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- 🔥 An Axis of Innovation Forms Around Ukraine's Hypersonic Drone Market
🔥 An Axis of Innovation Forms Around Ukraine's Hypersonic Drone Market
Ukraine's battlefield hypersonic drone development draws a global Axis of Innovation to it.
Good Morning.
Former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley predicts that robots and AI-powered machinery could make up one-third of the U.S. military within 10-15 years, potentially reshaping the force significantly.
This shift towards unmanned and AI-driven systems across various military branches raises ethical questions and highlights the need for balancing technological advancement with human oversight in warfare.
— 🐈⬛ Acoustic Kitty
THE BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT
Image: Destinus
The U.S. Army aims to deploy its first long-range hypersonic weapon battalion by the end of 2024, and the Navy plans to equip Zumwalt class destroyers with their first hypersonic system by 2025.
For the Western world, it is not only governments and militaries that are driving the hypersonic competition, but the private sector is also growing to play an important role in that race.
However, Ukraine's successful interception of a Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missile in May 2023 suggests that these weapons may not be the decisive game-changers on future battlefields that some had predicted.
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY & DIPLOMACY
Counterterrorism
A new UN report states that the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is the largest terrorist group in Afghanistan, receiving increased support from the Taliban government to conduct cross-border attacks in Pakistan.
Israel has identified 100 UNRWA employees as terrorist operatives, requesting their immediate dismissal and highlighting ongoing concerns about Hamas infiltration within the UN agency.
54 families of American citizens affected by the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel are filing a $500M lawsuit against Iran for allegedly supporting and financing the terrorist organization.
Military & Defense
Taiwan detected a record 66 Chinese military aircraft around the island, with 56 crossing the Taiwan Strait median line, marking an escalation in Beijing's military pressure on Taiwan.
The Biden administration plans to permanently shut down the $230M temporary pier built to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, citing technical issues, rough seas, and increased land crossings as reasons for its discontinuation.
South Korea plans to deploy 'StarWars' laser weapons this year to counter North Korean drones, becoming the first country to operationalize such technology in its military.
Beijing issued a strong rebuke after NATO explicitly identified China as a threat and ‘decisive enabler’ of Russia's war in Ukraine at its annual summit, warning against "provoking confrontation."
Cybersecurity
Germany announced plans to remove and ban key components made by Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE from its 5G networks by 2026, citing security concerns and the need to protect critical infrastructure.
Self-described "gay furry hackers" breached the Heritage Foundation, releasing 2 gigabytes of internal data and provoking an angry response from an executive director.
Apple issued new threat notifications to iPhone users in 98 countries, warning of potential mercenary spyware attacks, marking the second such alert campaign this year.
A data breach at mSpy, a phone surveillance company, exposed millions of customer records dating back to 2014, revealing sensitive information about its users and the Ukrainian company behind it.
Counterintelligence & Espionage
U.S. and German intelligence agencies thwarted a Russian plot to assassinate Armin Papperger, the CEO of Rheinmetall AG, a German arms manufacturer supplying weapons to Ukraine.
Pakistan authorizes spy agency to tap civilians' phones, raising fears of authoritarianism.
Transnational Organized Crime
The Mexican city of Celaya witnessed another deadly attack on its police force, with 2 officers killed in a series of coordinated assaults, bringing the total of slain officers to 18 this year and highlighting the extreme danger faced by law enforcement in the area.
Kenyan cult leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and 94 co-defendants are on trial for charges related to the deaths of over 400 followers in the "Shakahola forest massacre."
Kentucky State Police conducted a 3-month operation called "Summer Heat," resulting in 206 arrests, 490 charges filed, and the seizure of approximately $685K worth of illicit drugs across the state.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Image: SpaceX
Elon Musk has intensified SpaceX's efforts to plan a Martian colony, with teams working on dome habitats, spacesuits, and researching human reproduction on Mars.
Musk envisions a self-sustaining city of 1M people on Mars within 20 years, a timeline far more ambitious than NASA's.
The project involves multiple Musk-led companies, including SpaceX, Tesla, and The Boring Company, each contributing to the Mars colonization effort.
Despite skepticism about the feasibility and timeline, SpaceX employees are actively working on detailed plans for Martian infrastructure and transportation.
In other news…
A record-breaking heat wave continues to grip much of the U.S., with extreme temperatures spreading from the West to the Southeast, causing public health concerns and economic disruptions.
Researchers using AI have identified a complex "sperm whale phonetic alphabet" in whale vocalizations, revealing sophisticated communication structures similar to human language and potentially offering new insights into whale intelligence and behavior.
Tesla postponed its robotaxi unveiling from August to October for further development and prototyping, delaying a key event in Musk's autonomous vehicle ambitions.
Researchers in West Virginia are extracting valuable rare earth elements from abandoned coal mine drainage, potentially solving environmental issues while securing critical materials for clean energy technologies.
Astronomers are proposing a new planetary definition based on mass rather than orbital dynamics, aiming to create a more inclusive classification system that could apply to celestial bodies throughout the universe, though it would still exclude Pluto.
The U.S. Marine Corps has released a new AI strategy outlining 5 key goals to integrate AI across its operations, from enhancing decision-making and scaling deployment to improving talent management and fostering collaboration with partners.
DEALS & FUNDING
Image: Helsing
Defense AI startup Helsing has raised $487M in a Series C round led by General Catalyst, valuing the company at around $5.4B.
This round is the second-largest ever in defense tech, after Anduril's $1.5B Series E in 2022.
The German-based company plans to expand its presence in Baltic nations bordering Russia, starting with a new entity in Estonia and a €70M investment in Baltic defense projects over three years.
Helsing develops AI software to enhance defense systems, improve weapons capabilities, and aid battlefield decision-making, amid increased Western investment in defense technology in response to perceived threats from Russia and China.
In other news…
RTX’s Raytheon has been awarded a $1.2B contract to provide additional Patriot air and missile defense systems to Germany.
The U.S. announced a new $225M military aid package for Ukraine, including a Patriot missile battery and other air defense systems
Northrop Grumman has become the first U.S. company to sign an agreement to manufacture weapons inside Ukraine, aiming to bolster the country's defense industry as allied nations' weapons stocks are depleted.
Exein, a Rome-based IoT cybersecurity startup, raised €15M in a Series B round to expand its device security solutions that protect industrial equipment like robotic arms from potentially dangerous hacks.
Formlabs, an MIT spinout that is lowering the barrier of entry for SLA printing, has acquired Micronics, a two-person startup developing accessible SLS 3D printing technology.
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