Mil News 5 Domains Update

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Sea state

The British ministry of defence has released a detailed report and footage of last month’s dangerous ‘interaction’ between the USS Decatur and a Chinese Luoyang-class destroyer near the Spratly Islands. In response, US navy chief Admiral John Richardson has called on China to adhere to a code of conduct on the seas. It’s reported that the US Pacific Fleet has had 18 ‘unsafe interactions’ with the Chinese navy since 2016.

Australian warships will make port calls at an enlarged naval base on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. Australia and PNG have signed a deal to jointly redevelop the naval base. Canberra has committed to financing most of the upgrade. China had earlier proposed to fund the base, and Australia reportedly signed the deal to prevent Beijing from gaining a foothold in its neighbourhood.

‘Keen Sword’, the largest joint military exercise between US and Japanese armed forces this year, is underway in the Philippine Sea. The exercises include simulated air combat, amphibious manoeuvres and ballistic missile defence trials amid growing Chinese aggression near the disputed Senkaku (or Diaoyu) Islands. The US and Japan are drawing up an operations plan to defend the islands in the event of a Chinese attack.

The French navy is planning to use albatrosses to catch illegal fishermen in its area of responsibility in the Indian Ocean. The birds will be fitted with small, light-weight transceivers to detect the low-frequency signals of illegal trawlers. The data will enable the navy to identify and track vessels; it will also be used by scientists to study the birds’ behaviour.

Flight path

Airbus Helicopters held multi-day demonstrations of its H145M multi-role helicopter at Hungary’s Bakony Combat Training Centre. It follows on from demonstrations held in July attended by delegations from Brazil, the Czech Republic, Iraq and Kazakhstan, among others. The H145M is an upgraded form of the earlier EC145. It comes with standard enhancements plus the new HForce weapons system. Five countries (Hungary, Germany, Serbia, Thailand and Luxembourg) are currently part of the H145M program. Airbus has signalled its intent to offer the H145M as a potential competitor in response to Australia’s recent request for information for 16 special operations support helicopters.

The Netherlands and Italy are talking about cooperating on certification and integration of the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle. The Netherlands ordered four Reapers at the UK’s Farnborough International Airshow in July, which are scheduled to be delivered by the manufacturer, General Atomics, in 2020. Italy already has six Reapers and was one of the first European countries to operate medium-altitude, long-endurance UAVs. The Reaper is one of two contenders for Australia’s AIR 7003 project.

Watch China’s dramatic new video of the CH-5 UAV, which it says is the country’s ‘largest and most powerful drone bomber’. The film was released before the start of the biennial Airshow China which kicked off today in Zhuhai. It is China’s largest aerospace expo, but analysts predict that no big deals will occur due to the US–China trade war and China’s slowing economy.

Rapid fire

Yemeni forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, have been mobilised in a bid to recapture the strategic port city of Hodeidah from Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels. On the eve of the operation, the Houthis were reported to have acquired a new guided missile that can carry out a precision strike. The move came in spite of calls from the US and UK for an end to the conflict.

A Chinese defence company is planning to unveil a new short-range precision laserweapon this week at Airshow China in Zhuhai. The LW-30 is a truck-based laser system that can track objects and destroy them with an energy beam of up to 30 kilowatts. The company claims it can bring down light aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles within a 25-kilometre radius. The US Army is working on a similar laser weapon that’s expected to be ready by 2023.

The US has announced that it will hold low-level military exercises with South Korea despite plans for denuclearisation talks to be held between the US and North Korea in New York at the end of the week. The drills will involve a total of 500 American and South Korean Marines. Washington has suspended this year’s full-scale military drills with South Korea to increase the chance of a deal with North Korea, which has threatened to resume its nuclear program if the US doesn’t ease off on pressure and sanctions.

Zero gravity

NASA’s hard-working Kepler telescope has been shut down after running out of fuel. Affectionately referred to by NASA astronomer Jessie Dotson as ‘the little spacecraft that could’, Kepler discovered 2,720 of the known 3,800 exoplanets over the past nine and a half years. Kepler’s more advanced successor, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), was launched in April and is expected to continue the hunt for new planets. Kepler was declared dead in 2013 but was successfully revived; NASA is certain, however, that this time really ‘marks the end of a glorious … era’.

Russia’s space agency has announced that the launch failure of a Soyuz rocket last month was caused by a malfunctioning sensor. The rocket, which was carrying a NASA astronaut and Roscosmos cosmonaut to the International Space Station was forced to execute an emergency landing and has since been grounded. The next launch may be as early as 3 December, which means crew members left stranded on the ISS when the rocket failed may still be able to return to earth by Christmas.

For the past seven years NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has held a Halloween pumpkin-carving competition. The lab, which was established on Halloween in 1936, is contracted to design and construct robotic space technology and its employees take the competition very seriously. They’re given just one hour to ‘decorate’ their pumpkins—you can see some of their handiwork here, here and here.

Wired watchtower

Russia is reportedly targeting the US military in social media disinformation campaigns in a bid to establish ‘reflexive control’ of personnel, a tactic that seeks to predispose individuals to making decisions that are favourable to an adversary. The US military’s social media security focus has previously been on scams or inappropriate or unlawful behaviour rather than on disinformation. Experts have warned that disinformation targeting the military is the ‘uncovered stone in the Russian influence effort’ and risks being overlooked if it’s treated as simply a part of Russia’s overall attempts to sway American society. Moscow’s broader efforts haven’t stopped either: a Russian woman has been charged in the US over attempted interference in today’s midterm elections.

Hackers claiming to have access to 120 million Facebook accounts have attempted to sell the private details of Russian and Ukrainian users (among others). Facebook has denied that its security has been breached, but cybersecurity company Digital Shadows confirmed on behalf of the BBC that private data from more than 81,000 profiles has been compromised and a further 176,000 accounts were affected in some way. The cyberattack comes amid the summoning of Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to appear before a joint committee of UK and Canadian MPs.

