Jon Harper

Jon Harper is Editor-in-Chief of DefenseScoop. 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 X: @Jon_Harper_

Articles by Author

U.S. Marines with Headquarters Battalion, 3d Marine Division, execute command and control from a combat operations center during exercise Keen Edge 22 on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan, Jan. 31, 2022. Keen Edge is a biannual bilateral command post exercise between the U.S. military and the Japan Self-Defense Force that achieves mutual security objectives and strengthens U.S.-Japan military interoperability. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Diana Jimenez)

Keen Edge wargame to serve as ‘proof of concept’ for zero-trust networking among international partners

Cyber

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Anthony Peter, a rifleman with 3d Littoral Combat Team, 3d Marine Littoral Regiment, 3d Marine Division, establishes radio communications during Marine Littoral Regiment Training Exercise (MLR-TE) at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, Feb. 20, 2023. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Scott Aubuchon)

Marine Corps about to release new warfighting publication on information operations

Weapons

(Getty Images)

Compromise NDAA includes AI bug bounty program, prize competition for detection and watermarking

AI

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM (April 30, 2021) A 19-gun salute was fired during the change of command ceremony for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) for the arrival of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kenneth Rodriguez)

Hackathon at Indo-Pacific Command’s new AI battle lab open to all US citizens

AI

A NATO flag is set up prior to the signing ceremony of the law, ratifying the NATO Protocol on Finland and Sweden’s membership, on board the Polish Navy frigate ORP Kosciuszko in Gdynia in July 22, 2022. (Photo by MATEUSZ SLODKOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

NATO picks 44 companies for DIANA projects

Emerging Tech

In a an open hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) before the House Intelligence Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee on May 17, 2022, Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Mr. Scott Bray shared a video of a US. Naval aviator encounter with an unknown object in a fleeting pass. This image is a screen capture of the UAP observed in a video of the flyby captured by the pilot in the cockpit of a Navy fighter jet. (DVIDS)

Government UAP records repository on the verge of becoming law, opened to public viewing

Tech

Switchblade 600 rendering (AeroVironment image)

Army wants more vendors, more money for LASSO kamikaze drones

Weapons

(LinkedIn profile photo)

US Central Command recruits Michael Foster as chief data officer

AI

Doug Bush, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, is guided by Col. J. Frederick Dente, V Corps chief of staff, during a visit to Camp Kościuszko, Poland, Sep. 8, 2022. (Photo by Spc. Dean Johnson)

Army drones have ‘good chance’ of being picked for Replicator, acquisition chief says

Weapons