Jon Harper

Jon Harper is Managing Editor of DefenseScoop, the Scoop News Group’s newest 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 Twitter @Jon_Harper_

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Vice Adm. Jon Hill testifies at a House Armed Services Committee hearing March 12, 2020.

MDA director unsure if new hypersonic missile interceptor can be fielded before 2030

Defense

(Getty Images)

Special Operations Command trying to prepare for quantum computing threat

Defense

Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu participates in a virtual event for Engineers Week, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Feb. 23, 2022. (DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando)

Pentagon working with allies on secretive autonomous drone project

Defense

A U.S. Navy Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman deploys an unmanned aerial system during a training mission on July 15, 2020. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Aven Santiago)

Special Operations Command looking to ditch some of its drones, buy new ISR capabilities

Defense

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’

Defense

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

Defense

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

Defense

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

Defense

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

Defense