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Sea state
Last week, the guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville conducted a freedom-of-navigation operation near the Paracel Islands to challenge China’s ‘excessive maritime claims’ in the South China Sea. Guided-missile destroyer USS Stockdale and oiler USNS Pecos also transited through the Taiwan Strait, to send a message to Beijing in the lead-up to the G20 summit in Argentina over the weekend. Two weeks ago, China allowed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and three other US warships to dock at Hong Kong in an apparent goodwill gesture after refusing a similar request in September.
The British and Indian navies’ annual bilateral naval exercise, Konkan, is underway off the coast of Goa in the Arabian Sea. The Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon and India’s Kolkata-class destroyer INS Kolkata are participating in the operation along with an Indian submarine and maritime patrol aircraft. India and the UK agreed earlier this year to expand naval cooperation to include carrier battle group operations.
Iran launched an indigenous destroyer, which state media claims has stealth properties, at the Bandar base in the Persian Gulf on Saturday. Sahand is equipped with a helicopter deck, torpedo launchers, and anti-aircraft and anti-ship weapons, among other features. In a meeting with naval commanders last week, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the country should enhance its military capability and preparedness.
Flight path
Australia will send a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to Japan this week. Defence Minister Christopher Pyne said in an announcement on Friday that the deployment was part of Australia’s commitment to the mission to prevent sanctions evasion by North Korea. Another Poseidon was deployed in April and two AP-3C Orions were deployed in September.
On 30 November, Italy became the first European country to achieve initial operating capability (IOC) of the F-35 joint strike fighter. The Italian Air Force is the fourth service to declare IOC, after the US Air Force and Marine Corps and the Israeli Air Force. Royal Air Force F-35s are taking part in their first operational exercise and are due to achieve land-based IOC by the end of 2018.
The UK Ministry of Defence may not have given due consideration to Saab-Airbus’s and Israeli Aircraft Industries’ contenders before selecting the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail early warning aircraft. Jane’s reports that British officials flew in the Boeing model but not the other aircraft and met with Boeing more often than with the other companies. The UK’s defence procurement minister said a formal competition wasn’t put in place because of the ‘pressing need’ to find a replacement for the UK’s ageing Boeing E-3 aircraft. The decision still requires Treasury approval.
Iran’s annual aviation event concluded last week. The ninth Iran Air Show featured 110 companies, both local and foreign, showcasing products and services. There was a large emphasis on Iran’s domestic capabilities due to the reimposition of US sanctions. Photos of the four-day event can be found here.
Rapid fire
Microsoft has signed a US$480 million contract with the US Defense Department to supply an augmented-reality system called HoloLens that will be able to increase lethality and enhance soldiers’ ability to detect and engage with an enemy on the battlefield. The military-grade HoloLens will come with features that include ‘night vision, thermal sensing, hearing protection, plus the ability to read vital signs’. The US Army had tested HoloLens in training and plans to purchase 100,000 headsets for use in combat.
A journalist for Russia’s state-owned Channel One set off a high-level security alert in the UK after he was observed filming outside a barracks in Berkshire. The base is home to the 77th Brigade, which is believed to be a cyber unit that deals with countering online propaganda material from terror groups and states that try to infiltrate and disseminate disinformation to the public. Last month, the UK’s army chief warned that Russia poses a greater threat to the country than Islamic terror groups.
Major General Alenka Ermenc has been chosen as the head of Slovenia’s armed forces, the first woman in the country’s history to hold the post. She starts in the job tomorrow and will be the only female armed forces chief in NATO. Ermenc has had a decorated military career, having been a member of the territorial forces that fought for Slovenia’s independence from Yugoslavia and served in the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.
Zero gravity
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx arrived at the Bennu asteroid on Monday. The spacecraft has been in pursuit of the asteroid since 2016 and will spend a month observing its surface and mapping its chemical composition. OSIRIS-REx will then commence a slow descent, aiming to collect some regolith (space dust) in mid-2020. The sample—expected to arrive back on earth in 2023—will assist scientific research into asteroid trajectories, the origins of the solar system and the viability of asteroid-mining technologies.
Harvard researchers are preparing to test a geoengineering tactic that could stall the effects of climate change. In 2019, the lab will send a steerable balloon into the stratosphere to release and monitor the effects of a light-reflecting chemical compound, calcium carbonate. A Nature analysis describes the small-scale test as an opportunity to weigh the risks and benefits of geoengineering efforts, which, while controversial, have gained traction due to the threat of climate change.
The first manned space mission since the failure of a Soyuz spacecraft launch in October arrived at the International Space Station on Monday. Despite the success, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos is plagued by technological and economic issues, which, according to Russian space consultant Pavel Luzin, have damaged its reputation as a ‘trusted partner in space’.
Wired watchtower
Government and private companies in the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon were targeted in a two-pronged attack by an unknown hacker group. The first part involved imitating job websites to deliver a remote administration tool dubbed ‘DNSpionage’. The second campaign was a domain-name hijacking attack that targeted the finance ministry and Middle East Airlines in Lebanon, and the UAE’s police and telecommunications regulator. The source, success rate and motivation of the attacks are unknown.
Last Tuesday, South Africa’s National Assembly and National Council of Provinces passed several bills, including a Cybercrimes Bill, at their plenary sittings. The bill criminalises the distribution of content that is deemed harmful, allows interim protection orders to be granted and regulates the powers to investigate alleged cybercrimes. While there is support for the stance the bill takes against non-consensual dissemination of information, critics pointed out significant ambiguity in the draft bill regarding circulation of fake news. Those found guilty of ‘malicious communication’ could be imprisoned for up to three years.
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Sea state
Australian shipbuilder Austal has won a $1.6 billion contract to build two littoral combat ships for the US Navy and is in talks with Trinidad and Tobago about a potential patrol boat deal. The ships will be designed in Australia but built in Austal’s shipyard in Alabama. Earlier this year, the Australian government unveiled its strategy to become one of the world’s top 10 defence exporters.

A US congressman has called for the Five Eyes nations to work together on an ‘international joint-build, cost-sharing program’ to build the next generation of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines. The Australian government’s $50 billion deal with French shipbuilder Naval Group to build 12 conventionally powered Shortfin Barracuda submarines has been criticised over cost and the potential for a ‘capability gap’, though Defence Minister Christopher Pyne has dismissed calls for a Plan B. The debate over the need for Australia to acquire nuclear submarines has gained prominence in Australian strategic discourse in the past few months.

Recently declassified documents reveal that the scientific mission that discovered the Titanic in 1985 was primarily tasked with examining two sunken US nuclear submarines, USS Thresher and USS Scorpion. US Navy commander and scientist Robert Ballard said that he was offered funding to search for the Titanic only if he undertook an expedition to study the impact of the lost nuclear submarines on the marine environment.
Flight path
The 67th Operation Christmas Drop ended on Monday. The joint operation between the air forces of Australia, the US and Japan is the world’s longest running airdrop training exercise. Food, clothing and toys were dropped to 57 remote islands in Micronesia between 10 and 17 December. The tradition began in 1952 when US Air Force officers saw islanders waving to them and dropped a bundle of supplies as a present. The RAAF used C-130J Hercules aircraft fitted with external tanks for the first time in this year’s Christmas Drop. Watch a video of the operation here.

The US Government Accountability Office has told Congress that it will be difficult to meetDefense Secretary Jim Mattis’s goal of ensuring 80% of military aircraft are mission-capable by the end of 2019. Defence capability boss John Pendleton highlighted the 15% mission capability rate of the F-35 last year as an example of how far the military had to go. The US Navy said its Super Hornets have an availability rate of 49% and that it would be a ‘stretch’ to reach the Mattis target.

The Royal Air Force has commissioned its first Sikh and Muslim chaplains, Reverend (Flight Lieutenant) Mandeep Kaur and Chaplain (Flight Lieutenant) Ali Omar. Christianity is the dominant religion in UK forces and other religions are underrepresented when compared to the overall population. It’s anticipated that the recent lifting of the five-year UK residency requirement for Commonwealth citizens will help address the capacity and diversity gap.
Rapid fire
Kosovo has passed controversial laws to create a national army from its security force. The move has been labelled as ‘historic’ by the US, but NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg expressed regret that the plan ignored his organisation’s concerns. Before the legislation was passed, Serbian prime minister Ana Brnabic threatened that her country could respond with a military intervention. Under the current plan, Kosovo’s army will comprise 5,000 active soldiers and 3,000 reservists. Kosovo gained independence from Serbia in 2008.

France has delivered 1,400 AK-47 assault rifles and three amphibious vehicles to the Central African Republic army. The Central African Republic has struggled to recover from its 2013 civil war and the military assistance (along with €24 million in civilian aid) is meant to help the country fight back against Seleka rebels that have been a source of instability for CAR and a threat to its UN-backed government. Some 4,000 French troops are deployed in several African countries as part of the counterterrorism effort known as Operation Barkhane.

China will send 225 troops to the Darfur region in Sudan to serve in the UN peacekeeping mission there. A contingent of 100 soldiers has already departed Beijing, and the remainder will leave on 18 December. The troops will work on engineering projects, constructing and repairing roads and airfields. China has troops serving in various UN peacekeeping missions in Africa, and two of its troops were killed in 2016 in South Sudan.
Zero gravity
Virgin Galactic has become the first company to reach space with a spaceship intended for private travel—at least by the company’s definition. While undoubtedly a major milestone, the VSS Unity only reached an altitude of 82 kilometres, well below the generally accepted 100-kilometre-high boundary of space. However, as space law professor Chris Newman told CBC, there’s no legal definition of where space begins—highlighting some of the critical foundations missing from the rapidly developing industry.

The new home of the Australian Space Agency at the ‘Lot Fourteen’ innovation precinct in Adelaide will help cement Australia’s position in the industry, which is worth $460 billion globally. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said South Australia is the ideal location for the agency as it’s already a hub for the space industry, which is expected to create up to 20,000 jobs by 2030. In this podcast, Jason Held from Sydney-based Saber Astronautics says limiting space hubs to a single state could limit the sector’s growth.

A NASA-funded Rocket Lab mission successfully launched 13 cubesats into orbit from New Zealand on Sunday. The ELaNa-19 mission is part of NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites and CubeSat Launch Initiative programs, intended to encourage young people’s interest in science and support research by academic institutions and NASA centres. The launch follows Rocket Lab’s declaration that it will provide regular and reliable space launches.
Wired watchtower
Amid China’s crackdown on social media ‘dissidents’, it has come to light that the government is taking a particularly strong stance against Twitter users. On 5 December, human rights organisation China Change released testimony from hundreds of Twitter users who had been detained or interrogated on the mainland. Despite Twitter being banned in 2009, circumvention tools have enabled an estimated 10 million Chinese users(as of 2016) to access the platform. The testimony suggests that police have forced those questioned to remove posts and close their accounts.

