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

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

U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Stephanie Pittman, an air support operations operator with Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron One, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing shows the 39th Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Eric M. Smith, some of the capabilities at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona on July 24, 2024. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Kelsey Dornfeld)

Marine commandant wants ‘off-the-shelf’ generative AI tools for the Corps

AI

A Ukrainian Armed Forces drone operator who gave the name Tarik, of the 148th Separate Artillery Brigade, prepares an American made Puma surveillance drone for a flight test to scout Russian targets and correct artillery fire against Russian positions on July 24, 2024, in the direction of Marinka, Ukraine. (Photo by Scott Peterson/Getty Images)

A final rundown of the drones committed to Ukraine by the Biden administration

Weapons

A Special Tactics Airman, assigned to the 24th Special Operations Wing, signals a plane to land at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico on March 1, 2024. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Senior Airman Natalie Vandergriff)

Special ops forces seek to manage digital footprints, achieve ‘security through obscurity’

Tech

Dana Deasy, Department of Defense Chief Information Officer, holds a media briefing on the COVID-19 Telework Readiness Task Force on Monday, April 13, 2020, in the Pentagon Briefing Room. (DoD photo by Marvin Lynchard)

Former Pentagon CIO appointed to senior position at Boeing

Tech