Weapons

China's Navy Now Has a Super Weapon America's Navy Lacks: A Railgun

China's futuristic electromagnetic railgun may already be the most powerful cannon to ever roam the high seas — ahead of schedule.

In June, a U.S. intelligence assessment estimated that the Chinese military planned on fielding its own version of the electromagnetic railgun on naval vessels as early as 2025, far outstripping the Pentagon's truncatedefforts to develop its own version of the much-hyped supergun. Now, new photos appear to show the railgun perched on the bow of its test ship at sea.

This is clearly the Haiyang Shan, the same Type 072III-class landing ship that was spotted in January 2018 docked at the Wuchang shipyard in China's central Hubei province, the largest of the People's Liberation Army Navy's inland shipyards and a major production hub for the country's conventional submarines.

The Chinese railgun was first developed in 2011 and tested in 2014, but a People's Liberation Army-run news outlet claimed in February that the Chinese navy had achieved a "breakthrough" during sea trials for the new railgun. Indeed, the June U.S. intelligence assessment suggests the supergun underwent trials even earlier than the PLA said, with initial tests underway as early as December 2017.

Terror threat

UK's 'No 1 Target' 'White Widow' Reportedly Plotting Terror Attacks in London

The Western world's most wanted terrorist suspect is the widow of suicide bomber Germaine Lindsay, who took part in a series of coordinated attacks in London on 7 July 2005.

Samantha Lewthwaite dubbed the White Widow is believed to be hiding in Yemen, British security services believe, The Mirror reported, adding that she might be under the protection of fighters from the militant group al-Shabaab.

The 35-year-old was married to Germaine Lindsay, who was one of the four terrorists who detonated bombs on London's public transport system, targeting commuters during the morning rush hour on 7 July 2005.

Fifty-two people died in the attacks, with Lindsay killing 27 of them on London's tube.

Lewthwaite, who is believed to have had plastic surgery to alter her appearance, is reported to have recently visited Dubai, with sources telling The Mirror that she might be up to a new series of terrorist attacks, including in London.

Defense spending

In preparation for Trump’s ‘America First’ Doctrine, Japan unleashes $243bn defense spending plan

Japan is set to abandon its pacifist past and begin a long and dangerous road to militarization and potential confrontation with its neighbors, according to recently published defense spending documents.

Following the end of World War II, the United States military occupied Japan and imposed on the country a unique constitution which on the face of it, renounced war for good. Article 9 of the Constitution disallows Japan from maintaining a military force and outlaws the use of force in settling international disputes.

Much in the same way that Japan is party to an international convention which disallows whaling all the while it stillcontinues to take part in the globally banned activity (and will now reportedly be rapidly accelerating its whaling activities), Japan has never really adhered to the principles of its so-called Peace Constitution.

For example, Japan is one of the world’s largest spenders on national defense with one of the world’s best-equippedmilitaries, known as the Self Defence Forces (SDF), which are intended to empower the force to defend Japan in the instance of an attack. The nation also plays host to the US military and its bases, empowering the United States to attack many defenseless nations. In fact, the population of Okinawa, burdened with the task of hosting these military bases (despite vehement and endless amounts of protesting) reportedly feels guilty for their land’s complicity in the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan as Okinawa has played an integral role through the deployment of troops and naval craft.

Espionage

US citizen detained in Moscow on suspicion of espionage - FSB

Russia’s Federal Security Service has detained US citizen Paul Whelan in Moscow on suspicion of espionage, the public relations center said on Monday.

"On December 28, 2018 staff members of the Russian Federal Security Service detained US citizen Paul Whelan in Moscow while on a spy mission," the center said.

A criminal investigation into espionage has been launched against the US citizen.

If found guilty, he faces between 10 and 20 years in jail.

Weapons

Pentagon’s New Arms-Research Chief Eyes Space-Based Ray Guns


The next thing in space-based weapons could be decades old, according to Michael Griffin, the first defense undersecretary for research and engineering.

