Lifeboat Foundation

If radars wore pants, a lot of them would still be sporting bell-bottoms.

Significant aspects of radar haven’t fundamentally changed since the 1970s, said Kurt Sorensen, a senior manager who oversees the development of high-performance radio frequency imaging technologies at Sandia National Laboratories. Like a record player, most military-grade systems are still analog.

Now, Sandia is giving radar a major digital makeover. Researchers are working to replace legacy analog radars commonly used by the military with a new, digital, software-defined system called Multi-Mission Radio Frequency Architecture. The overhauled design promises U.S. warfighters unprecedented flexibility and performance during intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations, even against sophisticated adversaries.

A U.S. House Intelligence Committee member cautioned that bioweapons using a target’s DNA to kill only that individual are being created. US Representative Jason Crow of Colorado spoke on Friday at the Aspen Security Forum and cautioned Americans not to be too careless about sharing their DNA with private firms due to the impending arrival of the new type of weapon. “You can target a biological weapon that will kill that person or take them off the battlefield or make them inoperable,” Crow said. “You can take someone’s DNA, you know, take their medical profile,” he added.

Given the prevalence of DNA testing services, where customers voluntarily share their genetic mapping with companies to learn more about their ancestry and health, the congressman said it is concerning that these weapons are being developed. Although 23andMe has maintained time and time again that it does not sell its customers’ private information, it is one of many DNA companies that have done so when asked by the police.

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, US Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa claimed that the US’s adversaries may deploy such DNA bioweapons to attack food supply on a large scale. Ernst forewarned that specific animals relied upon by civilians, armies, or towns could be the target of biological weapons, resulting in scarcity and food poverty and weakening populations.

Open-source code runs on every computer on the planet—and keeps America’s critical infrastructure going. DARPA is worried about how well it can be trusted.

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• Patrick Howell O’Neillarchive page

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China is likely one of the leading forces in AI development as far as investment is concerned. An October 2021 report published by the Centre for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown University estimated that the PLA was spending between $1.6bn and $2.7bn on AI research and procurement per year, which is approximately equivalent to that of the US military.

The report, titled Harnessed Lightning, identified seven areas of interest for the PLA and its AI development that are detailed here in order of the quantity of contracts awarded as found by CSET:

Continue reading “The role of AI in the People’s Liberation Army” »

Wind farm developers have found unexploded munitions at two sites set to be some of the first commercial offshore wind farms in the US. After decades of military dumping, weapons on the seabed aren’t uncommon, but the developers will have to work around them.

Circa 2014

After decades of experiments, U.S. Navy scientists believe they may have solved one of the world’s great challenges: how to turn seawater into fuel.

The development of a liquid hydrocarbon fuel could one day relieve the military’s dependence on oil-based fuels and is being heralded as a “game changer” because it could allow military ships to develop their own fuel and stay operational 100 percent of the time, rather than having to refuel at sea.

Continue reading “Goodbye, Oil: US Navy Cracks New Renewable Energy Technology To Turn Seawater Into Fuel, Allowing Ships To Stay At Sea Longer” »

Vulnerability researchers have found security issues in a GPS tracker that is advertised as being present in about 1.5 million vehicles in 169 countries.

A total of six vulnerabilities affect the MiCODUS MV720 device, which is present in vehicles used by several Fortune 50 firms, governments in Europe, states in the U.S., a military agency in South America, and a nuclear plant operator.

The risks stemming from the findings are significant and impact both privacy and security. A hacker compromising an MV720 device could use it for tracking or even immobilizing the vehicle carrying it, or to collect information about the routes, and manipulate data.

Military dogs will don augmented reality goggles to test their ability to keep soldiers safe by allowing them to direct the dogs from afar.