Z-19E (Export Version)
Boeing: Lightest. Metal. Ever
Japan: See drone footage of no-go zone around Fukushima nuclear plant
Z-19E Helicopter Details
Z-19E (Export Version)
Boeing: Lightest. Metal. Ever
Japan: See drone footage of no-go zone around Fukushima nuclear plant
How to Kill A Stealth Fighter
F-35C conducts flight test operations aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in October 2015. U.S. Navy photo
It all comes down to radar ... and a big enough missile.
The United States has poured
tens of billions of dollars into developing fifth-generation stealth
fighters such as the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike
Fighter. However, relatively simple signal processing enhancements,
combined with a missile with a large warhead and its own terminal
guidance system, could potentially allow low-frequency radars and such
weapons systems to target and fire on the latest generation U.S.
aircraft.
It is a well-known fact within Pentagon and industry circles that low-frequency radars operating in the VHF and UHF bands can detect and track low-observable aircraft. It has generally been held that such radars can’t guide a missile onto a target — i.e. generate a “weapons quality” track. But that is not exactly correct — there are ways to get around the problem, according to some experts.
Traditionally, guiding weapons with low frequency radars has been limited by two factors. One factor is the width of the radar beam, while the second is the width of the radar pulse — but both limitations can be overcome with signal processing.
The width of the beam is directly related to the design of the antenna — which is necessarily large because of the low frequencies involved. Early low-frequency radars like the Soviet-built P-14 Tall King VHF-band radars was enormous in size and used a semi-parabolic shape to limit the width of the beam. Later radars like the P-18 Spoon Rest used a Yagi-Uda array — which were lighter and somewhat smaller.
But these early low frequency radars had some serious limitations in determining the range and the precise direction of a contact. Furthermore, they could not determine altitude because the radar beams produced by these systems are several degrees wide in azimuth and tens of degrees wide in elevation.
Another traditional limitation of VHF and UHF-band radars is that their pulse width is long and they have a low pulse repetition frequency [PRF] — which means such systems are poor at accurately determining range.
As Mike Pietrucha, a former Air Force an electronic warfare officer who flew on the McDonnell Douglas F-4G Wild Weasel and Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle once described to me, a pulse width of 20 microseconds yields a pulse that is roughly 19,600 feet long — range resolution is half the length of that pulse. That means that range can’t be determined accurately within 10,000 feet. Furthermore, two targets near one another can’t be distinguished as separate contacts.
Signal processing partially solved the range resolution problem as early as in the 1970s. The key is a process called frequency modulation on pulse, which is used to compress a radar pulse.
The advantage of using pulse compression is that with a 20-microsecond pulse, the range resolution is reduced to about 180 feet or so. There are also several other techniques that can be used to compress a radar pulse such as phase shift keying. Indeed, according to Pietrucha, the technology for pulse compression is decades old and was taught to Air Force electronic warfare officers during the 1980s.
The computer processing power required for this is negligible by current standards, Pietrucha said.
Engineers solved the problem of directional or azimuth resolution by using phased array radar designs, which dispensed with the need for a parabolic array. Unlike older mechanically scanned arrays, phased array radars steer their radar beams electronically. Such radars can generate multiple beams and can shape those beams for width, sweep rate and other characteristics.
The necessary computing power to accomplish that task was available in the late 1970s for what eventually became the Navy’s Aegis combat system found on the Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. An active electronically scanned array is better still, being even more precise.
With a missile warhead large enough, the range resolution does not have to be precise. For example, the now antiquated S-75 Dvina — known in NATO parlance as the SA-2 Guideline — has a 440-pound warhead with a lethal radius of more than 100 feet. Thus, a notional 20-microsecond compressed pulse with a range resolution of 150 feet should have the range resolution to get the warhead close enough — according to Pietrucha’s theory.
The directional and elevation resolution would have to be similar with an angular resolution of roughly 0.3 degrees for a target at 30 nautical miles because the launching radar is the only system guiding the SA-2. For example, a missile equipped with its own sensor — perhaps an infrared sensor with a scan volume of a cubic kilometer — would be an even more dangerous foe against an F-22 or F-35.
Dave Majumdar. The defense editor for the National Interest.
You can follow him on Twitter: @davemajumdar
It is a well-known fact within Pentagon and industry circles that low-frequency radars operating in the VHF and UHF bands can detect and track low-observable aircraft. It has generally been held that such radars can’t guide a missile onto a target — i.e. generate a “weapons quality” track. But that is not exactly correct — there are ways to get around the problem, according to some experts.
Traditionally, guiding weapons with low frequency radars has been limited by two factors. One factor is the width of the radar beam, while the second is the width of the radar pulse — but both limitations can be overcome with signal processing.
The width of the beam is directly related to the design of the antenna — which is necessarily large because of the low frequencies involved. Early low-frequency radars like the Soviet-built P-14 Tall King VHF-band radars was enormous in size and used a semi-parabolic shape to limit the width of the beam. Later radars like the P-18 Spoon Rest used a Yagi-Uda array — which were lighter and somewhat smaller.
But these early low frequency radars had some serious limitations in determining the range and the precise direction of a contact. Furthermore, they could not determine altitude because the radar beams produced by these systems are several degrees wide in azimuth and tens of degrees wide in elevation.
Another traditional limitation of VHF and UHF-band radars is that their pulse width is long and they have a low pulse repetition frequency [PRF] — which means such systems are poor at accurately determining range.
F-35B takes off in December 2015. U.S. Marine Corps photo.