“Directed energy is more than just big lasers,” Griffin said. “That’s important. High-powered microwave approaches can effect an electronics kill. The same with the neutral particle beam systems we explored briefly in the 1990s” for use in space-based anti-missile systems. Such weapons can be “useful in a variety of environments” and have the “advantage of being non-attributable,” meaning that it can be hard to pin an attack with a particle weapon on any particular culprit since it leaves no evidence behind of who or even what did the damage.

Like lasers, neutral-particle beams focus beams of energy that travel in straight lines, unaffected by electromagnetic fields. But instead of light, neutral-particle beams use composed of accelerated subatomic particles traveling at near-light speed, making them easier to work with (though the folks that run CERN’s hadron collider may disagree). When its particles touche the surface of a target, they takes on a charge that allows them to penetrate the target’s shell or exterior more deeply.

This all makes neutral-particle beams attractive as space-based anti-missile systems. Over the years, various defense companies have released mockups of proposed designs that seem to come out of an issue of Popular Mechanics circa 1950.

Politics

Bloomberg says he’ll decide on presidential run in early 2019

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he’ll decide whether he’s running for president in 2020 by late January or early February – and if he does, it’ll definitely be as a Democrat.

“There’s no rush to do it. Everybody wants to know what you’re going to do, and the bottom line is I’m not sure yet,” the billionaire businessman told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview that aired Sunday.

“Do I think I could be a good president? Yes. I’m not the only one that could be a good president. I disagree with our current president on so many things that I don’t even know where to start there,” he said.

If he does throw his hat in the ring, Bloomberg, who was elected mayor of New York as a Republican in 2001 and 2005, would “certainly” run as a Democrat.

“I’m much closer to their philosophy,” Bloomberg said. “Although I don’t agree with any one party on everything.”

Poll results

Poll: 8-in-10 call illegal immigration a ‘problem,’ 58% say ‘serious

Most Americans believe that illegal immigration is a problem but are split over what to do about it, according to a new survey.

The latest Economist/YouGov.com poll found that 84 percent believe illegal immigration is a “problem” for the United States.

And of that, 58 percent called it a “somewhat serious” to “very serious problem.” Another 26 percent called it a "minor probem," and only 10 percent said illegal immigration is "not a problem" .

...And as the current government shutdown has show, the nation is split on building President Trump’s border wall. Some 43 percent support it and an equal percentage, 43 percent, oppose it, said Economist/YouGov.com.

Attitudes about the shutdown are split on political lines. Republicans blame Democrats for not giving Trump $5 billion for the wall and Democrats blame Trump for being stubborn. 

Predictions

5 Big National Security Predictions for 2019

Winston Churchill once wisecracked that the politician’s job is to predict what will happen—then explain why it didn’t. More to the point, George Orwell mocked “the unsinkable Military Expert” who keeps venturing strong predictions about martial affairs, keeps getting forecasts wrong, and keeps drawing “fat salaries” despite repeated failures as a soothsayer. Be humble when prophesying—lest the ghosts of wars past appear before you and terrify you!

In that spirit of humility, my Five National Security Predictions for 2019:

1. China keeps pushing its bounds:

China has a dream, as President Xi Jinping likes to say. More accurately, the Chinese Communist Party has a dream that it has thrust on the Chinese people. Party potentates will continue pushing toward that dream along parallel diplomatic, economic, and military tracks. Beijing has found footholds throughout the Indo-Pacific region through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI supplies regional governments with funds for infrastructure development in hopes of resurrecting the maritime and landward Silk Roads of old. Naval bases could follow, playing host to Beijing’s many surface and subsurface warships...

Weapons

Mach 5 Arms Race: The U.S. Military Is Racing to Build Hypersonic Weapons

The Russian hypersonic weapons test is shining light upon an aggressive US plan to prototype, test and deploy hypersonic weapons on an expedited schedule -- to defend against enemy attacks by fast-tracking an ability to launch high-impact, high-speed attacks at Mach. 5 - five times the speed of sound.