Businesses in the US, New Zealand and Australia, as well as several schools in Canberra, have been evacuated after receiving emails containing demands for US$20,000 worth of bitcoin to stop the detonation of a bomb. It’s believed to be a new scam from a group previously linked to sextortion emails, but experts doubt its effectiveness. Last month an Israeli-American man was sentenced to 10 years’ jail in Israel for making thousands of bomb threats in 2016 and 2017 and offering to call in fake bomb threats in exchange for bitcoin.
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Sea state
Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Ballarat, deployed in the Middle East as part of Operation Manitou, took part in a successful anti-narcotics operation in the Arabian Sea. More than 2 tonnes of hashish and 345 kilograms of heroin worth over $200 million dollars were seized in two separate boarding operations.
A new Pentagon report reveals that the US Navy’s new aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, experienced several critical failures of its launch and arresting gear during sea trials. Two years after its delivery, the ship is still plagued by reliability issues affecting its new EMALS (electromagnetic aircraft launch system). The Pentagon has also reportedly identified problems with the navy’s P-8A Poseidon aircraft. The P-8A’s ability to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations has been hampered by reduced aircraft availability and sensor deficiencies.
In South Asia, Sri Lanka’s SLNS Sayurala has left the port city of Colombo to take part in Pakistan’s AMAN 2019. More than 40 countries including the US, China and the UK are expected to take part in Pakistan’s biennial multinational maritime exercise in Karachi.
French shipbuilding companies Chantiers de l’Atlantique and Naval Group have signed a€1.7 billion contract with the EU’s Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation to design and build four logistic support ships. The tankers will have a fuel capacity of 13,000 cubic metres and will be used by the French Navy to support its blue-water operations.
Flight path
The Royal Australian Air Force has sent eight aircraft and 370 personnel to participate in the US Air Force’s Red Flag joint military training at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The UK is also participating in the air combat exercises, which started on 29 January and will wrap up on 16 February. The RAAF’s role includes running an Australian task group headquarters and training participants on reconstructing a modern battlespace.
Sabre-rattling continued in the East China Sea as the United States sent B-52s on a ‘routine training’ exercise near Okinawa Prefecture last week. The US says it remains committed to ensuring freedom of navigation and defending Japan under Article 5 of the US–Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. The move came just two days before the latest round of US–China trade talks were scheduled to start. US and Japanese military exercises around the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands are viewed as ‘provocative’ by the Chinese government.
A Russian Air Force pilot has released a video displaying a Russian Su-27 banking against a US F-15C. The close encounter is thought to have taken place above the Baltic region, where US aircraft have been supporting the NATO Baltic air policing mission. This action continues what American officials describe as Russia’s ‘aggressive maneuvers’ against foreign aircraft in areas surrounding Russia and echoes previous actions by Russian fighter jets over the Black Sea in 2018.
Rapid fire
Soldiers in the US Army will be given pocket-sized drones that can fly covertly over a battlefield and send video and images back to the operator. The army signed a US$39.6 million contract with FLIR Systems to provide the Black Hornet personal-reconnaissance drones, which can fly day or night up to nearly two kilometers, for nearly half an hour. It’s believed the personal drones will give soldiers a ‘lethal edge over enemies’.
The British Army is also exploring innovative new technology, allowing soldiers to undertake virtual reality training in a new pilot program. Participants will train in a range of complex settings that are difficult to construct on the ground, such as an urban firefight or a building filled with enemy soldiers.
Indian media reported that the Indian Army’s ‘Cold Start’ doctrine would be war-gamed this month, with on-the-ground exercises planned for May. Cold Start is a limited conventional war strategy that involves placing many nimble, integrated units close to the border to perform shallow incursions into Pakistani territory. In theory, the strategy will allow India to strike Pakistan quickly without risking nuclear retaliation (like a deep attack into Pakistani territory likely would). Questions remain, however, over India’s capability to execute Cold Start.
Pakistan’s Inter-Service Public Relations office has released a video showing the launch of four ‘Nasr’ missiles, claiming that Pakistan conducted a successful training launch of the short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile. The missile can carry a small tactical nuclear warhead, though it’s not clear whether Pakistan has developed such a warhead. There’s little doubt that the Nasr is designed to complicate India’s Cold Start calculations by signaling to India that even shallow incursions could trigger a nuclear response.
Zero gravity
SpaceX’s Starhopper, a spacecraft intended to test systems for the SpaceX Starship, has faced a serious setback. At the SpaceX base in Texas in late January, high winds caused significant damage to the nose cone of the Starhopper. Initial flight testing could be delayed by several weeks.
The European Space Agency is partnering with aerospace company ArianeGroup to investigate the potential for extracting water and oxygen from the lunar surface to support human habitation and exploration on the moon. The project will start with a one-year contract to establish the feasibility of such an endeavour. If it’s deemed viable, a mission will be conducted before 2025.
After a number of weeks in lunar night, China’s Chang’e 4 spacecraft came out of hibernation on 29 January. Earlier in the month, Chang’e 4 made history as the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the moon. Since its reawakening, data has been received indicating that the far side of the moon is colder than previously thought. In the coming months, Chang’e 4 is expected to deliver new insights into an untraversed landscape.
Wired watchtower
Facebook has announced that it will ban foreign electoral ads and limit the spread of fake news during the Thai election period. In March, Thailand will hold its first elections since the 2014 military coup. Facebook is one of the most popular social media sites in Thailand, with more than 50 million users recorded in the country.
Russian hackers have claimed that they stole evidence from Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US elections. US prosecutors allege that the evidence was stolen from a Russian company and leaked online to spread disinformation about Russia’s election propaganda campaign.
Internet access in Tonga has been restored after a connectivity blackout that lasted 12 days. On 20 January, an underwater cable was severed in two different locations, causing the island nation to be almost completely disconnected from the outside world. This week, a director from the company responsible for Tonga’s underwater cables said sabotage has not yet been ruled out.