As Mike Pietrucha, a former Air Force an electronic warfare officer who flew on the McDonnell Douglas F-4G Wild Weasel and Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle once described to me, a pulse width of 20 microseconds yields a pulse that is roughly 19,600 feet long — range resolution is half the length of that pulse. That means that range can’t be determined accurately within 10,000 feet. Furthermore, two targets near one another can’t be distinguished as separate contacts.
Signal processing partially solved the range resolution problem as early as in the 1970s. The key is a process called frequency modulation on pulse, which is used to compress a radar pulse.
The advantage of using pulse compression is that with a 20-microsecond pulse, the range resolution is reduced to about 180 feet or so. There are also several other techniques that can be used to compress a radar pulse such as phase shift keying. Indeed, according to Pietrucha, the technology for pulse compression is decades old and was taught to Air Force electronic warfare officers during the 1980s.
The computer processing power required for this is negligible by current standards, Pietrucha said.
Engineers solved the problem of directional or azimuth resolution by using phased array radar designs, which dispensed with the need for a parabolic array. Unlike older mechanically scanned arrays, phased array radars steer their radar beams electronically. Such radars can generate multiple beams and can shape those beams for width, sweep rate and other characteristics.
The necessary computing power to accomplish that task was available in the late 1970s for what eventually became the Navy’s Aegis combat system found on the Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. An active electronically scanned array is better still, being even more precise.
The secret to "killing" an F-35 strike fighter: https://t.co/I7XTqAxq2Z pic.twitter.com/JiyTs00oI9— National Interest (@TheNatlInterest) February 25, 2016
With a missile warhead large enough, the range resolution does not have to be precise. For example, the now antiquated S-75 Dvina — known in NATO parlance as the SA-2 Guideline — has a 440-pound warhead with a lethal radius of more than 100 feet. Thus, a notional 20-microsecond compressed pulse with a range resolution of 150 feet should have the range resolution to get the warhead close enough — according to Pietrucha’s theory.
The directional and elevation resolution would have to be similar with an angular resolution of roughly 0.3 degrees for a target at 30 nautical miles because the launching radar is the only system guiding the SA-2. For example, a missile equipped with its own sensor — perhaps an infrared sensor with a scan volume of a cubic kilometer — would be an even more dangerous foe against an F-22 or F-35.
Dave Majumdar. The defense editor for the National Interest.
You can follow him on Twitter: @davemajumdar
Conspiracy theorists claim to have spotted an 'interstellar mothership' near Jupiter's moon Europa
An
enormous alien structure was, they claim seen moving in the direction
of Jupiter’s moon Europa which, according to some, resembles an
‘interstellar mothership’ or ‘an intergalactic cruiser’.
The
image was taken by a Canon 650D camera with a 7D-300mm telescopic lens
mounted on a tripod in someone’s backyard garden last week.
An enormous alien structure was seen
moving in the direction of Jupiter’s moon Europa which, according to
some, resembles an ‘interstellar mothership’ or ‘an intergalactic
cruiser’. The image was taken by a Canon 650D camera with a 7D-300mm
telescopic lens mounted on a tripod in someone’s backyard garden
‘Jupiter has long been shrouded in mystery along with its moon and particularly that of Europa,’ says UFO researcher from SecureTeam, Tyler, in a YouTube video – who does not give his full name.
‘There
has been a lot of scientific talk about alien life likely existing in
the vast oceans that currently exists under its icy surface.’
The video was sent to SecureTeam from Louis Read, a Martian researcher from the city of Bristol in the UK.
The
image shows Jupiter glowing on the left and a strange anomaly shining
brightly to the right of it, which they suggest is approaching Europa.
Tyler notes that the UFO comes very close to Europa and nothing like this has ever been seen in our solar system – until now.
‘We definitely have a reflective UFO up there caught on camera,’ he says.
SecureTeam
is very excited about this ‘amazing find’ because they say there is no
doubt that the glowing orbit is a structure and could actually be
multiple structures put together.
The video was sent to SecureTeam from
Louis Read, a Martian researcher from the city of Bristol in the UK. The
image shows Jupiter glowing on the left and a strange anomaly shining
brightly to the right of it, which they suggest is approaching Europa
‘One
thing for sure is that this definitely doesn’t belong there and it
wouldn’t surprise me in the least if this was some sort of alien craft,’
says Tyler.
SecureTeam
has expressed their belief about life on fifth planet and believe the
icy world of Europa is also on the top of Nasa scientists’ list for next
exploration mission.
SecureTeam has
expressed their belief about life on fifth planet and believe the icy
world of Europa is also on the top of Nasa scientists’ list for next
exploration mission. As SecureTeam notes, the moon will likely be the
next mission for the American space agency
As SecureTeam notes, the moon will likely be the next mission for the American space agency.
‘Europa
will likely be one of Nasa’s next missions where we send a probe and
hopefully it will be a manned mission where we can land on the surface
and rill down into the ice’, Tyler said.
‘Get a camera down there and checkout what’s down there in the ocean underneath.’
SecureTeam is very excited about this
‘amazing find’ because they say there is no doubt that the glowing orbit
is a structure and could actually be multiple structures put
together. ‘One thing for sure is that this definitely doesn’t belong
there and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if this was some sort of
alien craft,’ says Tyler
Although
Read and SecureTeam are convinced the reflective light is an alien
spacecraft, others are not on-board, as many commentators have
questioned if the reflecting light is the planet Saturn or a cluster of
Jupiter’s moons.
Others
suggest it might be Juno, a Nasa spacecraft released in August 2011 to
help scientist learn more about Jupiter and is set to arrive at the
planet this summer.
