XC3 Weaponlight

Archive for the ‘Admin’ Category

Parsons and DroneShield Highlight Open-Architecture Approach to Countering Evolving Drone Threats

Thursday, June 18th, 2026

Recent Demonstration Showcases Interoperable Counter-UAS Capabilities for National Security and Critical Infrastructure Missions

Warrenton, VA. – 16 June 2026 – DroneShield, a global leader in advanced counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS), recently highlighted its participation in a recent C-UAS demonstration with Parsons Corporation, showcasing how interoperable technologies can help organizations detect, track, and respond to evolving drone threats.

The demonstration brought together advanced sensing, command-and-control, and counter-drone technologies within a common operational environment, highlighting how organizations can leverage best-of-breed capabilities to improve situational awareness and accelerate decision-making during complex security operations.

As part of the demonstration, DroneShield provided drone detection, electronic warfare, and mitigation capabilities within Parsons’ DroneArmor™ command-and-control environment. The event highlighted how open architectures enable technologies from multiple providers to work together, giving operators greater flexibility to build solutions tailored to mission requirements.

DroneShield’s portfolio of counter-UAS and electronic warfare solutions is deployed globally across military, government, law enforcement, critical infrastructure, and commercial environments.

Parsons is a leading disruptive technology provider in the national security and global infrastructure markets, with capabilities across cyber and electronic warfare, space and missile defense, transportation, water and environment, urban development, and critical infrastructure protection. The demonstration underscored the value of industry collaboration in addressing increasingly sophisticated airspace security challenges. The demonstration underscored the value of industry collaboration in addressing increasingly sophisticated airspace security challenges.

“Drone threats continue to evolve, and organizations need technologies that work together seamlessly,” said Nate Webb, Director of Strategic Projects at DroneShield. “This demonstration highlighted the value of interoperability and open architectures, allowing customers to combine best-of-breed capabilities into effective counter-drone solutions that can adapt as mission requirements change.”

DroneShield’s solutions are designed to integrate with a broad range of command-and-control systems, sensors, and mitigation technologies. This approach enables customers to build layered counter-drone ecosystems that meet operational requirements while maintaining flexibility as technologies and threats continue to evolve.

GM Defense and Lockheed Martin Collaborate to Strengthen America’s Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base

Wednesday, June 17th, 2026

Lockheed Martin, GM Defense Collaborate to Strengthen America’s Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base

BETHESDA, Md., and DETROIT, June 16, 2026 – Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] and GM Defense today announced a new collaboration to strengthen America’s manufacturing and defense industrial base, facilitated by the U.S. Department of War. Working under a memorandum of understanding (MOU), Lockheed Martin and GM Defense will explore opportunities to accelerate the delivery of critical capabilities and innovation by combining Lockheed Martin’s defense production expertise with General Motors’ advanced industrial capabilities in high-rate commercial manufacturing and engineering.

The collaboration will focus on three areas: strengthening defense supply chains, advancing manufacturing and design capabilities, and evaluating opportunities to expand production capacity through commercial manufacturing expertise and infrastructure. Initial efforts will include exploring ways to accelerate production readiness and apply proven commercial manufacturing approaches to support defense production requirements.

“America’s security depends not only on developing advanced technologies, but on our ability to produce them quickly, reliably and at scale,” said Frank St. John, chief operating officer, Lockheed Martin. “This collaboration brings together two leaders in American manufacturing and innovation to explore new ways to strengthen the defense industrial base, expand production capacity and accelerate delivery of critical capabilities for the United States and its allies.”

“Working together, GM Defense and Lockheed will further strengthen American manufacturing and national defense by driving greater speed, efficiency, and innovation in the aerospace and defense sectors,” said Steve duMont, president of GM Defense. “Over the coming weeks, we will be working to identify initial projects to pursue together.”

The collaboration reflects growing demand for greater production capacity, supply chain resilience and manufacturing agility across the defense sector. By combining commercial and defense expertise, the companies aim to identify opportunities that can accelerate production timelines while maintaining the quality, performance and reliability standards required for mission-critical systems.

About Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin is a global defense technology company driving innovation and advancing scientific discovery. Our all-domain mission solutions and 21st Century Security® vision accelerate the delivery of transformative technologies to ensure those we serve always stay ahead of ready. More information at www.lockheedmartin.com.

About GM Defense LLC

GM Defense delivers integrated vehicles, power, and autonomy and connectivity solutions to global defense, security, and government markets. The exceptional reliability of GM Defense’s technologies results from decades of proven performance and billions of dollars spent in independent research and development by its parent, General Motors, a world leader in global design, engineering, and manufacturing capabilities. For more information, please visit www.gmdefensellc.com.