“We would like all the resources we can build into the kill chain to hit any target or hold it at risk with hypersonic weapons,” Gen . Timothy Ray, Air Force Global Strike Command, said at the Air Force Association Air, Space & Cyber Conference in September.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is, according to numerous news reports and Russia's own state news operation, calling the test a tremendous success, adding that the weapon is "invincible" and ready to enter service next year.

The actual technological capacity of the new Russian weapon has not, as of yet, been verified by public US reports.

​​Legitimate or not, a Russian weapon traveling at hypersonic speeds, naturally, would better enable offensive missile strikes to destroy targets such and enemy ships, buildings, air defenses and even drones and fixed-wing or rotary aircraft -- depending upon the guidance technology available.

Defense

RUSSIA MILITARY NEWS 2018: HISTORIC YEAR FOR VLADIMIR PUTIN AS NEW WEAPONS, STRATEGY AIM TO CHALLENGE U.S.

Russia's armed forces have claimed historic technological achievements and regional partnerships throughout 2018, making it a year in which the country further challenged U.S. military dominance around the world.

Russian President Vladimir Putin first set out in 2008 to revamp his country's military, whose might was devastated by the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. A decade later, he said the most modern and even prospective defense systems are "incapable" of thwarting Russia's newly minted arsenal of weapons. In addition, Moscow forged new ties with Asian powers such as China, India and Pakistan, enhancing the country's footing in the East—a region often touted as the up-and-coming global economic powerhouse.

In the West, however, heightened tensions between Moscow and the U.S.-led NATO Western military alliance have led to dueling military exercises across militarized borders. The East-West dispute also played out in the Middle East, where Moscow's pro-Syrian government campaign outpaced a rival one led by the Pentagon, which has since been ordered to leave the war-torn nation.

Nuclear security

America's Mad Scientists Wanted to Use Nuclear Power to Create Tunnels in a Shocking Way

Digging out deep underground complexes or undersea bases could be expedited the Atomic way, in an alternate universe where the wildest ideas of the 1950s, 60s and 70s came to pass. Although our own timeline relies on mega-engineering for transportation, energy and architectural infrastructure, for the past half-century we've mostly relied on conventional power sources and design principles.

Today's Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) rank among the wonders of modern machinery. As wide as a several-story building and as long as a football field, these giant metal worms chew their way through rock and earth to dig out the world's ever-expanding networks of subways, drain tunnels, mines and bunkers. Aft of a huge rotating cutting head, a series of powerful jacks press, push and release the TBM along the tunnel's walls, to drive the excavation forward.

From the tunnel head forward of the cutting head, the excavated material trundles through the bulk of the machine like food through a gut to waiting hopper cars, which carry the rock out of the tunnel to a dump area. The insides of the TBM form a mass of engines and moving parts as dense as a sub's interior, full of noise and motion.

But in the 1970s, Los Alamos National Laboratory explored a science-fiction approach to tunneling: using nuclear power to literally melt holes through rock and turn the melted rock into tunnel lining. One product of the lab's research was a patent for a nuclear subterrene—a machine which could theoretically move through rock the way a submarine moves through water.

Seismic security

Yellowstone Supervolcano WARNING: Eruption would be 20 TIMES larger than infamous Vesuvius

...The last major eruption at Yellowstone was 640,000 years ago.

But earlier this year, Yellowstone National Park’s geyser erupted three times in six weeks, sparking fears a huge volcanic eruption was brewing.

Steamboat Geyser, which spewed water 91 metres high, erupted on March 15, April 19 and 25

The revelation followed an eruption and tsunami at Indonesia's Anak Krakatau on 22nd December.

The volcano, situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire and formerly of a similar size to Vesuvius, caused a tsunami that hit Sumatra and Java where more than 420 people died and 40,000 were displaced.

It is said to have lost three-quarters of its size in the immense eruption - the crater peak was brought down from 338 metres to 110 metres.

Yemeni knot

Saudi Arabia is reportedly outsourcing its war in Yemen to child soldiers

Saudi Arabia is reportedly outsourcing its war in Yemen to be fought by child soldiers from Sudan.