‘Europa will likely be one of Nasa’s
next missions where we send a probe and hopefully it will be a manned
mission where we can land on the surface and rill down into the ice’,
Tyler said. ‘Get a camera down there and checkout what’s down there in
the ocean underneath'
But regardless of SecureTeam’s
enthusiasm for Nasa to explore Europa (pcitured), Nasa seems to have
their full attention on Mars. Right now, the Curiosity Rover is rolling
around the red planet searching signs of life, conducting experiments
and sending back thousands of pictures of the dusty wasteland
But regardless of SecureTeam’s enthusiasm for Nasa to explore the icy moon, Nasa seems to have their full attention on Mars.
Right
now, the Curiosity Rover is rolling around the red planet searching
signs of life, conducting experiments and sending back thousands of
pictures of the dusty wasteland.
So by the time Nasa does send a manned mission to Jupiter, the alien spacecraft could be long gone.
Read more:
Mysterious Numeric Symbol Found on Both the Moon and Mars
Rise of the machines: Super-agile cyborg takes first steps to global domination
The newest version of the 5ft 9in (175cm), two-legged cyborg is shown navigating snow-covered terrain, lifting 10lb (4.5kg) boxes with ease, and resisting a human’s attempt to knock it over.
Engineers are also seen taunting and teasing Atlas by repeatedly knocking one of the boxes out of its hands with a hockey stick, which could backfire later if the robot develops revenge programming. rt
“It uses sensors in its body and legs to balance and LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles, assess the terrain, help with navigation and manipulate objects,” Boston Dynamics said about the 180lb (82 kg) machine.
The video ends with the robot opening a door and exiting the building, presumably to go plot the fall of mankind.
Humanoid robot Atlas, a possible breakthrough for the cyborg takeover of Earth. dailygrail
In recent years the name Boston Dynamics has become synonymous with next-level robotics.
The robotics company has released a number of amazing videos showing off their creations.
Boston Dynamics have now released some footage of the new-and-improved model of their humanoid Atlas robot - one that can open doors, lift and place objects, recover from being pushed, and even stand back up after being knocked over. And those same emotions are bound to resurface, swinging from sympathy when Atlas is being pushed around, to trepidation when it gets pushed to the ground and manages to stand itself back up...remind me again where we've seen a robot keep getting up after being knocked down?
A new version of Atlas, designed to operate outdoors and inside buildings. It is specialized for mobile manipulation. It is electrically powered and hydraulically actuated. It uses sensors in its body and legs to balance and LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles, assess the terrain, help with navigation and manipulate objects.
This version of Atlas is about 5' 9" tall (about a head shorter than the DRC Atlas) and weighs 180 lbs.
Boston Dynamics Create New Humanoid Robot, Then Bully It to Guarantee Our Future Doom
Big Dog
Earlier this month, the company showed off their four-legged robot, Spot, and, again, staff were shown repeatedly kicking their creation as it slowly built up a resentment for humans.
'Star Wars' Rail gun weapon could be used on a new Zumwalt stealth warship
A radical new weapon that can fire a shell at seven times the speed of sound could be used by the Navy as soon as 2018.
Described
as 'Star Wars technology' by researchers, the rail gun can fire a shell
weighing 10kg at up to 5,400mph over 100 miles. It does this with such
force and accuracy it penetrates three concrete walls or six half-inch
thick steel plates.
Development
of a futuristic weapon is going well enough that a Navy admiral wants
to skip an at-sea prototype in favor of installing an operational unit
aboard one of its new Zumwalt-class destroyers.
Electromagnetic
launchers were one of the areas researched by Ronald Reagan's Strategic
Defence Initiative, nicknamed 'Star Wars' after the science fiction
film franchise.
Rail
guns use electricity instead of gunpowder to accelerate a projectile at
six or seven times the speed of sound — creating enough kinetic energy
to destroy targets.
It's
technology that holds the possibility of providing an effective weapon
at pennies on the dollars compared to smart bombs and missiles.
Admiral
Pete Fanta, the Navy's director of surface warfare, has floated the
idea of foregoing the current plan to put a prototype on another vessel
this year and instead put it directly on future USS Lyndon B. Johnson -
though no final decision has been made.
'The
Zumwalt-class is one of a number of options being explored for the
electromagnetic railgun,' said Lt. Cmdr. Hayley Sims, a Navy
spokeswoman.
'Due to the size, weight and power requirements, some platforms will be better suited for the technology than others.'
Using
an electromagnetic force known as the Lorenz Force, the gun accelerates
a projectile between two rails that conduct electricity, before
launching it at ferocious speed.
This means the railgun can fire further than conventional guns and maintain enough kinetic energy to inflict tremendous damage.
Railguns were first conceived of nearly a century ago and patented by French inventor Louis Octave Fauchon-Villeplee.
Nazi Germany took up the research during the Second World War to adapt its anti-aircraft guns.
There
has been talk since the inception of the Zumwalt program that the
massive destroyers would be a likely candidate for the weapon because of
its power plant.
The USS Johnson will be the third and final destroyer in the Zumwalt class.
Development of a futuristic weapon is
going well enough that a Navy admiral wants to skip an at-sea prototype
in favor of installing an operational unit aboard one of its new
Zumwalt-class destroyers. Pictured is one of two electromagnetic railgun
prototypes on display aboard joint high speed vessel USS Millinocket
(JHSV 3) in port at Naval Base San Diego in 2014
Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder, head of US
Naval Research, said the futuristic electromagnetic railgun – so called
because it fires from two parallel rails – had already undergone
extensive testing on land
The weapon uses speed rather than explosives to destroy its target
The
600-foot-long warship uses marine turbines similar to those that propel
the Boeing 777 to help produce up to 78 megawatts of electricity for
use in propulsion, weapons and sensors. That's more than enough power
for the railgun.
