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

Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall makes remarks during the Senior Leader Orientation Course at Joint Base Andrews, Md., April 11, 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo by Eric Dietrich)

Kendall: Air Force’s next-gen fighter will be ‘better than anything’ China can produce

Weapons

A Ukrainian soldier pilots a drone in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, on September 25, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Juan BARRETO / AFP) (Photo by JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images)

Counter-drone tech, radars included in new $1.1B Ukraine assistance package

Weapons

Self driving vehicles take part in a test ride on the A2 motorway in Zijderveld, on March 16, 2016. (Photo credit KOEN VAN WEEL/AFP via Getty Images)

Pentagon may take a page out of Tesla’s playbook and run AI in ‘shadow mode’

Emerging Tech

Concept art for the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM). (Image courtesy of Raytheon Technologies)

HACM contract winners see opportunities for producing less expensive hypersonics at higher rates

Weapons

Concept art for the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapons Concept that Raytheon and Northrop Grumman have partnered on. (Image courtesy of Northrop Grumman)

Raytheon tapped to develop Air Force’s Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile

Weapons

(Getty Images)

Pentagon to phase out use of geostationary satellites for missile warning, missile tracking

Space

A 522nd Special Operations Squadron MC-130J Combat Shadow II aircraft, flies over the skies New Mexico., Jan. 4, 2012. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman James Bell)

AFSOC adding new electronic warfare capabilities, other weapons to C-130s

Weapons

An artist’s rendering of the forthcoming B-21 Raider. (Northrop Grumman)

Air Force, Northrop Grumman slated to unveil new B-21 stealth bomber in early December

Weapons

The Variable In-flight Simulator Aircraft (VISTA) flies in the skies over Edwards Air Force Base, California, shortly after receiving its new paint scheme in early 2019. The aircraft was redesignated from NF-16D to the X-62A, June 14, 2021. F-16 AI agents developed under DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program controlled the X-62A during test flights over Edwards AFB, California, in December 2022. (Air Force photo by Christian Turner)

X-62 aircraft is ‘booked solid’ as a flying testbed for autonomy technology

AI