Courtney Albon

SAN DIEGO — The Defense Innovation Unit wants to improve its process for vetting commercial drones, with the goal of making it easier for companies to sell their systems to the U.S. military.

The Space Development Agency selected Millennium Space Systems to build eight satellites carrying advanced missile tracking sensors, part of an experiment aimed at improving SDA's ability to target threats from space.

The Space Force's top acquisition official wants authority to effectively blacklist underperforming defense contractors — an ability that now resides with the military official who leads the service's purchasing field command.

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Defense Innovation Unit head Doug Beck outlined his goals for the next version of the drone program, even while the first is a work in progress.

Members of the Massachusetts National Guard's Command Team receive a demonstration on the use of commercial quadcopters from the Defense Innovation Unit during Operation Patriot Crucible. (Massachusetts National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jamie Gaitan)

As U.S. launch rates surge at the Defense Department's two coastal ranges, House lawmakers are pushing the military to consider alternative sites for sending space payloads to orbit.

The Navy's top acquisition official told lawmakers this week his service has three projects — including one from the Marine Corps — involved in Replicator, a Pentagon effort to quickly field large numbers of uncrewed systems.

Drones prepare to take flight as part of a human-machine integration experiment during the exercise Project Convergence at Fort Irwin, Calif., on March 11, 2024. (Sgt. Gianna Chiavarone/U.S. Army)