If
it's placed on the warship, the system could replace one of the forward
turrets housing a 155mm gun that fires rocket-propelled projectiles.
For now, however, the official plan remains for the railgun prototype to be tested aboard a joint high speed vessel this year.
But there are concerns that the plan may be pushed back into 2017, and Fanta suggested skipping it altogether.
The
railgun, along with laser weaponry, are two futuristic technologies
that Fanta said have evolved from being a matter of scientific research
to one of practical engineering.
The
Navy is interested in those weapons — along with smart munitions that
can improve existing naval guns — because of their low cost as well as
lethality.
'The
Navy is determined to increase the offensive punch of the surface
warships,' said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington
Institute.
'To do that with a limited budget, it needs to look at everything from smart munitions to railguns to lasers.'
The railgun discussion isn't widely known inside the shipyard, where the Zumwalt-calls destroyers are being built.
Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, had no comment.
Shipbuilder
Charles Davis said there was talk of a railgun when the yard began work
on the first ship in the class, but he said there's been no discussion
since then.
'They've been pretty tight-lipped about it,' he said.
There has been
talk since the inception of the Zumwalt program that the massive
destroyers (pictured) would be a likely candidate for the weapon because
of its power plant. The USS Johnson will be the third and final
destroyer in the Zumwalt class
Railguns use electricity instead of
gunpowder to accelerate a projectile at six or seven times the speed of
sound — creating enough kinetic energy to destroy targets. It's
technology that holds the possibility of providing an effective weapon
at pennies on the dollars compared to smart bombs and missiles
Described as 'Star
Wars technology' by researchers for its incredible range, the rail gun
can fire further than conventional guns and maintain enough kinetic
energy to inflict tremendous damage. Pictured is the Death Star from
Star Wars
The world's cheapest smartphone: $3.66 Freedom 251 4inch Android handset revealed in India
A little-known Indian company has launched the world's cheapest smartphone.
The Freedom 251 is believed to be the cheapest in the world, targeting a market already dominated by low-cost handsets.
It costs just 251 rupees, around $3.66, less than one percent of the price of the latest Apple iPhone.
The Freedom 251 is believed to be the
cheapest in the world, targeting a market already dominated by low-cost
handsets. It costs just 251 rupees, around $3.66, less than one percent
of the price of the latest Apple iPhone.
The device is the latest release from Ringing Bells, a company based in Noida, India.
Its
mission is 'to provide futuristic technology products of the highest
quality and best service at the lowest cost of ownership,' according to
the company's website.
Ringing
Bells was set up in September 2015 and began selling mobile phones via
its website a few weeks ago under its Bell brand, a spokeswoman said.
'This is our flagship model and we think it will bring a revolution in the industry,' she told AFP.
Speaking
at the launch, MP Murli Manohar Joshi praised the phone, and talked
about the importance, not just of increased digital penetration in
India, but also of making products in India. 'Unless India innovates and
makes something new, it cannot progress,' he said according to NDTV.
'Because
if technology is expensive then it's useless. You need technology for
everyone, for fishermen and farmers and students. But technology that is
cheap should also still be useable, cheap by itself is not enough.'
Ringing
Bells currently imports parts from overseas and assembles them in India
but plans to make its phones domestically within a year, the
spokeswoman said.
Cheap
smartphone handsets, many of them Chinese-made, are readily available
in the Indian market but domestic competitors are making inroads, with
models selling for less than $20.
Preorders for the Freedom 251 open on February 18 at 6AM and close on February 21 at 8PM from the firm's web site, with 500,000 handsets believed to be available.
India
is the world's second-largest mobile market and notched up its
billionth mobile phone subscriber in October, according to the country's
telecoms regulator.
But
in poorer Indian states such as Bihar, 'teledensity' -- the penetration
of telephone connections for every hundred people -- is as low as 54
percent, with a stark urban-rural divide.
The
handset has a 4' 960x540 IPS display, a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB
of RAM, 8GB of internal storage with a MicroSD slot, a 3.2MP camera on
the back, a 0.3MP one on the front, and a 1450mAh battery.
The phone runs Android 5.1 and has 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS.
Ashok Chadha (2-R), President of
Ringing Bells Pvt. Ltd., along with unidentified Ringing Bells official
shows the 'Freedom 251' smartphone after its launch in New Delhi.
Read more:
The Cat S60 smartphone has underwater camera and thermal imaging camera
By creating an image that highlights temperature differences, the camera shows heat that is invisible to the naked eye. The practical uses are expansive, from detecting heat loss around windows and doors to identifying overheating appliances, or flaws in insulation. And, it can be used to see in total darkness
The Cat S60 is a smartphone, a thermal camera, and an underwater camera all in one.
It runs on Android Marshmallow, and has a 3800mAh battery.
According
to Caterpillar, the S60 is the first phone to contain an integrated
thermal camera, using an embedded heat visualization device made by
FLIR.
By creating an image that highlights temperature differences, the camera shows heat that is invisible to the naked eye.
The
practical uses are expansive, from detecting heat loss around windows
and doors to identifying overheating appliances, or flaws in insulation.
And, it can be used to see in total darkness.
‘The Cat S60 represents a milestone for smartphones.
'We
are excited for thermal technology to be in the hands of Cat phones
customers and to discover the myriad of daily time and efficiency use
cases it will present for them,’ said Peter Stephens, CEO of Bullitt
Group, global mobile device licensee for Caterpillar.