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Sea state
Yesterday, Australia and France signed an A$50 billion contract for Australia’s fleet of 12 new submarines after a stalemate over the length of warranty periods and possible technology transfers delayed the negotiations. French media report that the agreement guarantees Australia that Naval Group, the state-owned French shipbuilding company in charge of building the future submarines, won’t become a privately owned enterprise during the term of the contract. The clause was reportedly included to allay Australian concerns over the transfer of sensitive technology. A separate agreement on the submarines’ final design is expected to be signed in the next several weeks.
Satellite imagery released by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) reveals that China has deployed up to 95 vessels in the West Philippine Sea—otherwise known as the South China Sea—in reaction to Filipino reclamation work on Pagasa Island. AMTI believes the Philippines has more ambitious plans for the island as more than three hectares of land have been reclaimed. Reclamation work on the island may signal a shift in the Philippines’ South China Sea policy, which has been criticised for its perceived leniencytowards China.
The US Navy’s unmanned surface vessel, the Sea Hunter, has sailed from San Diego to Pearl Harbor and back. The US has invested significant resources into the development and construction of drone ships as it seeks to maintain a capability edge over its adversaries. In the future, drone ships will likely be used to track down enemy submarines and collect valuable intelligence at a relatively low cost.
Flight path
Germany and France have announced a contract worth €65 million (A$104 million) to start the joint development of the next-generation combat jet. While the prime contractors will be Dassault Aviation and Airbus, France’s Safran and Germany’s MTU Aero Engines will develop the aircraft’s new engine. The jet will eventually replace France’s Rafales and Germany’s Eurofighters, and is expected to be operational in 2040.
The US and Philippine air forces have completed 12 days of joint training at Cesar Basa Air Base near Manila. The latest iteration featured aerial training between the US F-16 and Philippine FA-50 aircraft as well as exchanges in intelligence, flight and maintenance operations. These training exercises promote interoperability between the US and the Philippines amid heightened tensions in the region.
The US Air Force says it has killed eight al-Shabaab militants in an airstrike in southern Somalia. The strike is an indication that the ‘Africa Strategy’, released by US President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton in December, is being implemented. One of the strategy’s aims is to counter the threat in Africa from ‘radical Islamic terrorism’, and so far in 2019 the US has carried out at least a dozen airstrikes against al-Shabaab in Somalia.
Rapid fire
Seoul has agreed to pay Washington more to cover the cost of stationing 28,500 US troops in South Korea, after 10 rounds of failed negotiations between the two countries. While the deal has eased some concerns surrounding the strength of the alliance, the agreement will last only one year before requiring renegotiation. In 2018, South Korea provided US$830 million (about 40% of the cost); this year, its contribution will rise to roughly US$924 million.
The US Army has confirmed that it will buy and test Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system to protect soldiers deployed in battle from indirect fire. The system will be used to fulfil the army’s ‘short-term need for an interim indirect fire protection capability’ while it assesses its long-term options. Since 2011, Israel has used the system to intercept over 1,500 targets with a 90% success rate. Recently it was activated to intercept missiles launched by Palestinian militants in Gaza and a rocket fired from Syria.
Venezuela’s army has blocked a key Colombia–Venezuela border crossing under orders from President Nicolás Maduro. The army moved tanker trucks and shipping containers onto the Tienditas bridge last week and has prevented US aid deliveries from entering Venezuela. Juan Guaido, who is recognised as the country’s legitimate president by more than 40 countries, reminded the army of its responsibilities to the Venezuelan people, saying 300,000 may die if aid is not delivered. The allegiance of the military is key to the outcome of the Guaido–Maduro power struggle and so the focus will be on whether the army chooses to let the aid pass.
Zero gravity
Space company Equatorial Launch Australia has announced that it has signed a contract with US company TriSept to offer satellite- and rocket-launch services from its Arnhem Space Centre. Equatorial Launch Australia holds a 40-year lease over a site near Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory and wants to capitalise on its proximity to the equator to offer more efficient launch services. Launches are expected to commence this year, bringing Australia closer to having its first commercial spaceport.
On 3 February, SpaceX successfully tested its ‘Raptor’ rocket engine for the first time. This development is a key step in the company’s plans for launching its ‘Starship’ spacecraft. This type of rocket is crucial for missions to the moon and Mars, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has also noted their potential for launching heavy payloads into Earth’s orbit. The testing of the Raptor serves as a reminder of the valuable opportunity—for defence forces and commercial ventures alike—that the ability to launch satellites using reusable and relatively cost-effective spacecraft would provide.
Wired watchtower
US and international authorities have dismantled a Romanian cybercrime group identified as the Alexandria Online Auction Fraud Network. Criminals pretended to be members of the US military to build credibility for fake advertisements on auction sites. The money sent to the network by victims was laundered into overseas accounts after being converted into bitcoin. The 24-count indictment includes charges of racketeering and identity theft.
Following the longest shutdown in US history, cybersecurity experts have returned to their government offices to find severe weaknesses in federal cybersecurity defences. Experts found expired software licences, expired web encryption certificates and weeks of unanalysed network activity logs. Cybersecurity analysts quoted in a letter from US senators state that the shutdown provided an opportunity for adversaries and cybercriminals to stage attacks on American institutions and citizens.
Thailand has launched a Huawei 5G test bed despite warnings from the US and other countries that Huawei equipment may be used by China for ‘malicious cyber activity’. Thai Digital Economy Minister Pichet Durongkaveroj said that cooperation with Huawei does not mean that the Thai government isn’t concerned about security and will use the test bed, which is also being used by other companies, to make its own assessment of Huawei.
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The beat
Police protection pulled after bombings in Kashmir
After last week’s bombing in Kashmir, India has removed the police protection it provided to a number of Kashmiri political figures. In the past, India has given police protection to certain separatist leaders, worried that attacks on them would escalate tensions in the already unstable region. India said having to provide security in this way was a waste of police resources.
Australia steps up on organised crime in the Pacific
The Australian Federal Police, New Zealand Police, Fiji Police Force and Tonga Police Force have signed a memorandum of understanding and created a joint taskforce to step up efforts to stop transnational organised crime in the Pacific. This follows the Boe declaration on security signed between Pacific leaders last year. Drug trafficking will be a primary target of the taskforce and Australia will increase its presence in the region through both intelligence and investigation activities.
Maltese connection to bluefin tuna racket?
Maltese police have been in discussions with Europol to investigate the Maltese link to an extensive bluefin tuna racket operating across the Mediterranean. Last year, Spanish authorities made 79 arrests in relation to the scheme, which involved the sale of more than 2.5 million kilograms of tuna that was illegally caught in Maltese and Italian waters.
Checkpoint
UK passes stronger border measures
The UK’s Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act received royal assent last Tuesday. The legislation provides British police with more power to stop, question, search and detain people at border areas to determine if a person has been involved in ‘hostile state activity’. The head of the UK’s overseas intelligence agency, MI6, says that Islamic State fighters returning from Syria and Iraq pose a serious security threat and the government has most recently moved to strip the British citizenship of Shamima Begum, who joined IS in 2015.
Iran–Turkey relations warm in Kurdish-majority area
A new checkpoint has opened between Iran and Turkey in the Kurdish-majority Van province. Construction on the ‘Kapikoy’ checkpoint began in 2017 and has cost Turkey 100 million lira (A$26.5 million) to build. The opening of the checkpoint is a sign of warming relations between Iran and Turkey and strategic convergence on Syria and the Kurdish question.
Motorcycle taxis block border
A checkpoint between Thailand and Malaysia in Songkhla province was blocked by 50 Thai motorcycle taxi operators for an hour on Sunday. The riders were protesting Malaysia’s stricter border measures for motorcycle taxis taking passengers to the country’s Kedah state. The border between Malaysia and southern Thailand has been the scene of an Islamist insurgency and weapons have been smuggled across the border to attack Malaysian targets.
CT scan
European Commission updates ‘dirty money’ blacklist
Last Wednesday, the European Commission announced the 23 states blacklisted for their weak controls on terrorism financing and money laundering. Transactions involving entities from blacklisted countries are subject to more stringent checks by European banks. Five ‘improved’ states were removed from the list, including Laos and Vanuatu. Some member states objected to Saudi Arabia’s inclusion on the list because of the effect it may have on trade. The list is awaiting endorsement by the European Council and could still be rejected.
Victorian counterterrorism police to receive semi-automatic rifles
Victoria Police will be armed with 800 semi-automatic rifles to help ‘overpower terrorists and improve public safety’. The rifles can carry 30 rounds and shoot accurately from 300 metres. During considerations about the guns last year, a former senior police officer urged Australia to resist the American style militarisation of police forces.
Further instability on Sinai peninsula
Egyptian security forces killed 16 suspected armed fighters in raids in the city of Arish on Tuesday. The raids followed a turbulent week in Egypt. An Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack on an army checkpoint in the North Sinai region that killed or wounded 15 Egyptian soldiers. On Sunday, three policemen were killed by a suicide bomber near Cairo’s historical centre. The Egyptian army continues to fight a long-running insurgency in the Sinai.
First responder
Humanitarian convoy reaches Syrian refugees
Between 6 and 15 February, the UNCHR and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent led the largest humanitarian mission since the start of the Syrian conflict. A convoy of 118 trucks delivered food, clothes and medical supplies to the Rukban makeshift settlement, which is home to 40,000 displaced people. Rukban’s proximity to Al-Tanf, a military base set up by the US in 2016, has provided protection to Syrians displaced by the conflict, though there are fears this protection will be lost with the withdrawal of US troops from the country.
Queensland faces a new threat
Recovery efforts are underway in Queensland where record flooding inundated thousands of square kilometres, destroying property and killing hundreds of thousands of livestock. Although the rain has subsided, floodwaters haven’t, exposing people to a number of infectious diseases. One person has died from melioidosis, an infection caused by a bacteria commonly found in soil and mud. Those involved in the clean-up and recovery effort have been urged to wear gloves and boots to prevent more infections.
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Sea state
UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has been criticised by China and cabinet colleagues for announcing that the Royal Navy’s flagship, aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, would sail through the South China Sea. This is not the first time a senior British government official has proposed the idea. In 2017, Britain’s ambassador to the US, Kim Darroch, said that the UK was planning to send the carrier to the Pacific. UK Chancellor Philip Hammond’s trade visit to Beijing has reportedly been postponed due to Chinese ‘irritation’ over Williamson’s comments.
The 38th annual Cobra Gold exercise, led by Thai and US forces, is underway in the northern Thai province of Phitsanulok. It’s the largest and longest-running annual military exercise in the Asia–Pacific and more than 25 nations are taking part. This year, the exercise focuses on jungle warfare, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
USS Hornet, one of the most important US aircraft carriers in World War II, has been foundnear Solomon Islands. Research vessel Petrel, which also discovered the wreck of USSIndianapolis two years ago, located the Hornet at a depth of 5,400 metres. The carrier became famous in April 1942 when the Doolittle Raid, the first Allied air attack on the Japanese mainland, was launched from its deck. The Hornet was sunk in October of the same year after also participating in the Battle of Midway.
Flight path
The US Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force and the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force began the Cope North exercise at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam yesterday. More than 2,000 US service members will participate alongside 850 Australian and Japanese personnel. Cope North started in 1978 as a quarterly exercise between Japan and the US and is focused on building humanitarian-assistance and disaster-relief abilities among the three Pacific allies.
Rafale combat aircraft from the French air force and navy conducted their first test firingsof the Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile on Wednesday last week. The tests were the last step in incorporating the Meteor into Rafale’s arsenal. The Meteor has also been used by the Royal Air Force’s Typhoon combat jet, and will eventually be used by British F-35s.
India’s defence ministry has approved the purchase of 54 Israeli HAROP attack drones for the country’s air force. The unmanned aircraft will be included in ‘Project Cheetah’, which aims to deck out all three of India’s services with high-quality attack drones and improve surveillance capabilities. The new drones will be tasked with patrolling India’s borders with Pakistan and China.
Rapid fire
The United Arab Emirates signed nearly $1.9 billion worth of weapons contracts on the first day of the five-day defence exhibitions known as IDEX and NAVDEX. A contract worth about $444,000 was awarded by the UAE to Australian company EOS Defence for ground and naval systems. Some of the weapons on display are being used in the war in Yemen and have been provided to militia forces by the UAE. Amnesty International has called on all states to halt the sale of weapons that are ‘fuelling war crimes and serious human rights violations in Yemen’.
Kosovo’s new army has paraded for the first time, at celebrations marking the 11th anniversary of the nation’s independence from Serbia. Previously, the Kosovo Security Force was a lightly armed unit used for civil defence and to deal with natural disasters. Kosovo’s parliament voted late last year to turn the service into a 5,000-strong standing army, despite criticism from NATO and anger from Serbia. Photos from the parade can be found here.
As army helicopters drop fodder to cattle stranded by the Queensland floods, farmers have been asked to drop Google Maps pins to direct crews to the right locations. Graziers are also asking the army to help bury up to 500,000 dead cattle killed in the floods.
Zero gravity
A British satellite has successfully captured space junk using a harpoon, a development crucial to solving the growing threat to satellites and other spacecraft posed by space debris. It’s estimated there are 500,000 pieces of trackable space debris and millions more pieces that are too small to track. Watch a video of the successful capture here.
NASA has requested bids for the development of lunar landers that can carry humans, signalling its intent to establish a permanent human presence on the moon by 2028. The proposal says that NASA is looking for the best approach for getting both commercial payloads and astronauts to the moon using its Lunar Gateway, a spaceship that will sit in lunar orbit and serve as a base for exploration and access.
After 15 years exploring the surface of Mars, NASA has officially ended the Mars exploration rover Opportunity’s mission. The rover fell silent in June last year during intense dust storms and since then NASA has made over 1,000 attempts at re-establishing contact. Even though the rover was only intended to last for 90 days, it far exceeded expectations by travelling over 45 kilometres and delivering indispensable photos of the red planet.
Wired watchtower
An automated text generator model has been deemed too dangerous for public release. It was created by artificial intelligence research group OpenAI and is able to produce remarkably coherent text without any human input. But in the ‘fake news’ era, concerns have been raised over its ability to create convincing false stories instantaneously and its potential for abuse by malicious actors.
Chinese facial-recognition company SenseNet left a database logging sensitive information on over six million people, including nearly three million in Xinjiang province, open and unprotected for six months, Dutch researcher Victor Gevers has revealed. Information in the database included identification numbers, birthdays, home addresses and recent locations.
US prosecutors have unsealed an indictment against Behzad Mesri, an Iranian hacker said to be an associate of the ‘Charming Kitten’ cyber group. The US government alleges that Mesri and Charming Kitten used intelligence provided by US Air Force defector Monica Witt to put US intelligence officials under surveillance. Iranian hackers have an ambiguous relationship with the Iranian government, as the Revolutionary Guard Corps is said to provide lucrative contracts to Iranian hacking groups.
 
