Jon Harper

Jon Harper is Managing Editor of DefenseScoop, the Scoop News Group’s online publication focused on the Pentagon and its pursuit of new capabilities. He leads an award-winning team of journalists in providing breaking news and in-depth analysis on military technology and the ways in which it is shaping how the Defense Department operates and modernizes. You can also follow him on X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) @Jon_Harper_

Articles by Author

US President Joe Biden (L) listens to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he joins a meeting of the Israeli war cabinet in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

White House requesting funding for Israeli laser weapon, other military assistance

Weapons

An Area-I Air-Launched, Tube-Integrated, Unmanned System, or ALTIUS, sails through the skies at Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz. (Photo by Jose Mejia-Betancourth/CCDC AvMC Technology Development Directorate)

Chinese military boosting its ability to defeat kamikaze drones

Weapons

Special tactics operators conduct close-quarters battle training at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, Jan. 27, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Carly Kavish)

SOCOM wants new targeting tools for urban battles

AI

U.S. Navy Builder 2nd Class Sean McHugh, assigned to Underwater Construction Team (UCT) 2, and U.S. Navy Diver 2nd Class Austin Brown, assigned to U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center (SRF-JRMC) Det. Sasebo, pose for a photo during an underwater pile removal operation at Commander, Fleet Activities Sasebo (CFAS), Jan. 10, 2018. (U.S. Navy Combat Camera photo by Mass Communications Specialist 1st Class Arthurgwain L. Marquez)

Key US Navy shipyard in Japan eyeing large language models, other AI tools

AI

3D illustration of Neptune, Roman god of the sea (Getty Images)

Navy’s new Neptune cloud management office gaining steam

IT

(Getty Images)

JCO aims to shoot down up to 50 drones in counter-swarm demo

Weapons

U.S. Soldiers of the 392nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion in Baltimore, Maryland, assemble an OE254 Radio antenna for communication on Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, NJ, June 21, 2019. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Andrew Washington)

Army will get ‘pounded’ by adversaries if network doesn’t improve, new chief of staff warns

Tech

A U.S. Army Origin robotic weapons system uses a tethered UAS to help Soldiers perform reconnaissance of an area during Project Convergence 22 experimentation Oct. 26, 2022, on Fort Irwin, California. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jaaron Tolley)

‘The simpler, the better’: Army learning lessons from soldier experimentation with robotic vehicle controllers

Weapons

An Aerovel Flexrotor unmanned aerial vehicle launches from the deck of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul (DDG 74) in the Gulf of Oman, in an image released Oct. 6, 2023. (Photo by U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Public Affairs)

US Navy task forces use slew of drones in recent operation to keep tabs on Iranian military assets

Weapons