The Cat S60 is a
smartphone, a thermal camera, and an underwater camera all in one. It
runs on Android Marshmallow, and has a 3800mAh battery. According to
Caterpillar, the S60 is the first phone to contain an integrated thermal
camera, using an embedded heat visualization device made by FLIR.
FLIR,
a leading brand in thermal imaging technology, says this will bring
smartphones to a new level, allowing users to see what they previously
could not.
‘The
Cat S60 presents mobile users around the world with new capabilities – a
‘sixth sense’ experience that only thermal imaging can offer,’ said
Andy Teich, President and CEO of FLIR.
The S60 has a Gorilla Glass 4 display, and the touchscreen will work even if you have wet fingers, or are wearing gloves.
It has even been put to the test of military spec, proving to survive a drop of almost six feet.
The
phone has been deemed the ‘world’s most waterproof smartphone,’ and the
brand says it can be used underwater up to depths of around 16 feet for
about an hour.
This technology also makes the S60 dustproof, opening up the door for a multitude of settings in which this phone could be used.
While
the uses for construction workers or contractors are obvious, the
versatility of thermal and underwater capabilities means potential
benefits for anyone, from emergency responders to outdoor enthusiasts.
The S60 will be unveiled at Mobile World Congress, Feb 22- 28 in Barcelona.
'Nitro Zeus' Was Cyber Attack Plan Aimed At Iran If Nuclear Negotiations Failed: Report
Shortly after President Barack Obama took office,
plans were drawn up to unleash absolute hell on parts of Iran’s power
grid, air defense system, communications and command and control
apparatus via a series of coordinated cyber attacks, according to a new
report in The New York Times.
The plan, code-named Nitro Zeus, was devised to disable Iran’s
air defenses, communications systems and crucial parts of its power
grid, and was shelved, at least for the foreseeable future, after the nuclear deal struck between Iran and six other nations last summer was fulfilled.
Iran’s Fordo Nuclear Facility
Fordo is buried in a mountain deep inside an Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps base. The site came to public attention in
2009 when President Obama announced its existence.
Fordo
has long been considered one of the hardest targets in Iran, buried too
deep for all but the most powerful bunker-buster in the American
arsenal. The proposed intelligence operation would have inserted a
computer “worm” into the facility with the aim of frying Fordo’s
computer systems — effectively delaying or destroying the ability of
Iranian centrifuges to enrich uranium at the site. It was intended as a follow-up to “Olympic Games,”
the code name of a cyberattack by the United States and Israel that
destroyed 1,000 centrifuges and temporarily disrupted production at
Natanz, a far larger but less protected enrichment site.
The Times reports that the plan involved thousands of intelligence personnel and operatives, costing tens of millions of dollars over multiple years. Planting physical hardware within Iran’s existing computer networks was also part of the plan. It remains unclear if this portion of it actually took place or was still in the planning stages. Either way, the program would have involved the seven-year-old Cyber Command and the National Security Agency’s Tailored Access Operations unit that masters penetrating foreign computer networks.
Nitro Zeus comes to light as the world is just now fully understanding the first time an advanced cyber weapon was used, and on a much smaller scale. That would be the Stuxnet worm developed by the U.S. and Israel and deployed deeply into the heart of the industrial control software that ran Iran’s uranium enrichment centrifuges.
The story of this landmark moment in military and technological history is best told by the book Countdown To Zero Day. Not only does it go over Stuxnet’s development, deployment and eventual discovery in painstaking detail, but it also explains how these weapons are created and unveils the murky marketplace on which so called zero-day exploits, the back door vulnerabilities in existing software that make cyber attacks possible, are traded on.
The revelations about this much more expansive cyber attack plan aimed at Iran comes from an upcoming documentary about zero-day exploits and cyber warfare in general dubbed aptly Zero Days. The movie is directed by celebrated documentary maker Alex Blibney (We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, Going Clear) and is premiering at the Berlin Film Festival this week.
According to the film, another contingency operation was also planned should Iranian nuclear talks have failed that focused directly on disabling the Fordow nuclear enrichment site buried deep under a mountain near the Iranian city of Quam. This attack plan was not designed to be used only in response to Iranian aggression like the Nitro Zeus, instead it could have been executed at anytime the White House thought it necessary.
The plan would have seen a worm injected into the Fordow’s main computer system, frying it with the goal destroying Iran’s centrifuge cascade operations in the process. This plan would have been a more aggressive follow-on to the Stuxnet worm that struck Iran’s enrichment facility at Natanz clandestinely in the late 2000s.
Above all else, these programs underline how cyberwarfare is quickly developing into a go-to “non-kinetic” military tool that can be scaled to an incredible degree depending on the effects sought against the enemy. Because it can be so devastating, striking not just the enemy’s military capability but also civilian infrastructure such as access to power, it is becoming more and more a viable alternative to traditional forms of attack.
The small glimpse we have into Nitro Zeus also underlines how a multiple-pronged attack, striking different areas of a target’s infrastructure and military capability at once, can be paired for synergistic effect, leaving its target country’s military blind and deaf and its population suffering. And all this can be had without ever dropping a bomb and even under the veil of plausible deniability.
Also of interest is that Nitro Zeus is most likely one of a whole slew of plans to attack potential enemies via cyber weaponry. Plans surely exist for all of America’s potential adversaries, and some are likely to be far more elaborate and deadly than anything that has been disclosed to date. (And surely America’s potential enemies have similar contingency plans.)
With all this in mind, the wars of the future, especially the hybrid kind that we are beginning to become accustomed to today, will likely prominently feature cyber weaponry, and nobody seems prepared for the potential consequences of their use. Keep in mind that once you deploy a cyber weapon, others will eventually be able to dissect it, and considering the low cost of entry for developing such weaponry and the wide-array of threatening state and non-state actors that exist today, America will likely be the largest target for them of all.
