Jon Harper

Jon Harper is Managing Editor of DefenseScoop, the Scoop News Group’s online publication focused on the Pentagon and its pursuit of new capabilities. 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 (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) @Jon_Harper_

Articles by Author

Daniel Driscoll testifies at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on his nomination to be secretary of the Army, Jan, 30, 2025. (Screenshot from video on Congress.gov)

Trump’s nominee for Army secretary calls for buying more commercial off-the-shelf tech

Tech

The full Super Blue Moon is centered in the spires of the U.S. Air Force Memorial early in the morning on August 19, 2024, in Arlington, VA. (Photo by J. David Ake/Getty Images)

Air Force pondering CCA drones that don’t require runways as officials plan next increment

Weapons

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks after being sworn in by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance in the Indian Treaty Room at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House on January 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Pete Hegseth, Trump’s new defense secretary, issues message vowing to ‘rapidly’ field emerging tech

Emerging Tech

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth pumps his fist after a Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on January 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Pete Hegseth narrowly wins confirmation to be Trump’s defense secretary

Tech

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the Transporter 12 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Jan. 14, 2025. Its payload includes Otter, an NPS CubeSat suite. (Credit: SpaceX)

NRO, Navy launch experimental Otter CubeSat

Space

(Getty Images)

Pentagon to launch new study focused on non-terrestrial networks and protocols

Tech

Joe DiBenedetto, a civilian contractor aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76) does flight pre-checks on a Mk. 4.7 Golf Aerosonde drone on the flight deck while operating in the Philippine Sea, March 30, 2024. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Hannah Fry)

Navy aims to expand vendor pool for COCO drones and ISR support

Tech

NAVAL BASE SAN DIEGO (Feb. 5, 2024) The first four Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Crafts (GARCs) are delivered to Unmanned Surface Vessel Squadron 3 (USVRON 3). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Kelby Sanders)

Navy ramping up production of autonomous GARC vessels

AI

U.S. Space Force Brig. Gen. Dennis Bythewood, left, deputy commander of the Joint Task Force-Space Defense, shakes hands with Dr. Troy E. Meink, principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, Aug. 31, 2022. Meink, along with George C. Barnes, deputy director of the National Security Agency, visited the JTF-SD and its National Space Defense Center to receive a mission brief. The JTF-SD, and its NSDC, provide unprecedented unity of effort with the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community and NRO to protect and defend against threats in the space domain. (U.S. Space Force photo by Tiana Williams)

Trump chooses spy agency official for Air Force secretary

Tech