Innovation

Satellites face a fundamental limitation in orbit: nearly everything they do depends on the electricity they can generate and store onboard. As spacecraft take...

Autonomous vehicles, drones and military platforms increasingly depend on accurate positioning to understand where they are and navigate safely. But positioning becomes more difficult...

Light armored vehicles need to balance two requirements that often work against each other: mobility and protection. Troops operating in areas threatened by mines...

Drones have already removed soldiers from some of the most exposed battlefield tasks, but many dangerous jobs still require people on the ground. Moving...

Drone defense is relatively straightforward when protecting a permanent airbase or critical facility: sensors, command systems and other equipment can be installed around a...

Military drones are evolving quickly, but the factories building them do not always move at the same speed. Traditional aircraft manufacturing can depend on...

INNOFENSE was created to identify promising technologies from the civilian market and help unlock their potential for defense applications. Following the progress achieved in...

Drone-on-drone interception becomes considerably harder as the target gets faster. An interceptor not only has to locate and approach another aircraft but also calculate...

Armored vehicles increasingly need to defend against threats coming from more than one direction. Crews may have to engage ground targets while simultaneously watching...

Armored vehicles protect their crews by separating them from the battlefield with thick layers of steel and composite armor. That protection creates an unavoidable...

Every electrical system inside a drone needs power, and delivering it normally means running wires through wings, fuselage sections, and other structural components. Those...

Making a small robot move quickly across unpredictable terrain presents a basic engineering problem. Tiny machines cannot carry large motors or heavy power systems,...

Identifying an unknown chemical or biological substance usually requires sophisticated laboratory equipment, creating a problem when the material is discovered in the field. Samples...

Making drones smaller creates an awkward navigation problem. Cameras become unreliable in darkness, smoke and dust, while LiDAR sensors and the processors needed to...

Have a technology with the potential to make an impact in the defense sector? iHLS, together with the Ministry of Defense and MAFAT, is...

Modern ground-based air defenses must react to threats that behave very differently in flight. Cruise missiles can approach at low altitude, rockets leave little...

Light infantry faces a firepower problem. Units need heavy indirect-fire support that can move quickly with them, but traditional 120mm mortar systems can require...

Long-endurance drones such as the MQ-9 Reaper have provided militaries with persistent surveillance and strike capabilities for decades. But future conflicts may demand something...

Autonomous drones can move quickly in open air, but cluttered environments are much harder. Buildings, trees, narrow passages and other obstacles leave little room...

Small drones have created an uncomfortable economic problem for air defense. An inexpensive UAV may cost only hundreds or a few thousand dollars, yet...

Autonomous aircraft can perform well in carefully controlled demonstrations, but real-world aviation presents a much harder test. Busy airports, unfamiliar routes and changing weather...

As more drones share the same airspace, keeping them connected becomes increasingly difficult. Unmanned aircraft may need to exchange high-resolution video, sensor information and...