This image, annotated to highlight a Starlink terminal, was provided by a Ukrainian source who called it a screenshot of video from a Ukrainian drone participating in a strike on a Russian position inside Ukraine.
2024 in review: Technology
China's "nuclear" sub, Ukraine's cheap sensors, Starlink in Russian hands, and other important tech stories.
Russia is using SpaceX’s Starlink satellite devices in Ukraine, sources say
Elon Musk’s company, once hailed for aiding the besieged country, now appears to be helping its invaders as well.
Sam Skove, Staff Writer
What reports got wrong about China’s ‘sunken nuclear submarine’
Western news organizations often miss crucial context—and even the real news—about Chinese military modernization.
J. Michael Dahm and Peter W. Singer
Ukraine’s cheap sensors are helping troops fight off waves of Russian drones
Sub-$500 rig helps save expensive air-defense missiles for bigger threats.
Audrey Decker, Staff Writer
New AI-powered strike drone shows how quickly battlefield autonomy is evolving
First-person drone piloting is yesterday’s news. Drones are becoming smarter as the electronic environment around them makes operator communication more...
Patrick Tucker, Science & Technology Editor
Why the Navy isn’t shooting down Houthi drones with lasers yet
A paradox is slowing the service's drive to replace expensive missiles with theoretically better energy weapons.
Patrick Tucker, Science & Technology Editor
What the Army learned from its first all-digital ground vehicle design
Prototypes of the XM-30 Combat Vehicle are expected in 2025, said the Army’s top vehicle buyer.
Lauren C. Williams, Senior Editor
A group of 20-somethings built a GPS-independent drone in 24 hours—and caught the eye of US special operations forces
Here’s what that says about the new class of defense industry disruptors.
Patrick Tucker, Science & Technology Editor
US-made jam-resistant drones helped Ukrainians cut through Russia EW
Shield AI’s V-BATs are giving Kyiv new range, capabilities.
Patrick Tucker, Science & Technology Editor
Maxar’s working on a 3D-mapping tool to replace GPS
The plan is to test and have it ready for use next year, officials said.
Lauren C. Williams, Senior Editor
In Ukraine, a US firm tests a promising tool against GPS jammers: cell phones
Could “networking phones together as one big distributed antenna” help foil Russian electronic warfare?
Patrick Tucker, Science & Technology Editor
DIU orders software to drive massive drone swarms
The software glue holding the Replicator effort together is beginning to harden.
Patrick Tucker, Science & Technology Editor