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. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Shay Burnett, an instructor with Advanced Infantry Training Battalion, School of Infantry – East, and a native of Texas, controls a Neros Archer small unmanned aircraft system during a kinetic first-person view drone range on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Sept. 12, 2025. The range was conducted to validate a scalable, repeatable methodology for enabling FPV strike operations and used as a reference to support cost-effective training and eventual kinetic employment. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Zachariah Ferraro)

SOCOM solicits industry to train commandos to build and fly FPV drones

Weapons

Dylan Driscoll, a representative for Anduril, talks to Senior Airman Thomas Royce about information fed into Lattice, the software that is part of the command-and-control function of U.S. Northern Command’s Counter-small Unmanned Aerial System fly-away kit, during an exercise at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., Oct. 23, 2025. (Department of Defense photo by John Ingle)

Army picks Anduril to provide next-gen fire control platform for IBCS-M program

AI

(Screenshot from DVIDS broadcast of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaking at the National War College, Nov. 7, 2025.)

Hegseth looking to sideline laggards in acquisition community, industry

Tech

An aerial view of the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., May 15, 2023. (DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. John Wright)

Nominee for Pentagon CAPE director says office’s workforce is strained, needs new tech

Tech

(Getty Images)

Nominee for Pentagon strategist outlines approach for stymieing potential Chinese attacks on Taiwan

Tech

Laser stock photo (Getty Images)

Army takes another step on path toward producing new drone-killing laser weapons

Emerging Tech

U.S. Air Force Gen. Ken Wilsbach, commander of Air Combat Command, speaks to Capt. Nick “Laz” Le Tourneau, F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team commander and pilot, following the team’s certification flight at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, Jan. 24, 2025. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. Matthew Coleman-Foster)

Gen. Wilsbach, newly confirmed by the Senate, faces major challenges as Air Force chief

Tech

A sign is seen before a checkpoint at Quantico Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia on September 29, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Marine Corps postpones generative AI workshop due to lapse in appropriations

AI

Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, claps during the 144th Commencement Exercises at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, May 21, 2025. (DHS photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Mikaela McGee.)

Trump nominates cyber expert for Coast Guard commandant

Tech