Rise of the machines: Robots will replace half of global workforce
 |
| HUBO is a Korean designed robot that can do human tasks. © Ruben Sprich / Reuters |
Migrants are often accused of stealing jobs from locals in
countries to which they were forced to flee, but the real threat to
employment are the robots that will likely automate 50 percent of the
global workforce by 2045.
Jobs at the middle of the skills curve are most at risk, according to Rice University computer science professor Moshi Vardi.
High end skills, including those of doctors and attorneys, are unlikely to be developed by machines in the foreseeable future and those at the low end such as food service workers are paid such low wages that automation would prove more costly.
“Folks like data entry clerks, hotel clerks, and almost anyone working in delivery or shipping are likely to suffer,” according to Vardi.
The rapid development of self-driving cars also has taxi and truck drivers worrying about their long-term future.
It’s a shift that’s been happening since the start of the Industrial Age, but current automation displaces less than 40 percent of global employment.
A report last month from the Oxford Martin School said that the OECD estimates that 57 percent of jobs were susceptible to automations deviated greatly across the globe.
While the US and UK are below the average with 47 and 35 percent respectively, developing nations such as Thailand and Ethiopia have a higher rate with 72 and 85 percent respectively. China is estimated to have 77 percent of its jobs susceptible to automation.
Within the US, the percentage of jobs at risk varies across the country. Boston and Washington have the lowest rate of 38 percent, compared to Fresno with 54 and Las Vegas with 49 percent.
The report warned that, in dealing with the “premature industrialization” brought on by automation, “emerging and developing countries could require new growth models and a need to upskill workforces”.
This week, aircraft maker Airbus announced the launch of a program to develop humanoid robotics technology which can perform manufacturing tasks in its factories.
The company claims the robotic workers would help increase production levels rather than replace workers.
Speaking at the AAAS meeting, Wendell Wallach from Yale University's Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics advised that 10 percent of funding into AI and robotics should be put towards “studying, managing, and adapting to the societal impact of intelligent machines, including the impact on wages and employment.”
The First Known Image Of DARPA's Submarine-Hunting Drone
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| The First Known Image Of DARPA's Submarine-Hunting Drone Ship. foxtrotalpha |
ACTUV (Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel) Concept
The Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program, funded by the US Navy's Office of Naval Research and Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, is responsible for Sea Hunter, which displaces about 140 tons. The prototype will be "christened" in Portland, Oregon in April, before an 18-month trial run to test its long-range utility.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s
initiative to build a long-endurance unmanned ship that will hunt and
track the quietest submarines on Earth has come to fruition. The image
above is the first glimpse ever of the potentially revolutionary Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel or ACTUV, also known as Sea Hunter.
Sea Hunter is being developed in conjunction with the Office
of Naval Research and the Space and Naval Systems Warfare Command.
Engineering industry innovator Leidos and Oregon Iron Works, which is known for its exotic and shadowy ship designs, designed and constructed the exotic experimental vessel. The ship is set to be christened in April, but she is already in the water at Portland’s Swan Island ship building and maintenance facility as local photographer Paul Carter, who took the image above, recently discovered.
The 132 foot long robotic sub-hunter is the largest purpose-built unmanned ship ever created. As you can see in the image above, an auxiliary pilot house has been fitted on its sail for initial trials. The design’s trimaran hull was chosen for its stability, efficiency and speed, allowing it chase submarines over extreme distances in open ocean.
What you don’t see is the ship’s under-hull mid-frequency sonar that is installed in a large bulbous protrusion amidships, as well as the high-frequency sonar mounted in smaller underwater protrusions. These will be the ship’s primary tools to find, identify and actively track even the quietest nuclear and air independent propulsion (AIP) equipped diesel-electric subs for long stretches of time.
A suite of data links, computers and sensors will allow it to navigate autonomously, communicate with its handlers and predict a sub’s next moves.
Sea Hunter will undergo a set of increasingly challenging trials over the better part of two years, work that could lead to a fleet of similar drone ships deployed around the globe.
A huge thanks to Paul Carter for this shot of Sea Hunter.
Make sure to check out all of Paul’s aviation photography work here.
The Most Expensive Warship Ever Built Might Already Be Close to Obsolete
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| US most advanced aircraft carrier the Ford will be obsolete. Photo: Thefordclass.com |
Harry J. Kazianis. February 12, 2016
The U.S. Navy’s latest and greatest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, when completed, will join the ranks of the world’s most advanced warships ever put to sea. It will carry an air wing with firepower second to none. It will be defended by some of the most powerful naval vessels on the planet. And yet, coming in at an astounding $15 billion dollars—the most expensive naval vessel ever—its time as the symbol of U.S. power projection and military dominance may be over.
Notice I used the words may be over. The simple fact is this: no one really knows for sure, but the trends all point to dangerous times ahead. We do know one thing with certainty—the mighty aircraft carrier is under siege, and without major changes to its capabilities, investing billions of scarce defense dollars seems a disastrous idea.
Several recent articles, from popular Web sites to more academically themed publications, all point to the same problem set. Countries with the technological means, specifically great powers like China and Russia—nations the Pentagon considers as the next big challenge for the U.S. military—are developing missile platforms that can strike from long-range and en masse from multiple domains. Such weapons (and this is where that tinge of doubt comes into play)—if accurate, using highly trained crews combined with the means to find their target on the vast open oceans—could turn America’s supercarriers into multi-billion dollar graveyards for thousands of U.S. sailors. While many of these weapons have never been fired in anger—some never even tested against a non-cooperative maritime target—the sheer proliferation of such weapons coming online all point to a crisis for America’s flattops.
