Unmanned, hypersonic, cyber security top 2018 stories

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Carrier-based unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), hypersonic weapons, and the business of cyber security dominated reader interest highlighting some of the most important technological issues facing the U.S. defense industry.

By Mil & Aero staff
Of 2018's top 10 most-read articles online at Military & Aerospace electronics, two concerned shipboard UAVs, and two were about the emergence and enabling technologies for a new generation of hypersonicweapons.
Rounding-out 2018's most popular Military & Aerospace Electronics articles were on topics concerning emerging market powerhouses in cyber security; vetronics and armored combat vehicles; prospects for a future supercavitating torpedo; advanced military night vision; combat aircraft avionics; and the tense military situation in the South China Sea.
Five U.S. defense contractors are among the world's top 25 cyber security and trusted computing companies, say analysts at market researcher Cybersecurity Ventures in Northport, N.Y.
Armored combat vehicle experts at General Dynamics Corp. will upgrade as many as 786 M1 Abrams main battle tanks and vetronics to the most advanced M1A2 SEPv3 configuration under terms of a $2.6 billion contract.
Top officials of Lockheed Martin Corp. say their candidate for the Navy’s MQ-25 Stingray carrier-capable unmanned refueling tanker is a flying wing that meets or exceeds all the Navy’s requirements.
U.S. Air Force airborne weapons experts are looking to Lockheed Martin Corp. to develop and test a hypersonic missile able to achieve speeds of about five times the speed of sound after launch from jet fighters and bombers.
Military forces throughout the world are obsessed, it seems, with speed. Jet aircraft, the missile, even the lowly bullet typically go faster than the speed of sound. Everywhere is an obsession with speed except in undersea warfare. In fact, today's most advanced militaries are working on so-called hypersonic missiles that eventually could travel through the air at about seven times the speed of sound, or 5,320 miles per hour.
It's been apparent for a while now that Russia and China have stolen a march on U.S. military technology developers when it comes to the science of hypersonic weapons. Now the U.S. military has awakened from its slumber and is pursuing hypersonics with a vengeance.
U.S. Army night vision experts needed advanced binocular infrared and image-intensification electro-optical binoculars to enable U.S. and allied warfighters to operate effectively at night. They found their solution from L-3 Insight in Londonderry, N.H.
Boeing to build 36 new F-15QA combat aircraft with digital fly by wire for Qatar in $6.2 billion deal 
Combat aircraft designers at the Boeing Co. will provide 36 new versions of the F-15E Strike Eagle jet fighter-bomber to the government of Qatar in the Middle East under terms of a $6.2 billion contract.
U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviation experts are thinking about a future ship-based multi-mission unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) able to operate at extended range and endurance that could be operational as early as 2028.
U.S. Navy weapons development has been among the top defense priorities of the Trump Administration; a quick glance across the Pacific, and it's easy to see why. The South China Sea is one of the most important international waterways, and it's quickly falling under exclusive control of the People's Republic of China.