Though Pentagon planners are committed to making some hard line-item choices in their budgets in the coming years, they got it right when it came to accelerating the funding for cyber defense in fiscal year 2014 so it at least can have a fighting chance of keeping pace with technical and IT developments in the commercial/consumer world.
The coming years for the military might likely point to a greater dependence on unmanned systems, a reliance on Special Operations and quick-reaction forces, and better situational awareness and networking for the fewer number of troops on the ground.
We thought it would be appropriate to cap our final issue of 2012 with the Defense Systems Super 75, our ranking of the most innovative and agile companies operating in the net-centric battlespace.
Too few of our service members were on hand at the recent Association of the U.S. Army show to see and demonstrate the new technologies exhibited for themselves.
Cybersecurity protections that address our food and water supplies, health-care systems and power grids need to happen immediately.
The military's Joint Tactical Radio System program has had its share of problems, but it has produced the Rifleman radio and a waveform repository that just might revolutionize communications interoperability between U.S. and coalition forces.
Many wheels were set in motion this summer, s a number of key leaders in military cyber and defense IT were set to begin transitions to new posts, while at the same time the Air Force began a reorganization with major implications for the future direction of the service's cyber policies and actions.
It's been several weeks since the release of the fiscal 2013 defense budget, and heads are certainly still spinning in the Pentagon. Here are some of the winners and losers at each of the services.