According to a bombshell investigation from the New York Times’ David Kirkpatrick, the Saudis are dipping into their deep pockets to bankroll a militia of Sudanese fighters — many of them children — to fight on the frontlines against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, insulating the Kingdom from casualties and the political blowback they could cause. Many of the Sudanese fighters come from the region of Darfur, where violent conflict consumed the countryside for more than a decade. Across the Red Sea in Yemen, they face a steep risk of death again:

At any time for nearly four years as many as 14,000 Sudanese militiamen have been fighting in Yemen in tandem with the local militia aligned with the Saudis, according to several Sudanese fighters who have returned and Sudanese lawmakers who are attempting to track it. Hundreds, at least, have died there.

The conditions inside Yemen were already bleak. The war there, led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has by some estimates claimed the lives of nearly 50,000 people. The conflict has spurred a massive humanitarian crisis, leaving more than 12 million people on the brink of starvation and in desperate need of assistance.

Economic security

How long with this Bear Market continue?

As everyone knows who has not been living in a cave without electricity or Internet, we are now officially in a “Bear Market” in stocks. This means, in a basic way, that stock prices are off at least 20 percent from their recent highs. I am writing this on Christmas Day and the stock market is closed. It’s entirely possible that we could have a major sell off again very soon.

Now, I am a fairly old man, and I have been following the stock market for a long time. I have seen lots of Bear Markets. They are not unusual and have happened roughly a dozen times in the past fifty years. They tend to last about a year, and then the recovery to where the market was before the Bear Market reached its nadir tends to last very roughly two years.

So we could be waiting a good long while for the market to recover. Some bear markets have lasted for roughly a decade and it has taken several decades to reach pre-crash levels if you factor in inflation and don’t count dividends.

It hurts like a major, endless toothache to be in a Bear Market and is maddening and scary. But they do happen and if you get caught in one, history has proved that the best thing you can do is hold onto your stocks in broadly diversified indexes and not to panic and sell out.

You simply have no idea of when the correction into positive territory will start. History has also shown that a large slice of the gains in stock market rallies are concentrated in a few days of feverish optimism and if you miss them, you miss a lot. So Bear Markets happen, and there’s not much you can do about it.

Intel learning

How DIA can recreate the stress of learning in a foreign country

How can the Defense Intelligence Agency ensure its staff members can effectively communicate in the everyday environments of far-flung places without sending them into potentially risky situations? Agency leaders are hoping the answer to improve foreign language training is just a computer away.

In a sources sought notice issued in late December, the agency said virtual, augmented and mixed reality provides a safer means for trainees to be fully immersed in areas where they might one day be sent on assignment but that are too dangerous to visit for training purposes.

“The risk of traveling overseas is always a main concern when considering the safety of intelligence officers, especially those who have language skills or specialize in regions of high risk,” the notice reads.

“The use of VR for language training would allow these DIA employees to enter a VR scenario in which they, for example, would practice their language skills (e.g., Russian, Chinese, Arabic, etc.) without having to actually travel to these high-risk environments. By using VR as a language training tool, DIA can offer its officers an immersive language experiences while also maintaining their safety.”

European security

Belarus between East andWest: The Art of the Deal

During the Belarusian celebration of independence in July 2018, President Alexander Lukashenko stressed that Belarus would not choose between East and West. Belarusians would choose independence, peace and partnerships with other states. He thus reaffirmed statements he made at the Minsk Dialogue Forum in May 2018, a for Belarus unprecedentedly large conference on Eastern European security that was well-attended by Western researchers and policy advisors. Since 2014, Belarus stresses its role as a bridge builder and mediator in the Ukrainian conflict. At the same time, the government is pursuing a policy of strengthening national identity. In Russia, both officials and the state-controlled media are increasingly criticizing Belarus’ lack of loyalty and its commitment to the alliance. Lukashenko is personally criticized for his perceived attempts to ingratiate himself with the West. Tensions are further exacerbated because Belarus does not recognize the “reunification” of Russia with Crimea, rejects the establishment of a Russian air base on its territory, and introduced a limited visa exemption for Western tourists. These recent developments directly contradict the prevailing image in the West to date; that Belarus is Russia’s staunchest ally. Belarus is indeed heavily dependent on Russian energy subsidies and markets, a member of all Russian-led projects for economic and military integration, and the countries have close cultural ties. It is therefore remarkable and significant for debates on European security that Belarus, neighbor to Ukraine and strategically located between Poland and Russia, has begun shifting its foreign policy priorities since 2014.

