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

U.S. Space Force 1LTs Brandon Wilkinson, (left) and Nicholas Stawinski (right), Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM) operators for the 4th Space Operations Squadron, observe their monitors at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, April 8, 2022. (U.S. Space Force Photo by Dennis Rogers)

Space Force trying to protect its ‘soft underbelly’

Space

The medium displacement unmanned surface vessels Seahawk, front, and Sea Hunter launch for the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem 21 (UxS IBP 21), April 20. UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Thomas Gooley)

Navy grappling with the future of its unmanned fleet

AI

U.S. Marines with 1st Battalion, 3d Marines, train with a Switchblade 300 10C system as part of Service Level Training Exercise 1-22 at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, Sept. 24, 2021. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Alexis Moradian)

Marine Corps commandant gung-ho about loitering munitions

Weapons

Marines sit at a Joint Tactical Common Operation Picture Workstation, or JTCW. The Marine Corps opened up a bug bounty to find flaws in public facing Marine Corps systems.

Marines to create new information command to support Force Design 2030

IT

Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Dr. William A. LaPlante holds a press brief at the Pentagon, May 6, 2022. (DoD Photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class James K. Lee)

New Phoenix Ghost drone was ‘Big Safari’ project

Weapons

Deputy Secretary of Defense, Dr. Kathleen Hicks, is welcomed to Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, by Gen. Glen VanHerck, Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, and Col. Zachary Warakomsky, Commander, Peterson-Schriever Garrison, Dec. 13, 2021. (Department of Defense photo by Mr. Thomas Paul)

Pentagon’s Hicks wants more focus on cyber, EW capabilities for missile defense

Weapons

(Getty Images)

Northern Command testing commercial satcom capabilities in the Arctic

Space

President Joe Biden speaks to employees at a Lockheed Martin facility which manufactures weapon systems such as Javelin anti-tank missiles, on May 3, 2022 in Troy, Alabama. (Photo by Julie Bennett/Getty Images)

Biden, visiting Javelin missile factory, urges Congress to pass CHIPS semiconductor funding

R&D

An Air Force Research Lab conceptual design for an Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (Artwork courtesy of AFRL)

Air Force chief ready to ‘gamble’ on fast-tracking new drones

Weapons