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Sea state
The US Navy sent its guided-missile destroyer Stethem and cargo ship Cesar Chavezthrough the Taiwan Strait last Monday. This move follows the transit of guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell and supply vessel USNS Walter S. Diehl in January. Regular US naval movement in the strait aims to reaffirm Washington’s support for Taipei in the face of increasing antagonism from China.
NATO’s submarine warfare exercise Dynamic Manta began off the coast of Sicily last week. Submarines from Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the UK have joined ships, aircraft and personnel from five other NATO states in training exercises in the Mediterranean. By coordinating efforts with air and surface forces, the exercise aims to enhance interoperability between allied nations and improve their anti-submarine warfare capability.
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has begun construction of two offshore patrol vessels for the Qatari Emeri Navy. A total of seven vessels will be delivered to the Qatari defence ministry under the €4 billion (A$6.4 billion) contract. The OPVs are based on Fincantieri’s 60-metre fast attack craft and have both surveillance and warfighting capabilities.
Flight path
As tensions between India and Pakistan remain high, the US is investigating reports that Pakistani F-16s shot down an Indian MiG-21 last week. The US delivered dozens of F-16s to Pakistan over the past three decades, but legal restrictions limit Pakistan’s use of the jets in exercises and operations. Pakistan also operates the Chinese-designed JF-17, but it hasn’t said which aircraft was used in operations against India.
RAAF Base Amberley is trialling an air traffic management system that will allow it to conduct flight operations from a virtual control tower. The technology displays radar data and air traffic control information on a 360-degree screen, removing the need to deploy air traffic controllers to remote locations. Amberley’s the first defence establishment in the southern hemisphere to install the system.
Scramble Magazine claims that four F-117A Nighthawk stealth aircraft were used in 2017 to conduct airstrikes in Syria. The US officially retired the F-117 in 2008, but the aircraft has been photographed flying over the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada on several occasions, most recently last month. While there’s no concrete evidence that F-117s were deployed to the Middle East, some experts argue it’s possible that operational requirements in Syria may have required the use of the F-117’s unique capabilities.
Rapid fire
America’s new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), which is planned to replace the Humvee, is ‘not operationally suitable’, according to a Pentagon report. The JLTV has had a plethora of problems, including brake system faults and doors that don’t work, and contractors have to be deployed on the battlefield to support it. The vehicle is also large and loud, making it easily detectable and difficult to transport on ships. In 2011, Australia discontinued its financial participation in the JLTV program, later choosing to acquire Australian-developed Hawkei vehicles instead.
In January, the US Department of Defense announced ‘Project Dilithium’, a plan to develop a portable nuclear reactor that could provide power to forward operating bases and run for many years without refuelling. But in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Edwin Lyman has criticised the project, highlighting the risk of meltdown and the threat of proliferation if the reactors run on highly enriched uranium.
As part of an Australian Institute of Sport program called ‘Gold Medal Ready’, athletes training for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are undergoing intense training with the Australian Army’s special operations unit. The army has worked with sport teams before, but this is the first collaboration with Olympic athletes, including some training for solo sports such as boxing and canoeing. The army believes it will also benefit from knowledge brought by coaches, athletes and sport scientists.
Zero gravity
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft has docked with the International Space Station, the first time a US craft designed to carry humans has done so since NASA’s shuttle program was cancelled. The demonstration flight will last six days and the capsule will return to earth on 8 March. While the docking is a major milestone, the capsule will need to demonstrate a successful landing before it can be approved to carry passengers.
Royal Australian Air Force chief Leo Davies says his force is set to ramp up its capabilities in space. Improved military satellite communications will likely be a RAAF priority, with projects such as DEF-799 and JP 9102 announced already. Davies’ comments come after the creation of the Australian Space Agency last year, though it’s not yet clear how civil and military activity in space will interact and be coordinated in the future.
A South African university has launched a nanosatellite to help track shipping along the country’s coastline. The technology will also be used to track the spread of wildfires and help emergency services respond more quickly. Three more nanosatellites will be launched by South Africa this year, meaning it will no longer have to buy satellite data from other countries.
Wired watchtower
Thailand’s parliament has unanimously approved new cybersecurity laws which have been likened to ‘cyber martial law’. The legislation gives the government sweeping powers, including monitoring online traffic, accessing anyone’s information, seizing information online without a warrant, and impounding any devices suspected to be used for cybercrime for up to 30 days. Civil rights groups have decried the laws for impinging too much on individual freedoms and the right to privacy.
A report from New South Wales Auditor-General Margaret Crawford has revealed serious issues with the database used to manage the state’s firearms licensing regime. The system uses outdated technology reliant on manual data entry and has been slated for upgrade for over five years. The report also revealed the extent of unreliable and incorrect data stored in the database, raising concerns over the integrity of the broader firearms regulation system in New South Wales.
Japan and India have announced that they will hold bilateral talks and work together to combat cybersecurity risks related to 5G technology. Japan has underscored the danger in allowing Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE to dominate the Indian telecommunications market. This follows the agreement between prime ministers Shinzo Abe and Narendra Modi to strengthen security cooperation announced in October last year.
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Sea state
Russian media has said that the country’s navy will arm up to six of its submarines with ‘Poseidon’ nuclear torpedoes. The torpedoes will be first deployed aboard the converted nuclear-powered submarine Belgorod, and are reputed to have a strength of 2 megatons. The Poseidon is thought to be laced with radioactive isotopes, which could produce long-term fallout and render thousands of kilometres of land uninhabitable for decades.
Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force is set to get a new type of patrol ship. Japan plans to build 12 patrol ships over the next 10 years to enhance its reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities in the East China Sea, including around the disputed Senkaku (Diayou) Islands. The Japanese government has also committed to building 22 new destroyers for the JMSDF by 2032.
A total of 35 warships, 5 submarines, 59 aircraft and 10,000 personnel have arrived in the UK to take part in Exercise Joint Warrior. NATO members will engage in a range of air, surface, sub-surface, sea control and maritime security roles off the west coast of Scotland. The exercise will run from 20 March until 11 April.
Flight path
The government has announced a $2.46 billion acquisition of four modified Gulfstream G550 business jets for the Royal Australia Air Force. Defence Minister Christopher Pyne said the aircraft, which will be dubbed the MC-55A Peregrine, will provide a significant boost to Australia’s electronic warfare capabilities. The Gulfstream aircraft will fly out of RAAF Edinburgh near Adelaide, where most of Australia’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities are based, though it’s not yet clear when they will enter service.
Japan has signed a contract with Norwegian company Kongsberg to arm its fleet of F-35 fighters with the joint strike missile. The JSM is based on Kongsberg’s naval strike missile, and it is the only long-range sea- and land-targeting missile that can be fitted into the F-35’s internal weapons bay. Australia, which hasn’t had a long-range aerial strike platform since the retirement of the F-111 in 2010, is also considering the JSM for its F-35s.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has reportedly launched a military drone exercise dubbed ‘Towards Jerusalem 1’. Iran’s military simultaneously flew 50 offensive combat drones on a raid of Bani Farur island in the Persian Gulf. The drones resemble the US RQ-170, one of which was claimed to have been shot down by Iran in 2011. The exercise appears aimed at demonstrating that Iran can develop its own military capabilities despite sanctions.
Rapid fire
The US has denied reports that it is planning to keep roughly 1,000 troops in Syria, a shift in President Donald Trump’s original plan to withdraw all US troops from the country. The Wall Street Journal, citing US officials, suggested that the shift may be prompted by difficulties between Turkey, European allies and US-backed Kurdish fighters in agreeing on the creation of a safe zone in northeastern Syria, which was part of the original withdrawal plan. The US Joint Staff said there has been no change to the plan to draw down forces to a residual presence.
