Mikayla Easley

Mikayla Easley reports on the Pentagon’s acquisition and use of emerging technologies. Prior to joining DefenseScoop, she covered national security and the defense industry for National Defense Magazine. She received a BA in Russian language and literature from the University of Michigan and a MA in journalism from the University of Missouri. You can follow her on Twitter @MikaylaEasley

Articles by Author

Concept art for the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM). (Image courtesy of Raytheon Technologies)

Raytheon to receive $407M for ‘enhancements’ to Air Force hypersonic missile

Weapons

Commercial operators deploy Saildrone Voyager Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) out to sea in the initial steps of U.S. 4th Fleet’s Operation Windward Stack during a launch from Naval Air Station Key West’s Mole Pier and Truman Harbor, Sept. 13, 2023. (U.S. Navy photo by Danette Baso Silvers/Released)

Navy’s 4th Fleet sets sights on command center upgrades for drone ops

Emerging Tech

KITTERY, ME. Nov. 17, 2022, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard: Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti meets with leadership at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard during a visit which included briefs on the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program and Naval Sustainment System – Shipyards. (U.S. Navy photo by Jim Cleveland/Released).

New Navy CNO eyes unmanned systems, disruptive tech to augment force

Emerging Tech

(Getty Images)

Rocket Lab to build 18 satellites for SDA’s global satcom constellation

Space

Capt. Drake Williams, I3E program manager, interacts with I3E’s augmented reality space simulation at the SpaceDEN, a Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) facility located in El Segundo, Calif. (U.S. Space Force photo: Capt. Calvin Suratos)

Space Force taps Microsoft to build cloud-based, simulated space environment

Space

U.S. Space Force Major General DeAnna M. Burt speaks during a change of command ceremony for the Combined Force Space Component Command, United States Space Command, Nov. 16, 2020, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. During the event Major General John E. Shaw relinquished command of the CFSCC and deputy command of Space Operations Command, U.S. Space Force, to Burt who previously served as the Director of Operation and Communications, Headquarters USSF. (U.S. Air Force photo by Michael Peterson)

Space Force ‘days away’ from signing first commercial strategy

Space

Artist rendering of the X-65 (DARPA image)

Aurora Flight Sciences begins manufacturing X-65 drone for DARPA

Emerging Tech

Powered by 27 Merlin engines, generating more than five million pounds of combined thrust, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from Launch Complex (LC)-39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Dec. 28, 2023 at 8:07 p.m. EST, carrying the U.S. Space Force (USSF)-52 mission into Earth orbit. (SpaceX photo)

Space Force launches X-37B robotic space plane for new round of classified experiments

Space

(Getty Images)

Space Force hosts inaugural ‘orbital warfare’ training exercise

Space