Wildlife security

The Observer view on Japan’s decision to resume commercial whaling

Whales have been hunted by humans for thousands of years. Their flesh, oil and blubber have been variously employed for food, to make wax for candles and to provide fuel for lamps. This kind of exploitation is no longer needed today. Modern society gets its protein and its lighting from other, more accessible sources. Hence the decision by the International WhalingCommission (IWC) to place a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986.

Given that many species had already been brought close to extinction, the move was long overdue. Three decades later, the blue whale, the humpback whale, the North Atlantic right whale and many other great cetaceans are still struggling to rise out of the critically endangered state to which hunting had reduced them. Had whaling not been halted 30 years ago, many of these great creatures would no longer be swimming in our oceans. The world that we currently inhabit would have been greatly impoverished.

Given this worrying background, it is all the more difficult to understand the announcement by the government of Japan that it has decided that it will leave the IWC in June in order to resume commercial whaling the following month. By any standards, the move is depressing – and alarming. It has absolutely no economic or ecological justification and in preparing to slaughter some of the planet’s most intelligent creatures for food the plan is repugnant.

Trade wars

The Making of a Trade Warrior

At his confirmation hearings for the position of U.S. trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, the nation’s chief trade negotiator, promised to fight for all of America’s great industries. Yes, he acknowledged, he had built his three-decade career by lobbying for the steel industry. But he was ready, he said, to make the world safe again for good old-fashioned American capitalism, in all its forms. He recalled a caution he’d received from a senator: “As you go through doing your job, remember that you do not eat steel.”

The senator wanted Lighthizer to concede that, despite its hold on the national imagination, steel’s contribution to the American economy has waned. Even back in 2003, when Lighthizer made his first major bid to control the rules of global trade, neither of the two leading American steel companies was worth more in the stock market than the nascent Amazon, despite employing a dozen times as many employees. Today, the two shiny new headquarters Amazon plans to build could house the majority of the 81,000-odd workers who work in America’s remaining iron and steel mills, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As America’s steel workforce has shrunk, the industry has maintained and even tightened its hold on Washington. Lighthizer has played no small part in steel’s political endurance; he has been working for years to yoke steel’s interests with the nation’s.

Politics

Nothing to Envy in EU Membership

...The EU’s high-handedness, blatant favoritism, disdain for elections, stifling political orthodoxies, and mulish unresponsiveness are the primary cause of political instability across Europe. But most of all, the problem is that the European Union is not really a governing institution in the normal sense of the term. It doesn’t really do the primary jobs of government, such as providing law and order and reconciling diverse interests in a functioning society. Instead the European Union is a teleological project; it is pursuing a goal. Its function is to create “more Europe.” That is, it exists for itself. It uses the existing “pooled sovereignty” of its member states to attempt to drain more sovereignty away from the member states. That’s why power resides with an unelected body, and why it ignores or retries any national referendum that doesn’t endorse the preexisting goals of the European Union.

The European Union has shown that it can change speeds, not that it can change course. Unable to correct, it must and will crash spectacularly.