US Special Operations Command has announced a US$50 million contract with gun company Barrett for the advanced sniper rifle, which will replace the precision sniper rifle for special operations snipers. The major feature of the new gun is that it can fire rounds of three different calibres: .338, .300 and 7.62 millimetres.
The Greek government has announced plans to remove the €6,000 penalty for Greek men who evade compulsory military service. This will only apply, however, if they report for duty by 31 December 2020. The government said it made the decision in part because many young people have had to move abroad to work due to the country’s economic situation, including high youth unemployment.
Zero gravity
NASA has announced that it will consider using commercial ventures instead of its Space Launch System rocket to keep the launch of its Orion spacecraft on track for June 2020. The Orion is a new exploration spacecraft and a key component of NASA’s push to take humans back to the moon. The agency has been developing the SLS rocket for a decade now, but the project has been plagued by delays. Opening the project up to private firms represents a significant policy shift for the agency, but, at this stage, NASA will continue to build the SLS rocket for future use.
Japan’s space agency JAXA and automotive company Toyota have teamed up to build a new manned lunar rover. In a joint press statement, they unveiled the new design concept for the vehicle, which they plan to launch into space in 2029. Up to four astronauts could use the pressurised rover, which will be powered by electric fuel cells and have a lunar range of more than 10,000 kilometres. In the past, fixed-wheeled rover systems have faced difficulties. In 2010, NASA’s Mars rover Spirit lost contact with earth after becoming stuck in Martian sands. To combat this, new experiments are investigating alternative ways of moving a rover up steep slopes, which will be particularly important for exploring resource-rich areas of the lunar surface.
Wired watchtower
Australian cyberspace is increasingly being used as a ‘testing ground’ for hackers before they move on to larger targets in the UK and US because it has been comparatively slow to implement strong cybersecurity policies. AustCyber chief executive Michelle Price also cautioned that Australia will increasingly be targeted by foreign state-backed hackers as the government takes a stronger position on global issues.
The head of the Indonesian National Election Commission (KPU) says that the elections there next month are not at risk of disruption from cyberattacks, though attempts to hack the commission’s website have been detected. An earlier media report claimed that Chinese and Russian hackers were attacking Indonesia’s voter database to manipulate and modify content, and a KPU source said that the ‘probing’ attacks are linked to IP addresses from several countries.
The Blue and White party in Israel has asked the country’s attorney-general to investigate a report that claimed Iran had hacked into leader Benny Gantz’s phone and collected compromising information on him. Gantz says the report is little more than ‘political gossip’, and alleges that such information could have only come from intelligence agencies or the National Cyber Directorate, which are under the prime minister’s office. Elections are scheduled for Israel’s Knesset next month.
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Sea state
Unforeseen problems repairing USS Gerald R. Ford will push the aircraft carrier’s delivery back by three months, US Navy officials told a House Armed Services Committee panel. The delay has occurred because the ship’s nuclear propulsion system and advanced-weapons elevators are in need of repairs. The initial 12-month ‘post-shakedown availability’ is intended to resolve problems identified by the crew when the carrier is first put to sea.
NATO warships in the Black Sea are being escorted by two Russian naval vessels on their way to Ukraine. Dutch, Spanish, Canadian, Turkish, Romanian and Bulgarian frigatesentered the Black Sea on Thursday before NATO’s Sea Shield exercises begin. The escort isn’t surprising as it comes after Russia released a statement criticising ‘frequent visitors’ to the Black Sea.
The US Navy and Marines have just finished a training exercise in Southern California known as ‘Pacific Blitz’ to test new island warfare methods. This year, the exercise’s focus shifted to give the navy greater control over littoral operations. Pacific Blitz’s strategic importance has been heightened by China’s announcement that it will build another base in the South China Sea.
Flight path
Russia has flown reconnaissance aircraft over California and Nevada, including Area 51, under the Treaty on Open Skies. The treaty allows countries to conduct short-notice observation missions over other countries’ territory. Air force bases and other military installations were along the route of Russia’s most recent mission. In December 2018, the US flew over Ukrainian territory under the treaty as a response to an incident in the Sea of Azov in which Russia captured three Ukrainian vessels.
The Italian Air Force has deployed Eurofighter Typhoons to the Ahmed al-Jaber airbase in Kuwait. It’s reported that the Typhoon aircraft will be carrying out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions in the Middle East, which is an interesting choice for this type of aircraft. The UK has also shifted its Typhoons to ISR missions. Ground operations require more specific intelligence on individuals and groups, which the Typhoon’s laser designator pods can provide.
The US mainland missile defence system has successfully intercepted a mock intercontinental ballistic missile launched from the Marshall Islands with two ground-based interceptors. It has taken 14 years of effort and development to reach this point, and according to program director Lieutenant General Samuel Greaves, this is the first time an ICBM has been destroyed outside the earth’s atmosphere using multiple ground interceptors. Previous trials had been conducted using only one interceptor.
Rapid fire
In Geneva, the United Nations held talks on the future of lethal autonomous weapons and restricting their use under international law. The secretary-general and a number of developing states called for a total ban. Some countries—including Australia—oppose regulation of these weapons, arguing that a ban would be pre-emptive when a number of key definitions are yet to be agreed on, and would stifle the ability to integrate artificial intelligence into military equipment.
The US Army has announced upgrades including laser weapons and a ‘hunter killer’ drone system to its fleet of Stryker armoured vehicles. The inclusion of a laser weapons system will give the Stryker a significant advantage as they are quiet and cheap compared to interceptor missiles. The drone system will also offer a significant advantage because it can both track and attack enemies at a distance.
Beleaguered Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will reportedly resign on 28 April. The decision, which was announced in a statement from the president’s office, comes after pressure from the country’s army chief. Algeria’s army has played a key role in upholding Bouteflika’s position and without its continued support, his presidency was considered untenable. Last week, The Strategist published a piece examining the country’s past and possible futures.
Zero gravity
Vice President Mike Pence says the US is in a new space race and intends to put astronauts back on the moon by 2024. In a speech at the US Space and Rocket Center, Pence said China’s landing of its Chang’e-4 explorer on the far side of the moon and the US’s continued reliance on Russian Soyuz rockets for accessing the International Space Station showed the need to assert US capability in space.
At NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, scientists tested a helicopter capable of flying on Mars. The drone-like helicopter has been built and tested to withstand both the freezing temperatures and the thin atmosphere on Mars. The helicopter is set to accompany the Mars 2020 Rover and will help it further study the Martian surface and test its habitability.
After much excitement and anticipation, the first all-female spacewalk did not take placedue to a lack of adequately sized spacesuits on the International Space Station. NASA was heavily criticised after the spacewalk was cancelled but responded by saying that the time it would have taken to reconfigure the spacesuits wouldn’t have been an effective use of astronauts’ time.
Wired watchtower
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has written an opinion piece in the Washington Postcalling for ‘better regulation in four areas: harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability’. He suggests a ‘common global framework’ instead of a patchwork of domestic regulatory activity in order to achieve these goals. In Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced plans to introduce legislation to crack down on terrorist content and violent material on social media platforms.
The body that oversees Huawei’s operations in the United Kingdom has released a report identifying significant technical issues with the company’s operations. It revealed issues with Huawei’s networking equipment, large parts of which rely on a system that has reached the end of its life, as well as a lack of consistency in the use of software.
The Intercept reports that Google has been conducting secret reviews of its Dragonfly search platform. Dragonfly is a censored search engine developed for the Chinese market and came under heavy criticism when it was uncovered in August last year. Google now claims work on the project has been stopped.
 
