🥽 NATO Preps AI-Driven Augmented Reality Headborne System for Field Trials

📬 In Today’s Defense Brief

🛰️ Space Force Vice Chief Says Service May Need Twice as Many Guardians

👂 Army Eyes Acoustic Detection Systems to Help Dismounted Troops Spot Small Drones

🧠 Army Tests Next-Gen C2 “Common Data Layer” Prototype for the First Time

🎯 Germany Orders Additional METEOR Beyond-Visual-Range Air-to-Air Missiles

🥽 NATO Preps AI-Driven Augmented Reality Headborne System for Field Trials

🎱 Plus 10 other news stories you may like

📰 Full Breakdown

🛰️ Space Force Vice Chief Says Service May Need Twice as Many Guardians — Read More

• Space Force leaders are signaling that the service’s manpower growth is falling behind its expanding mission set, with Vice Chief Gen. Shawn Bratton arguing the branch likely needs to roughly double its uniformed footprint over the next decade. He said annual accessions on the military side need to accelerate beyond current levels to keep pace with operational demand.

• Bratton tied the personnel push to scale: the number of operational satellites under Space Force control has surged since the service stood up, while the overall budget has also climbed sharply. His message was that capacity isn’t just dollars—it’s trained operators, infrastructure, and intelligence units able to employ a rapidly growing orbital architecture.

• He also pointed to ongoing maturation as the Space Force builds out service components aligned to combatant commands, citing recent progress in standing up these organizations as the branch “catches up” institutionally. Bratton also acknowledged internal reforms aimed at bridging culture gaps—especially between operations and acquisition—framing those fixes as essential if the force is going to grow responsibly.

👂 Army Eyes Acoustic Detection Systems to Help Dismounted Troops Spot Small Drones — Read More

• The Army is surveying industry for acoustic detection capabilities that can help dismounted troops detect and cue against small drones, particularly Group 1 and Group 2 UAS. The effort is being driven by the Army’s C5ISR Center under DEVCOM, which issued a request for information intended to shape requirements and prototyping pathways for a soldier-usable “sense” layer.

• The RFI frames the need around the hard problem of spotting small, low-flying drones in time to matter—especially as drone swarms and low-cost UAS have proliferated in recent conflicts. Acoustic sensing is being positioned as a complementary approach that can provide overhead warning when radar, EO/IR, or other detection methods are degraded, cluttered, or simply unavailable at the dismounted edge.

• The push sits inside a broader Pentagon and Army sprint to stand up more robust counter-small-UAS capabilities informed by battlefield lessons. The article notes senior-level direction to accelerate C-UAS development, with an emphasis on tools that formations can operate themselves—aiming for systems that are easy to use, widely fieldable, and practical for everyday force protection in contested environments.

🧠 Army Tests Next-Gen C2 “Common Data Layer” Prototype for the First Time — Read More

• The Army conducted a first test of a prototype “common data layer” for its Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) modernization priority, running the effort in the Pacific with the 25th Infantry Division. Leaders described the data layer as foundational: AI-enabled decision speed depends on data being accessible, secure, and structured so software and algorithms can actually use it.

• The test was part of the Lightning Surge series (formerly Lightning Strike), designed as serialized, incremental events that build toward larger multi-domain experimentation like Project Convergence. In this iteration, the priority was validating that the prototype could feed an edge-to-common operating picture and keep updates synchronized in near real-time across the architecture—essentially proving “visualize the battlefield” at division scale.

• The Army framed the work as complementary to other NGC2 prototyping efforts, including a parallel division-level effort with another vendor, emphasizing that the service wants multiple vendors and approaches feeding learning. In practical terms, evaluators looked at whether the data layer improved secure sharing across networks and platforms, supported maneuver, integrated diverse signals, and accelerated reporting through an AI pipeline.

🎯 Germany Orders Additional METEOR Beyond-Visual-Range Air-to-Air Missiles — Read More

• Germany has signed another contract for additional METEOR beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles for the Bundeswehr, continuing a pattern of follow-on procurement for the ramjet-powered weapon. MBDA says the award was made via the Meteor Integrated Joint Programme Office on behalf of Germany’s procurement authority, highlighting the program’s multinational structure and the ongoing demand signal among partner nations.

• METEOR is positioned as a “no-escape zone” air dominance missile, using a solid-fuel, variable-flow ducted rocket (ramjet) produced in Germany by Bayern-Chemie that provides sustained thrust through intercept. MBDA underscores METEOR as a flagship example of six-nation European collaboration (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden) delivering a shared, high-end capability.

• The announcement also points to broader momentum around METEOR integration and testing across platforms, including continued work related to F-35 integration progress, and its fielding across aircraft like Typhoon, Rafale, and Gripen. The new German buy reinforces Europe’s push to strengthen air-to-air lethality and readiness as air-defense and air-superiority requirements intensify across the region.

🥽 NATO Preps AI-Driven Augmented Reality Headborne System for Field Trials — Read More

• A new head-mounted augmented reality system—the Field Operator HUD (FOH)—is being developed by Distance Technologies to improve battlefield visualization for military vehicle operators. The concept is to boost situational awareness without overloading crews, using a minimalist, mission-first interface that selectively surfaces only mission-critical inputs instead of dumping every data stream into the operator’s view.

• FOH combines “computational optics” AR hardware with AI-enabled processing to fuse multiple sensor feeds, identify and track relevant objects, and filter what’s displayed down to what’s operationally useful. The system is designed to connect with vehicle and soldier systems through wired and wireless links, and it’s engineered for use both inside and outside vehicles depending on the mission and operating environment.

• The article also highlights cross-domain utility: FOH is described as enabling shared control of unmanned aerial vehicles, delivering live video and location data to support coordinated operations. It can integrate with night-vision goggles for low-light use. Field trials with NATO forces and allied nations are expected in the coming months, with broader availability planned for 2027.

🌏 Other Important News

✈️ Air

• Japan responds to Russian surveillance, bomber aircraft — Read More

• Japan’s new anti-ship missile “barrel rolls” during final approach to target — Read More

• India builds next-gen “shield” to knock down hypersonic threats — Read More

🛡️ Land

• Army to push M1E3 prototypes to soldiers this summer, five years ahead of schedule — Read More

🛰️ Space

• Space Force leaders prep for FY27 budget jump, personnel increases — Read More

• AFRL selects Aalyria for Space Data Network experimentation program — Read More

🏭 Industry

• Leonardo DRS opens advanced naval power and propulsion facility in Charleston region — Read More

• AeroVironment faces stop-work order, renegotiates SCAR deal — Read More

• Reuters: Fear and resignation in Davos as Trump dominates WEF agenda — Read More

• No decision yet on AFRICOM’s future as terror groups become “more cohesive,” official says — Read More

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