Military

China’s Strategic Support Force At 3

The PLA Strategic Support Force (PLASSF) has been a puzzle and apparent paradox over the first three years of its development. Established on December 31, 2015, this new force has been designed to leverage synergies and facilitate integration across Chinese capabilities for space, cyberspace, and the electromagnetic spectrum. In any future conflict scenario, the Strategic Support Force would be integral to the PLA’s plans to fight and win “informatized” warfare. The PLASSF’s Space Systems Department will enhance information support and intelligence for the PLA’s newly established theater commands, thus enabling future joint operations and power projection. At the same time, the PLASSF contributes to the PLA’s integrated approach to strategic deterrence, providing capabilities for space and information operations that can complement its existing arsenal. The Network Systems Department has consolidated cyber, electronic, and psychological warfare capabilities, which appear to be structured through bases that correspond with the five theater commands. After the past three years, such assessments about its force structure and missions can be made with greater confidence, and the PLASSF’s construction appears to be advancing considerably, though a number of uncertainties remain.

Middle East

U.S. Commanders Recommend Letting Kurdish Fighters in Syria Keep U.S. Weapons: Reuters

U.S. military commanders are recommending that Kurdish troops fighting ISIS be allowed to keep U.S. weapons after U.S. forces withdraw, a move that would likely anger NATO ally Turkey, Reuters reports. President Trump abruptly ordered a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria last week. The decision was met with widespread criticism and prompted the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis. Discussions about the weapons are still at an early stage inside the Pentagon and no decision has been made, officials told Reuters. It is unclear what the Pentagon will recommend to the White House, and what the president will ultimately decide to do. “Planning is ongoing, and focused on executing a deliberate and controlled withdrawal of forces while taking all measures possible to ensure our troops’ safety,” Commander Sean Robertson, a Pentagon spokesman, told Reuters.

Nuclear security

The Biggest Nuclear Threats of 2018 Will Follow Us into the New Year


The New Nuclear Arms Race is the clear winner as the greatest global nuclear threat of 2018. Each of the nine nuclear-armed states is building new weapons and the United States, instead of strengthening the global nuclear safety net, is actively shredding it.

In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced five new nuclear weapons he said Russia was building in response to the U.S. decision to abrogate the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty. All are designed to circumvent defenses. Russia has also deployed a small number of ground-based cruise missiles whose range exceed that permitted by the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty that President Ronald Reagan negotiated. In October, President Donald Trump said he would pull out of this arms elimination pact, despite the objections of NATO allies.

Destruction of the INF Treaty is likely a prelude to allowing the New START treaty to die. This pact, negotiated by President Barack Obama, limits long-range strategic forces. If both go, it will be the first time since 1972 that U.S. and Russian nuclear forces have been completely unconstrained.

“The untimely death of these two agreements would add fuel to a new arms race and further undermine stability and predictability between Washington and Moscow,” warned former National Security Council senior director Jon Wolfsthal.

Arms trade

Kazakhstan receives four more Su-30SM fighter aircraft

The Kazakhstan Air Defence Forces (KADF) have received a new batch of Sukhoi Su-30SM ‘Flanker-H’ multirole fighter aircraft from Russia, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in Astana announced in a statement on 25 December.

A source from the Kazakh military told Jane’s that the service’s 604th Air Base in Taldykorgan, Almaty Region, took delivery of four more of the fighters, bringing to 12 the total number of Su-30SMs received by the KADF.

In 2014 Kazakhstan signed a contract worth approximately RUB5 billion (USD76.9 million) for four Su-30SMs, all of which were delivered by April 2015.

In December 2015 a second contract for eight of these platforms was signed, with the first two fighters arriving in Kazakhstan in December 2016 and two more in December 2017. According to the source, the recently delivered aircraft are the remaining four Su-30SMs ordered under this second contract.

Weapons

Navy Pushes Hypersonic Weapon Plan as Putin Boasts He Already Has Them

The Navy has put development of hypersonic weapons on its acquisition wish list even as Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted this week of a successful test and planned deployment in 2019 of "invincible" nuclear-armed versions that can fly at more than 20 times the speed of sound.

Under his plan, released Dec. 17, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson listed the Navy's intention to "develop and field an offensive hypersonic weapon by 2025" as a top priority.

The Air Force also has put a priority on hypersonics, reflecting the increasing concerns of the Pentagon that Russia and China have taken the lead on a technology that potentially poses the threat of making existing missile defense systems obsolete.