28 May 2019

Sea state


The Defence Department has confirmed that the Royal Australian Navy was tailed by the People’s Liberation Army Navy as the Australians transited through the South China Sea for Exercise Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2019. Defence has said that the engagement was ‘friendly’ and ‘professional’. The RAN was also challenged by the PLAN last year on a friendly visit to Ho Chi Minh City. The Indo-Pacific Endeavour exercise wrapped up on Monday, as HMAS Canberra docked in Darwin.

US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have visited Yokosuka, where the US Navy’s 7th Fleet and Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet are based. The leaders went aboard the Kaga, Japan’s largest current warship. The Yokosuka base is the US Navy’s biggest forward operating base.

The launching ceremony for the Italian Navy’s multipurpose amphibious vessel Trieste was held yesterday at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Castellammare di Stabia near Naples. The Triestehas been designed as a multirole landing helicopter dock capable of deploying aircraft and amphibious vehicles and equipment. The vessel is being constructed in line with the navy’s ‘green fleet’ environmental policy and will carry out command-and-control functions at sea and undertake evacuation and humanitarian assistance operations. The navy is expected to take delivery of the Trieste in the first half of 2022.

Flight path

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar says Turkish military personnel have flown to Russia to start training to use the S-400 missile defence system. Tensions between the US and Turkey have increased in recent months over Turkey’s decision to buy the system. There are concerns Russia could use the Turkish S-400 to collect valuable information on the F-35, which Turkey also plans to buy. The US has suspended deliveries of the F-35 to Turkey and has threatened to impose sanctions if Turkey doesn’t cancel the S-400 deal.

Royal Air Force F-35B Lightnings have started their first overseas deployment. The aircraft are taking part in Exercise Lightning Dawn from RAF Base Akrotiri in Cyprus, a training exercise that’s designed to help the RAF familiarise itself with the logistical and technical challenges of deploying the F-35B overseas. The Royal Navy is expected to fly F-35Bs from HMS Queen Elizabeth later this year.

Danish Defence Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen has said Denmark will station fighter jets in Greenland if Russia’s military expansion in the Arctic threatens Danish sovereignty. Russia doesn’t currently pose any immediate threat to Greenland, but the minister’s warning may signal increasing unease about Russia’s military activities in the Arctic. The Royal Danish Air Force has 30 F-16s in its inventory, but none of them are permanently stationed in Greenland.

Rapid fire

The National Interest has taken an in-depth look at the US Army’s M-1A2C Abrams tanks, which are expected to come into service in the next few months. They are the latest variant of the Abrams, which first entered service in 1980. The latest version boasts the Trophy active-protection system, more armour and more electric power. It’s also easier to upgrade, meaning it will be able to host technology that’s still being developed by the US.

For Memorial Day, the US Army tweeted, ‘How has serving impacted you?’ Many of the nearly 12,000 replies recounted stories of the dark consequences of army service, including PTSD, depression and anxiety, chronic pain and suicide. The army replied that it is ‘committed to the health, safety, and well-being’ of its soldiers and shared the contact details for the Veterans Crisis Line. The tweet has been criticised as tokenistic, and there have been continued calls for broader reform and better government support of veterans.

Israel has attacked a military post in the south of Syria, killing two people. The Israeli Defense Forces said they were responding to a Syrian anti-aircraft system that fired at an Israeli aircraft which was reportedly undertaking a routine flight in Israel. Syrian media reports that Israeli strikes have hit targets in Syria twice already this month.

Final frontier

Writing for Defence Connect, Stephen Kuper has analysed Australia’s need to develop anti-satellite capabilities. In light of Australia’s rapidly modernising and expanding military capabilities, he says it’s essential that the satellite systems which support the networked systems of the Australian Defence Force are protected. That means exploring both ‘soft kill’ and last-resort ‘hard kill’ capabilities.

China’s space program suffered a blow last Thursday when one of its Long March 4 rockets failed during launch. State media reportedly confirmed that the first and second stages of the rocket operated normally before the third stage failed. It was carrying a remote-sensing satellite, which experts say may be used for military reconnaissance purposes. This is the first rocket launch failure for China since 2017.

A meteor, thought to have been the size of a car when it hit the atmosphere, landed off the coast of southern Australia last week. Social media was ablaze with videos and reports of the fireball that lit up the night sky on Tuesday. According to NASA, objects like this enter the atmosphere only three to six times a year, so residents in Victoria and South Australia were lucky to catch a glimpse of this incredible phenomenon.