Two recent articles only solidify this great challenge. First, in a stinging long-form op-ed for Politico, Jerry Hendrix, a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Defense Strategies and Assessments Program at the Center for a New American Security, fearing the challenges as described above, argues passionately for a change in the U.S. Navy’s long-term carrier plan. He notes that “the Navy’s decision on the carriers today will affect U.S. naval power for decades. These carriers are expected to be combat effective in 2065—over 150 years since the idea of an aircraft carrier was first conceived.” He also notes:
“. . . most weapons platforms are effective for only a limited time, an interval that gets shorter as history progresses. But until the past few years, the carrier had defied the odds, continuing to demonstrate America’s military might around the world without any challenge from our enemies. That period of grace may have ended as China and Russia are introducing new weapons—called “carrier killer” missiles—that cost $10 million to $20 million each and can target the U.S.’s multibillion-dollar carriers up to 900 miles from shore.”This is where things get worse:
“At the same time, internal Navy decisions have cut the strike range of the carrier’s aircraft in half, to 496 miles. If we wanted to strike our enemies with these aircraft, the military would have to put the carriers well within range of those “carrier killer” missiles. It would be a mission fraught with physical danger to the ship and its crew.”In a complementary piece for the more wonky World Politics Review, Mark Cancian, a former senior official in the Pentagon currently serving as a senior adviser with the CSIS International Security Program, makes very similar arguments as Hendrix, but with a twist. Cancian explains:
“Critics have increasingly asked whether carriers have become too vulnerable. No carrier has been seriously damaged by enemy action since WWII, but the future, as always, is uncertain. Carriers are built with many redundant and survivability features. Proponents note that during an accidental fire on the USS Forrestal in 1967, the ship withstood the equivalent of nine bomb explosions. On the other hand, weapons from highly sophisticated adversaries might be able to penetrate battle group defenses and put carriers out of action.”The author continues, once again, echoing similar points made by Hendrix:
“Amid disputes over carriers’ usefulness, most observers agree that their aircraft are too short-ranged. During the 1980s, the average aircraft range was 900 miles. Now it is 500 miles and will not get any better with the introduction of the F-35. In permissive environments [think bombing ISIS], this is not a problem, because aircraft can be refueled to extend their range. In high-threat environments [like a war with China or Russia], however, refueling may not be possible.”So what is the solution? In my view, carriers need strike-platforms that can attack land-based targets from long-range (think 1,500 miles or perhaps more—China’s new DF-26 anti-ship missile could have a range of 2,500 miles), fly remotely and utilize stealth to slip into areas that are protected by advanced air-defenses and anti-access battle-networks. This is a point Hendrix makes clear in his Politico piece. Sadly, this possibility seems all but dead thanks to the Pentagon’s recent decision to turn such an ongoing effort, the budding UCLASS program, into a remotely piloted refueling tanker. While the logic is plain to see—such a strike-platform as listed above may not be an easy thing to design, develop and deploy while increasing the available range of present carrier-based aircraft like the F-18 and F-35 is likely technologically simpler—such efforts cannot be abandoned just because they are difficult to field. As reports suggest, this new remotely piloted refueling plane will not even be stealthy. This is can only spell trouble, indeed, if a potential adversary were to focus their attacks on such refueling aircraft, America’s carrier’s would have to come much closer to enemy missile batteries—the very problem that must be mitigated.
Here’s an idea worth considering: why not field this refueling capability in the short-term and place resources into a stealthy, long-range, remotely piloted UCLASS-style platform as well? Yes, defense dollars are scarce. However, this might be the best solution for a complex, long-term problem.
While this debate surely plays out, let’s not be deceived by the headlines nor stick our heads in the sand. Just because Washington and its allies can pound away at ISIS, a terrorist group who does not have the means to fight back does not mean the carrier is safe from harm. I am afraid that if we don’t give America’s most expensive weapon of war the platforms it needs to strike from range, the aircraft carrier could join the battleships of yesteryear as floating museums sooner rather than later.
The carrier can be saved, but do we have the political will to do it?
Harry Kazianis (@grecianformula) is the former Executive Editor of The National Interest. Kazianis presently serves as Senior Fellow (non-resident) for Defense Policy at the Center for the National Interest as well as Fellow for National Security Affairs at The Potomac Foundation. He is the editor and co-author of the Center for the National Interest report Tackling Asia’s Greatest Challenges: A U.S.-Japan-Vietnam Trilateral Report. All opinions are his own.
A Yeti (Beast) Caught On Camera in Russia
Is the dark hairy creature seen in the film [below] the ever elusive Yeti? Or could it just be a bear? Perhaps its some crazy hermit living in the back woods of Russia?
From Epic Wild-life:
Recently a team of researchers headed to the area to see if they could catch this yeti on camera.
Do you know what the difference is between a yeti and bigfoot?
The theory is that they both are some lost species or descendants of Gigantopithecus, the difference is that Bigfoot is believed to live in the forests, mountains and swamps of North America, while the Yeti is believed to live in the mountainous snowy regions of the Himalayas or North East Asia and is smaller than its North American cousin.
Residents in the area have claimed to have seen and heard the creature outside in the snow.
One eyewitness Ludmila Hristoforova told a local television news reporter that “The creature was big, looking like a bear, but not a bear. From the door we’ve seen something big and shaggy.”
The research team claims they heard the crunching of snow and immediately headed outside and caught this footage of the creature.
