By Dan Gettinger In late February, the Pentagon released the budget justification books for Special Operations Command, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Missile Defense Agency. Combined, these three departments have allocated $503.3 million to drone procurement, research and construction projects. We have updated our publication “Drones in the …
Imagery Update By Dan Gettinger Garoua, a city in northern Cameroon, lies along the Benue River approximately 30 miles east of the Nigerian border. Across the runway from the main terminal at Garoua International Airport sits a large white hangar. For years, there was little evidence of …
On February 9, 2016, President Obama unveiled the federal government’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget. The proposed request includes $587.2 billion in military spending, which is split between a $523.9 billion base budget and a $58.8 billion Overseas Contingency Operations fund for wartime operations. In announcing the Pentagon’s spending request, …
By Dan Gettinger Eight minutes after the detonation of Gilda at Bikini Atoll on July 1, 1946, a fleet of U.S. B-17 Flying Fortresses and F6F Hellcat fighters approached the rising mushroom cloud. The first B-17 entered the cloud at 24,000 feet and, minutes later, three more B-17s and three Hellcats …
By Dan Gettinger Operating Predator and Reaper drones over the battlefield involves dozens of people. One of the most difficult and crucial jobs within this network is that of the Joint Tactical Air Controller, or JTAC. These personnel serve as the link between troops on the ground and air assets, …
By Arthur Holland Michel and Dan Gettinger 2015 was a very busy year in the drone world. The U.S. domestic commercial drone industry began to take shape, military drone exports grew significantly, the technology advanced in leaps and bounds, and certain public safety concerns became a hotly debated topic. We …
By Dan Gettinger On Monday, December 14, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work outlined the pillars of the “third offset strategy,” a plan to develop the technologies that will maintain the American military’s technological superiority. Speaking at the Center for New American Security’s National Security Forum, Work argued that …
For an update on underwater drones, click here. By Dan Gettinger Late last month, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus appointed Brig. Gen. Frank Kelley to become the first deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for unmanned systems, a position that was created in April. “The change to the organization …
A version of this interview is available at Drone360. Lisa Ellman understands the challenges of regulating domestic drones. Between 2009 and 2014, Ellman served in a variety of high-level positions within at the White House and at the Department of Justice, where she worked on policy initiatives on issues spanning from open …
For proposed spending on the MQ-9 Reaper and other unmanned systems in Fiscal Year 2017, click here. For our Defense Spending on Drones project, click here. By Dan Gettinger The MQ-9 Reaper is a medium-altitude long-endurance surveillance and strike drone. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., the primary contractor for the …
By Dan Gettinger On August 21, 2015, Reyaad Khan and Ruhul Amin, two British citizens who had traveled to Syria to fight with ISIL, were killed in a British drone strike while traveling in a vehicle outside of Raqqa, Syria. According to the British government, the strike was necessary to …
This post was originally published on August 28, 2015 and updated on September 10, 2015. By Dan Gettinger and Arthur Holland Michel As domestic drone use has expanded in recent years, so too has the number of incidents in which manned aircraft have come into close contact with drones, as well …