Salomon Quest Cold Weather Forces WP EN Boot

Wednesday, June 17th, 2026

During last month’s Operator Expo in Ottawa, 911 Supply showed me the new Salomon Quest Cold Weather Forces WP EN boot.

Built for cold, snowy conditions, as you can see by the temperature rating it fits in between the Quest and Toundra which goes down to -40 degrees C. It features insulation and a waterproof membrane as well as an anti-static, anti-puncture and anti-slip sole.

Offered in Black and Coyote in sizes 4-15 with half sizes up to 13.

www.salomon.com/en-us/product/quest-cw-forces-wp-en-li8968/L49278700

The LunchTime System from Lightbearers

Tuesday, June 16th, 2026

Our friends at MATBOCK gave us a look at something get discovered during the 2026 SOMA Scientific Assembly.

I’d simple say it’s a cool med box that slides open, but their description is better.

“The LunchTime System is a compact, rapidly deployable point-of-injury (POI) organization platform designed to stage critical medical components in a consistent, repeatable layout while enabling immediate deployment from a protected carry position.”

The LunchTime System consists of three integrated components that function together as a unified POI deployment platform:

LunchBox – rigid protective enclosure with configurable GripMatrix organization
LunchTray – sliding rapid-deployment interface between LunchBox and LunchBag
LunchBag – hard protective carry and mounting shell

One of the things I like about it is that it incorporates load carrying attachment points.

Available in Black, Green and Tan.

lightbearersllc.com

Halite Overbag Pro

Tuesday, June 16th, 2026

During OpEx 911 Supply exhibited the Overbag Pro from Norway’s Halite which will add 14 deg C to any sleep system.

Insulated with continuous fiber Climashield APEX insulation with hydrophobic Aquaban DWR treat-ment in combination with a Pertex Quantum shell.

https://www.halite.no/products/overbag

Dear Industry — Stop The Slop: Part Deux

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026

A few weeks ago I put out a plea to industry to not use Artificial Intelligence Large Language Models to create press releases. Something happened the following week which really lit a fuze under me. Not long after, something happened which made me double down.

I was attending SOF Week and happened across a company specializing in AI. Why they use it in an entirely different way than LLMs, I shared the story of running across a PR so egregious that I created my post. A little laugh was had by all.

Not long after, I received that very company’s PR for the show. It was even worse than the one that had set my jaw the week earlier.

I headed back to the booth and as I walked up the head of Marketing knew exactly why I had returned. I showed them the PR and what the back end looked like.

It had been written by their Public Relations Agency and the company I was speaking with contacted that agency to inquire about their product. I too emailed the representative who had sent me the PR to inquire as to whether AI had been used and included a screenshot of the HTML version of the PR in question which was an absolute hot mess.

That evening I received this reply.

When I read the reply I let out a loud curse. Those of you who have to deal with slop know why.

You see that extra long dash in the email? That’s called an “emdash” and nobody on this planet uses that damnable punctuation mark except for AI. For some reason it’s so insidiously embedded in AI that if you tell an LLM not to use it, it will go back to it very quickly. You see an emdash, it’s 99.9% AI derived slop.

To summarize, I send out an inquiry as to whether or not a document was written using an LLM and the reply I received denying its use was either written using AI, or was a serious prank. Pretty bold move.

The next morning, I returned to the company the PR had been written about to discuss the issue with their head of marketing. Initially, they did not know the significance of the use of the emdash. They then made me privy to an email written in response to their inquiry with their PR agency. That email disclosed that they had indeed used AI to assist in creating the PR. This was at odds with the assertion I had received from my POC.

I don’t like being lied to. I am in my late 50s and the father of six children, I know when someone is BSing me. At that moment, I made a decision to no longer accept any PR submissions from that particular representative, no matter where they went to work, and from that PR agency in general.

I’m not going to throw them under the bus publicly, but hopefully they read this and are ashamed knowing that I’ve got their number.

As for other agencies out there, it’s OK to use an LLM to conduct research or to assist with grammar and readability. But don’t let it do all of your work for you.

Customers read the slop and know that it’s junk. AI agents scour the web, searching for slop and let search engines dough to avoid recommending websites that are full of slop.

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2026 SOF Week

Tuesday, May 19th, 2026

Welcome to the annual Wreck-It Ralph Convention!

Please join us as we endeavour to cover the massive Special Operations Forces Week event sponsored by the Global SOF Foundation.

Here We Stand – 18 Years On

Sunday, May 17th, 2026

Today we celebrate our 18th anniversary of daily publication with this 42,658th post. It’s been a great trip and we look forward to many more.