Lifeboat Foundation

High-tech advances in weapons technologies and a return of ‘great power nuclear politics’, risk the world ‘sleepwalking’ into a nuclear age vastly different from the established order of the Cold War, according to new research undertaken at the University of Leicester.

Andrew Futter, Professor of International Politics at the University of Leicester, makes the warning in a research paper for the Hiroshima Organization for Global Peace (HOPe), published today (Friday).

While stockpiles are much reduced from the peak of up to 70,000 nuclear weapons seen in the 1980s, progress in a number of new or ‘disruptive’ technologies threatens to fundamentally change the central pillars on which nuclear order, stability and risk reduction are based.

The laser beamed from the deck of a warship and hit a drone.

With some parts held together by duct tape.

In the raging battle between Russia and Ukraine, Russia’s small drones have been reported to be taking a deadly toll on Ukrainian forces. A new video, however, is revealing that the highly efficient precision drones are not as advanced as one might expect.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry shared a video on Sunday that shows a soldier allegedly dismantling a Russian military surveillance drone and pointing out several highly unsophisticated features. In fact, seeing what the whole drone consists of it seems like something a schoolchild could put together.

Continue reading “Video shows Ukrainian soldier allegedly taking apart a Russian drone and discovering its regular camera” »

The world seems to have taken notice of the level of details services like Google Maps offer on an everyday basis. A Twitter account supporting the Ukrainian forces recently shared some images of Russian military establishments that were in public view on Google Maps.

⚡️GOOGLE MAPS ВІДКРИВ ДОСТУП ДО ВІЙСЬКОВИХ ТА СТРАТЕГІЧНИХ ОБ’ЄКТІВ РОСІЇ. Тепер кожен може побачити різноманітні російські пускові установки, шахти міжконтинентальних балістичних ракет, командні пункти та секретні полігони з роздільною здатністю близько до 5 метра на піксель. pic.twitter.com/i75wR8Efwo — Armed Forces 🇺🇦 (@ArmedForcesUkr) April 18, 2022

As the caption reads, Google has opened access to Russian military and strategic facilities. The tweet was probably an attempt at virtue signaling that Google had taken a stance against Russian aggression. However, as a Google spokesperson told The Verge, the information was available in the public domain well before the Ukraine conflict.

Italian company EuroLink Systems, a technology solutions manufacturer with decades of industry experience, will launch the Beluga mini drone, a dual-use aircraft ready to deploy anywhere from the desert to the arctic, at next week’s Xponential 2022 in Orlando.

The new state-of-the-art multirotor drone blends a bio-inspired design with high-performance features that make it suitable for a wide variety of tasks – from military or public safety applications like short-range reconnaissance, search & rescue, or security applications to commercial use in 3D terrain mapping, urban logistics support applications, threat detections, and urgent medical transportation.

Beluga has been in development for three years and combines Eurolink Systems’ technical experience with mother nature shapes, resulting in an elegant design and rich technical functionality – that represents the best of art and science. The drone can fly fast, with a maximum cruising speed of up to 112 km/h (69 mph), for up to 60 minutes with a 3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) payload.

A shadow war is a war that, officially, does not exist. As mercenaries, hackers and drones take over the role armies once played, shadow wars are on the rise.

States are evading their responsibilities and driving the privatization of violence. War in the grey-zone is a booming business: Mercenaries and digital weaponry regularly carry out attacks, while those giving orders remain in the shadows.

Continue reading “Drones, hackers and mercenaries — The future of war | DW Documentary” »

JERUSALEM — Israel’s new laser missile defense system has successfully intercepted mortars, rockets and anti-tank missiles in recent tests, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Thursday.

The Israeli-made laser system, designed to complement a series of aerial defense systems such as the costly Iron Dome deployed by Israel, will be operational “as soon as possible,” Gantz said.

The goal is to deploy the laser systems around Israel’s borders over the next decade, Gantz added. The tests took place last month in the Negev Desert.

During an Office of Naval Research (ONR) test, an all-electric, high-energy laser weapon was used to defeat a target representing a subsonic cruise missile in flight. The Layered Laser Defense (LLD) weapon was designed and built by Lockheed Martin to serve as a multi-domain, multi-platform demonstration system.