Eye witness descriptions and this footage fit the traditional description of a yeti. A bipedal creature covered with dark grayish or reddish brown hair, weighs between 200 and 400 pounds and is about 6 feet tall.
The team also found a rather large foot print in the snow, presumably left behind by the monster. They made sure to make a plaster cast of the print and sent it off to scientists.
The footprints were 2-3 inches deep and it is estimated it would take a creature as heavy as 440 pounds (200 kilos) to press the snow down that much.
So what do you think of this latest sighting? Real or Hoax.
Interestingly enough, this footage reminds me a lot of the the most famous and controversial big foot film of all time. It was shot in 1967 by friends
Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin and almost 50 years later, we still don’t know if it was real or a hoax.
MEGALODON CAUGHT ON CAMERA 2016
Pebble-bed reactor: Meltdown-Proof Nuclear Reactor
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| Sketch of a pebble-bed reactor. / Wikipedia |
In what would be a milestone for advanced nuclear power.
China says it is planning to bring a safe nuclear power plant
that will not suffer from meltdowns online in November 2017. It would be
the world’s first high-temperature, gas-cooled pebble-bed nuclear plant
built on an industrial scale.
China’s Nuclear
Engineering Construction Corporation wants to introduce a high
temperature, pebble-bed, gas-cooled nuclear reactor, in the Shandong
Province, south of the capital, Beijing. The company is planning to
bring twin 105-megawatt reactors —so-called Generation IV reactors that would be immune to meltdown—would
be the first of their type built at commercial scale in the world. It is hoped that the power station will start working by
November 2017.
Construction of the plant is nearly complete, and the next 18 months will be spent installing the reactor components, running tests, and loading the fuel before the reactors go critical in November 2017, said Zhang Zuoyi, director of the Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, a division of Tsinghua University that has developed the technology over the last decade and a half, in an interview at the institute’s campus 30 miles south of Beijing. If it’s successful, Shandong plant would generate a total of 210 megawatts and will be followed by a 600-megawatt facility in Jiangxi province.
Beyond that, China plans to sell these reactors internationally; in January, Chinese president Xi Jinping signed an agreement with King Salman bin Abdulaziz to construct a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor in Saudi Arabia.
“This technology is going to be on the world market within the next five years,” Zhang predicts. “We are developing these reactors to belong to the world.”
Pebble-bed reactors that use helium gas as the heat transfer medium and run at very high temperatures—up to 950 °C—have been in development for decades. The Chinese reactor is based on a design originally developed in Germany, and the German company SGL Group is supplying the billiard-ball-size graphite spheres that encase thousands of tiny “pebbles” of uranium fuel.
Seven high-temperature gas-cooled reactors have been built, but only two units remain in operation, both relatively small: an experimental 10-megawatt pebble-bed reactor at the Tsinghua Institute campus, which reached full power in 2003, and a similar reactor in Japan.
Construction of the plant is nearly complete, and the next 18 months will be spent installing the reactor components, running tests, and loading the fuel before the reactors go critical in November 2017, said Zhang Zuoyi, director of the Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, a division of Tsinghua University that has developed the technology over the last decade and a half, in an interview at the institute’s campus 30 miles south of Beijing. If it’s successful, Shandong plant would generate a total of 210 megawatts and will be followed by a 600-megawatt facility in Jiangxi province.
Beyond that, China plans to sell these reactors internationally; in January, Chinese president Xi Jinping signed an agreement with King Salman bin Abdulaziz to construct a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor in Saudi Arabia.
“This technology is going to be on the world market within the next five years,” Zhang predicts. “We are developing these reactors to belong to the world.”
Pebble-bed reactors that use helium gas as the heat transfer medium and run at very high temperatures—up to 950 °C—have been in development for decades. The Chinese reactor is based on a design originally developed in Germany, and the German company SGL Group is supplying the billiard-ball-size graphite spheres that encase thousands of tiny “pebbles” of uranium fuel.
Seven high-temperature gas-cooled reactors have been built, but only two units remain in operation, both relatively small: an experimental 10-megawatt pebble-bed reactor at the Tsinghua Institute campus, which reached full power in 2003, and a similar reactor in Japan.
During a recent visit to the Tsinghua facility, technologists were testing the huge helium blower that will circulate the gas coolant at the Shandong site once it starts up. Such high-temperature reactors are immune to meltdown because they don’t require elaborate external cooling systems of the sort that failed at Fukushima, Japan, in 2011.
The graphite coating protects the fuel from breaking down, even at temperatures well beyond those found in the reactor core during operation, and once the interior temperature passes a certain threshold, the nuclear reactions slow, cooling the reactor and making it essentially self-regulating. And while pebble-bed reactors do not totally solve the problem of nuclear waste, the fuel’s form also gives rise to multiple options for waste disposal. China’s eventual goal is to eliminate or greatly reduce waste by recycling the spent fuel.
One of the main hurdles to building these reactors is the cost of the fuel and of the reactor components. But China’s sheer size could help overcome that barrier. “There have been studies that indicate that if reactors are mass-produced, they can drive down costs,” says Charles Forsberg, executive director of the MIT Nuclear Fuel Cycle Project. “The Chinese market is large enough to make that potentially possible.”
High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR)
In August, China announced it intended to build a hybrid fusion-fission reactor capable of recycling nuclear waste by 2030, which would make energy production more environmentally-friendly.
Researchers believe that hybrid reactors will be able to generate twice as much electricity as current reactors. These reactors are also believed to be safer as they can be immediately halted by cutting the external power supply.
Current reactors use only fission technology, which means dividing atoms in half while future fusion-fission technology will merge two atoms in one.
MIT Technology Review. technologyreview.com