporters, from reconnaissance vehicles to mobile gun systems, military vehicles can be decades old. But among the newest are three French machines, all designed in the past eight years, already being delivered to the French Army. They are named for animals, real or mythical: the Griffon, the Jaguar, and the Serval. And they are the cornerstones of a French soldier modernization program called Scorpion (that stands for Synergie du Contact Renforcée par la Polyv ..read more

The laser on the Stryker combat vehicle. Courtesy Raytheon / US Army In the sun-scorched desert of White Sands Missile Range, a Raytheon-built laser weapon mounted on an armored vehicle shot down multiple mortar rounds over four weeks of testing, the company announced May 16. The testing, part of an Army program to develop new kinds of defenses against flying projectiles and other threats, also involved the laser defeating a range of drones. The demonstration is part of a growing effort to ensure that on future battlefields, troops can be protected from the range of attacks they are likely ..read more

A B-52 bomber in 2017 taking part in a refueling exercise. In a 2022 hypersonic test, the weapon was released from a B-52. US Air Force / Louis Briscese On May 14, above the sea off the coast of California, one of the Air Force’s oldest bombers tested one of its newest weapons. Carried by a venerable B-25H Stratofortress, the projectile the military released and successfully tested is officially called an AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW). After release, the ARRW blasted forward, reaching five times greater than the speed of sound, making it hypersonic. “The team’s tenacity ..read more

A marine with a DJI Mavic Pro drone in 2017. U.S. Marine Corps / Shellie Hall The Defense Innovation Unit, tasked with bringing commercial tech into the Pentagon, is set to announce in the next few weeks the approval of several more US-made hobbyist-style drones for military use. These drones will be compliant with Congress-mandated rules regarding the origins of their parts, military requirements for functionality, and the commercial industry’s aim of delivering new tech for the military that can be built and sold on a commercial scale to the public. Currently, and in the past, forces fi ..read more

The Carl Gustaf M4. Saab On May 10, Sweden’s military announced it would be purchasing a new kind of ammunition for a weapon it already owns: the Carl Gustaf Recoilless Rifle. While bearing a superficial resemblance to the bazooka anti-tank gun used by the United States in World War II, and common among plastic toy soldiers to this day, the Carl Gustaf belongs to a tradition of recoilless rifles—those are hollow tubes for large-caliber explosives that have spiral grooves in the barrel to enhance the accuracy of the rounds fired. Unlike typical rifles, recoilless rifles can be big enough t ..read more

This Australian vehicle has a long-range drone sensor on it. DroneShield In April, when athletes gathered for an annual Texas triathlon, they did so while sensors from counter-drone company DroneShield scanned the sky, looking for any out-of-place drones that could be used for malicious intent. The contract, announced May 5, included ground-based radar and radio frequency sensors, as well as software to recognize and track drones. The company, now a regular feature at high-profile events with large crowds, exists as a modern tool for an especially modern kind of threat. “We started the busi ..read more