In April, the Air Force awarded a contract to develop a prototype hypersonic cruise missile, or the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon.

Innovations & technologies

An Inside Look at the Spy Technology of the Future

...Practiced spies know that while they're undercover, they have to continually gauge aspects of a suspect's body language since it could tell as much as or more than the words a person speaks.

And like there are increasingly advanced facial recognition cameras, other surveillance technology can even detect poses that can indicate bad behavior or impure intentions.

One option, currently used in Japan, is called the AI Guardman, and it knows the stances that people typically take when shoplifting. When things seem amiss, the technology notifies shopkeepers via a connected app.

The company that makes the equipment is targeting big businesses but recognizes that there's a need for such surveillance at smaller establishments too.

Although the company isn't marketing to spies, the way that the AI Guardman can pick up on minor things that might otherwise get overlooked makes it a potentially good fit for people involved in espionage.

Energy security

China Will Still Go Massively Nuclear but Don’t Want Western Reactor Technology

China was planning to use Westinghouse AP1000 and french EPR (Evolutionary Power Reactor) nuclear reactors. China normally completes nuclear reactors in 4-5 years and at a half or a third of the price of nuclear construction in the USA and Europe. China just finished its first EPR reactor but it was five years late and about double the budget. China has also completed several AP1000 reactors but there delays and budget overruns there as well. Westinghouse and Toshiba went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017.

There are some who believe that a pause in China’s licensing of nuclear reactors is a shift in China away from nuclear power. Nextbigfuture believes that is incorrect. China still needs hundreds of nuclear reactors. China will double its electrical power generation or more by 2050.

China will not be using oil, gas and coal as its main power because of massive air pollution problems. Air pollution kills over 1 million people per year in China and costs 7% of China’s GDP in damage to crops and buildings.

China imports 70% of its oil. This is a massive geopolitical strategic vulnerability. Oil dependence was a primary reason for the German loss in WW2.

Criminal investigation

Former top CIA official says MBS was "reckless" and "stupid" in Khashoggi killing

Former CIA Acting Director and CBS News national security contributor Michael Morell described the killing of Saudi dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, as a "reckless" and "stupid" move by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, heir apparent to the Saudi crown, who is also known as MBS.

"This was particularly reckless. This was particularly brazen, and it was particularly stupid," Morell told chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett on this week's episode of "The Takeout" podcast, which focused on Khashoggi's brutal murder in October at the Saudi consulate in Turkey. Earlier this month, Khashoggi, along with other persecuted journalists were named Time Magazine's Person of the Year.

Immigration security

More migrants and refugees try to reach UK via English Channel

Britain's immigration minister Caroline Nokes is due to meet border officials in the port city of Dover over a spike in migrants and refugees trying to cross the English Channel in small boats.

The move follows the interception of two vessels carrying 12 migrants and refugees off the southeast English coast.

In one incident, eight Iranian men were spotted in a small boat near Dover on Friday and brought ashore for medical assessments and immigration interviews.

About six hours earlier, border officials detained a Syrian and three Iranians found on a dinghy nearby.

Several children were among 40 migrants and refugees from Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan who were rescued by British and French authorities on Tuesday.

Nokes called the trend "deeply concerning".

Attempts to cross the English Channel, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, have been increasing since October, with authorities on both sides struggling to stop them.

Innovations & technologies

New Battlesuit is Under Development Confidentially

The US Special Operations Command has been quietly working on a high-tech battlesuit. Known as the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS), it aims to succeed where previous American initiatives geared towards enhancing the abilities of soldiers in combat using human-portable and worn technology have stalled.

The TALOS program is designed to develop a suit that’s energy efficient — able to function at peak performance without recharging for significant periods of time — and low profile, allowing ease of movement and maneuverability, according to militarytimes.com.

TALOS will also be able to provide wearers with heightened situational awareness while streaming in huge amounts of data and information from other platforms, including drones, reconnaissance aircraft, land-based and naval sensors, etc.

