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Archive for the ‘military’ category: Page 138

Jun 14, 2020

Canadian scientist sent deadly viruses to Wuhan lab months before RCMP asked to investigate

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, government, military

“We have a researcher who was removed by the RCMP from the highest security laboratory that Canada has for reasons that government is unwilling to disclose. The intelligence remains secret. But what we know is that before she was removed, she sent one of the deadliest viruses on Earth, and multiple varieties of it to maximize the genetic diversity and maximize what experimenters in China could do with it, to a laboratory in China that does dangerous gain of function experiments. And that has links to the Chinese military.”

Gain of function experiments are when a natural pathogen is taken into the lab, made to mutate, and then assessed to see if it has become more deadly or infectious.

Most countries, including Canada, don’t do these kinds of experiments — because they’re considered too dangerous, Attaran said.

Continue reading “Canadian scientist sent deadly viruses to Wuhan lab months before RCMP asked to investigate” »

Jun 13, 2020

Are AI-Powered Killer Robots Inevitable?

Posted by in categories: drones, military, nuclear weapons, robotics/AI, singularity

Autonomous weapons present some unique challenges to regulation. They can’t be observed and quantified in quite the same way as, say, a 1.5-megaton nuclear warhead. Just what constitutes autonomy, and how much of it should be allowed? How do you distinguish an adversary’s remotely piloted drone from one equipped with Terminator software? Unless security analysts can find satisfactory answers to these questions and China, Russia, and the US can decide on mutually agreeable limits, the march of automation will continue. And whichever way the major powers lead, the rest of the world will inevitably follow.


Military scholars warn of a “battlefield singularity,” a point at which humans can no longer keep up with the pace of conflict.

Jun 12, 2020

Radioactive cloud over Europe had civilian background

Posted by in categories: energy, government, military

A mysterious cloud containing radioactive ruthenium-106, which moved across Europe in autumn 2017, is still bothering Europe’s radiation protection entities. Although the activity concentrations were innocuous, they reached up to 100 times the levels of what had been detected over Europe in the aftermath of the Fukushima accident. Since no government had assumed responsibility, a military background could not be ruled out.

Researchers at the Leibniz University Hannover and the University of Münster (both Germany) were able to confirm that the cloud did not originate from military sources—but rather from civilian nuclear activities. Hence, the release of ruthenium from a reprocessing plant for nuclear fuels is the most conclusive scenario for explaining the incident in autumn 2017. The study has been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Jun 12, 2020

DARPA, Biotech, and Human Enhancement — ideaXme — Dr. Eric Van Gieson — Biological Technologies Office (BTO) Epigenetic CHaracterization and Observation (ECHO) Program — Ira Pastor

Posted by in categories: aging, bioengineering, biotech/medical, defense, DNA, genetics, government, health, life extension, military

Jun 10, 2020

U.S. jets intercept Russian nuclear-capable bombers off Alaska, NORAD says

Posted by in category: military

U.S. fighter jets intercepted Russian bombers twice on Wednesday off the coast of Alaska, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said Wednesday. The intercepts come less than two weeks after U.S. bombers were met by Russian jets over the Black Sea.

NORAD said US F-22 Raptors intercepted a Russian bomber formation early Wednesday that came within 20 nautical miles of the Alaskan coast. NORAD posted images of the incident on Twitter.

The formation consisted of two TU-95 bombers, two SU-35 fighter jets and an A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft, NORAD said. The second formation consisted of two TU-95 bombers and an A-50 and came within 32 nautical miles of Alaskan shores.

Jun 10, 2020

This summer could be a make or break moment for US Air Force’s next fighter program

Posted by in category: military

The Next Generation Air Dominance program is set to have a finalized acquisition strategy within the next few months.

Jun 10, 2020

MQ-25 Stingray Drones Are Giving Navy Aircraft Carriers A Life Extension

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, drones, military, robotics/AI

Here’s What You Need To Remember: Chinese so-called “carrier-killer” missiles could, quite possibly, push a carrier back to a point where its fighters no longer have range to strike inland enemy targets from the air. The new drone is being engineered, at least in large measure, as a specific way to address this problem. If the attack distance of an F-18, which might have a combat radius of 500 miles or so, can double — then carrier-based fighters can strike targets as far as 1000 miles away if they are refueled from the air.

The Navy will choose a new carrier-launched drone at the end of this year as part of a plan to massively expand fighter jet attack range and power projection ability of aircraft carriers.

The emerging Navy MQ-25 Stingray program, to enter service in the mid-2020s, will bring a new generation of technology by engineering a first-of-its-kind unmanned re-fueler for the carrier air wing.

Jun 10, 2020

Air Force general confirmed as first black chief of a U.S. military service

Posted by in category: military

Defense

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Gen. Charles Q. Brown to be the next Air Force chief of staff.

Jun 9, 2020

DARPA invites hackers to break hardware to make it more secure

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, military

For more than two years, the Pentagon’s research arm has been working with engineers to beef up the security of computer chips before they get deployed in weapons systems or other critical technologies.

Now, the research arm — the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) — is turning the hardware over to elite white-hat hackers who can earn up to $25,000 for bugs they find. The goal is to throw an array of attacks at the hardware so its foundations are more secure before production.

“We need the researchers to really roll their sleeves up and dig into what we’re doing and try to break it,” said Keith Rebello, a DARPA program manager. Hardware hacks often involve identifying vulnerabilities in how a computer chip handles information, like the flaw uncovered in Intel microprocessors in March that could have allowed attackers to run malicious code early in the boot process.

Jun 8, 2020

The US Air Force is preparing a human versus AI dogfight

Posted by in categories: drones, military, robotics/AI

The US Air Force wants to pit an autonomous fighter drone against a pilot.