One of the problems that has haunted the US military for decades upon decades was the weight borne by soldiers in the field. In addition to their weapons and ammunition, soldiers can sometimes find themselves toting more than 60-70 lbs of additional gear and personal protective equipment. By integrating light armor plating into the chassis of TALOS and including force-multiplying motors, the new suit could allow wearers to carry even more weight without feeling a thing.

Also expected to be included are life support systems that monitor the wearer’s vitals and health. Aside from improved night vision and a more compact communications suite, an upgraded audio reception capability is arguably one of the cooler features of this already badass suit. 3-dimensional sound pickups will not only allow the wearer to determine the source of incoming fire, vehicles, etc. It will also allow special operators to covertly listen in on enemy ground movements and gather actionable field intelligence.

Public security

Tech Applied at Bin Laden Raid will Defend Schools

A pilot project will digitally map New Jersey county schools and other public buildings as part of a security plan for responding to fires, health emergencies, active shooter responses or other incidents. The digital structural maps will be stored on a cloud that can be accessed by first responders. The strategy is based on a technology used by the US military during the raid on Osama Bin Laden.

“The mapping program will make available in critical incidents floor plans and structural guides provided by participating schools and other entities, digitally and remotely to police, rescue squad responders and firefighters,” said Freeholder John Lanza, board’s liaison for public safety. Using a cell phone, tablet or laptop, public safety units “will have at their fingertips the ability to better direct resources to specific areas within structures … this is the kind of public safety tool that can save lives.”

The technology will be provided by Critical Response Group (CRG) and it will be managed by the Hunterdon county’s Prosecutor’s Office. It was originally developed by U.S. Special Forces and used to coordinate military operations in unfamiliar terrain, and allow forces to communicate with each other, according to tapinto.net.

Communication security

Cyber spies accessed thousands of European Union diplomatic cables

A group of hackers, allegedly working for the Chinese military, accessed thousands of classified diplomatic cables from the European Union during a protracted cyber-espionage operation, a report has revealed. Over 100 organizations are believed to have been targeted in the multi-year cyber-espionage campaign, including the United Nations, international labor groups, as well as government ministries from dozens of countries. The operation was revealed on Tuesday by Area 1, a cyber-security company founded by former officials of the United States National Security Agency, and reported by The New York Times.

The compromised cables come primarily from the European Union’s COREU communication network, a Telex-based network that uses teleprinters to exchange text-based messages. The European Union uses the COREU network to transmit information that is classified “limited” or “restricted” between officials representing the executive governments of the European Union’s member states, members of the European Commission, foreign-ministry officials, and other approved parties. Top-secret information (“tres secret” in European Union parlance) is typically not shared on the COREU network. Consequently, the hacked cables contain mostly low-level information. That does not mean, however, that their access by at least one adversary power does not represent a serious security breach. Area 1 said that its forensic examination of the method used by the hackers reveals a set of cyber-espionage techniques that are closely associated with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). These clues, in association with the PLA’s long history of attacking Western diplomatic targets, point to Beijing as a very likely culprit behind the attacks, according to Area 1.

Weapons

Directed-energy weapons like laser weapons, microwaves, and particle beam weapons are future of defense

 If the Pentagon intends to be laser-focused in its goal to improve directed-energy weapons, it has just a few years to decide whether it wants to invest heavily in the new technology, according to the former director of the Missile Defense Agency. Military.com reports. Continue reading original article

The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

20 Dec. 2018 -- "There are some things that kinetic weapons will not be able to do" now or in the future, said Henry "Trey" Obering, an executive vice president at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton in McLean, Va., who leads the company's directed energy innovation team.

Directed-energy weapons attack their targets with focused energy, and include including laser weapons, microwave weapons, and particle beam weapons.

Obering said the Pentagon -- should it get its $700-billion-plus spending boost -- could afford to throw additional resources toward the laser weapons and the like. It's an investment, much like the one the Pentagon made years ago to smart, laser- or GPS-guided munitions as opposed to dumb bombs that paid off, starting with Operation Desert Storm.