Wired watchtower

Two proposals to limit the sale of facial recognition technology were rejected by a majority of Amazon’s shareholders last week. The proposals were pushed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which is concerned that the unregulated use of Amazon’s Rekognition software may infringe Americans’ right to privacy. Earlier this month, San Francisco became the first US city to ban the use of facial recognition technology.

The US Air Force and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will collaborate to developthe USAF’s artificial intelligence capabilities. The USAF will contribute US$15 million to undertake cooperative research into the use of AI in areas which will serve the ‘public good’, such as humanitarian aid. In the past, there has been backlash from students about research being used to develop weapons, though MIT says it doesn’t undertake such research.

The 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, which was just approved by the World Health Organization, classifies ‘gaming disorder’ as a disease. The health risks of addiction to video games are well documented, but some experts have criticised the WHO’s decision, saying video-game addiction could be a symptom of other underlying issues like depression.

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2 July 2019
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Sea state
Two Canadian warships passed through the Taiwan Strait last week. During the transit, Canada alleges that two Chinese Su-30 fighter jets made a low pass within 300 metres of one of the vessels. Canada’s defence ministry says the warships were enforcing United Nations sanctions on North Korea. Diplomatic relations between Beijing and Ottawa have been tense since Canada arrested senior Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in December at the request of the US.
A British-led joint expeditionary force is taking part in a defence exercise in Lithuania. Operation Baltic Protector marks the largest Royal Navy presence in the Baltic Sea in more than a century and involves 4,000 personnel and 44 ships from Britain and Lithuania, as well as Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland and Sweden. Baltic Protector is intended as a show of solidarity and comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Western liberalism was ‘obsolete’ and had outlived its purpose.
Russian destroyer Admiral Gorshkov arrived in Havana Bay, Cuba, last week on its round-the-world tour. The warship is supported by the multipurpose logistics vessel, Elbrus, the tanker Kama, and the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker, and will make port calls across the Caribbean. The US military has deployed maritime assets and mounted air operations to track the flotilla’s movements.
Flight path
Two German Eurofighter Typhoons taking part in an air combat exercise over the country’s northeast collided last week, killing one pilot. Pilot error is thought to have been the cause of the crash. The incident has dealt another blow to Germany’s overall air combat readiness and capability. Last year, it was revealed that due to technical problems with wing pod sensors, only four of Germany’s 128 Eurofighter jets were combat-ready.
The US Air Force has redeployed 12 F-22 Raptor stealth jets to the Persian Gulf region. Nine of the jets reportedly arrived at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and three others were delayed at Moron Air Base in Spain by technical issues. It’s unclear if this signals another build-up of US forces in the region or if the jets are intended to replace F-15Cs that have been based in Qatar since October last year.
India’s Tribune newspaper reports that the Indian Air Force’s first AH-64E Apache attack helicopters will be based at Pathankot Air Force Station, close to Jammu and Kashmir. India signed a contract for 22 of the helicopters with the US in 2015 and received its first in May. The Apache is also the first US-made attack helicopters to be used by India. The Indian Air Force currently uses Russian Mi-24 and Mi-35 helicopters.
Rapid fire
The United States Army’s 82nd Airborne Division will test pocket-sized drones for the first time during its upcoming deployment in Afghanistan. The Black Hornet drones, ordered earlier this year, are designed to help soldiers scan a region without using ground-based sensors or aerial surveillance. The data sent between the drone and the controller are encrypted to protect against hacking. If the test goes well the drones are set to become part of a soldier’s standard gear.
Papua New Guinea’s army has been deployed to assist thousands of people displaced by the eruption of Mount Ulawun, which has been active since 26 June. A second volcano, Mount Manam, erupted on 28 June. A state of emergency has been declared as between 7,000 and 13,000 people are believed to have been displaced. The response has been complicated by the closure of the region’s main airport.
US Army officials are using Europe’s heatwave to push for new air conditioning policies at their installations in Germany. Current policies limit the use of air conditioning in base offices and homes, but increasingly hot summers are affecting soldiers and their families. The army has also stopped using tracer rounds on ranges to reduce the risk of fire.
Final frontier
The UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space has approved landmark guidelines on space sustainability. They’re intended to reduce space debris and other hazards within earth’s orbit and have been in development since 2010. Considering the rapidly increasing number of satellites, these guidelines are intended to make operating in space safer.
NATO defence ministers have approved a new space policy. In announcing the policy, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg focused on the importance of space-based technology for enabling modern warfare, as well as interoperability and information-sharing on space policy. He would not confirm or speculate on how NATO’s collective defence obligations would apply in space.
NASA has announced plans to send a rotorcraft to Titan, one of Saturn’s moons, in 2026. Titan will be a particularly interesting target for the spacecraft to study and conduct scientific experiments on because of its supposed semblance to the earth of billions of years ago. Scientists hope the mission will help them to better understand how life is formed in such environments. The craft is expected to land in 2034 and the mission will last just under three years.
Wired watchtower
The White House has announced that US companies will be able to sell specific items to Huawei again, but has also warned that the decision should not be seen as a general amnesty for the company. Earlier this year, the Trump administration imposed a blanket ban on trade with Huawei. White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow confirmed that the ban has not been lifted but licences to trade with Huawei may be granted to specific technology companies.
European Union member states agreed in Brussels last week to strengthen coordinated responses to cyber threats and have agreed to conduct cyber war games to take place at EU meetings in Helsinki in July and September. The war games follow a series of cyberattacks by Russia and China. Meanwhile, Germany and the Netherlands have also committed to a closer cyber relationship. They signed an agreement to build a joint military internet called ‘tactical edge networking’. The new network would merge communications between the German army’s land-based operations and the Dutch defence ministry’s tactical communications program.
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Sea state

A Chinese spy vessel has been making its way towards Australia to monitor the Talisman Sabre exercise, which began this week. Defence sources have said that the Dongdiao-class electronic surveillance ship has been sent to monitor how well the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force functions with US forces and the Australian Defence Force, as Japan takes a larger role in the war games this year.

A Russian officer has said that the 14 sailors killed in the fire on a submarine last week in the Barents Sea ‘saved the ship’ and ‘prevented a catastrophe of a global scale’. Russian media have reported that the incident happened on a deep-water research submarine. The incident has brought back grim memories of the sinking of the submarine Kursk in the Barents Sea in 2000, which claimed 118 lives.

Three thousand military personnel from 19 countries are converging on the Black Sea this week to take part in a multinational maritime training exercise hosted by Ukraine and the US. The Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Duncan, and the French signals ship, Dupuy de Lôme, are among 32 ships and 24 aircraft taking part in ‘Sea Breeze 2019’. The US Sixth Fleet is involved in the exercise and the US is also upgrading naval bases which to give it and NATO allies the ability to dock near Russian-controlled Crimea.

Flight path

Air Marshal Mel Hupfeld has replaced outgoing Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Leo Davies as head of the Royal Australian Air Force. The first deployment Hupfeld will manage as RAAF chief will be the commitment to the US-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq which Defence Minister Linda Reynolds announced would be extended. One KC-30A air-to-air refuelling aircraft will continue operations in the Middle East and an E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft will be redeployed to the region.

Swedish company Saab will reportedly become the first international partner involved in the development of Britain’s ‘Tempest’ sixth-generation fighter aircraft. The announcement is expected to be made at the Royal International Air Tattoo, an air show beginning on 19 July. Saab’s CEO expressed a strong interest in joining the program last year, saying that discussions between Saab and the UK’s BAE Systems had been ‘intensive’.

A day after US President Donald Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, South Korean fighter jets were scrambled to intercept an unidentified object flying over the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas. South Korean media had speculated that a North Korean helicopter had made its way across the border, but it was quickly revealed by an anonymous South Korean military official that the unidentified object was, in fact, a flock of birds.

Rapid fire

The Australian Army’s Mission Adaptable Platform System (MAPS) unmanned ground vehicles are in action at exercise Talisman Sabre as part of a trial. The MAPS are semi-autonomous unmanned platforms developed by Queensland-based company Praesidium. They are capable of supporting a variety of operations including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, transporting casualties, supporting tactical resupply and employing heavy weapons.

A team comprising the French defence procurement agency, the French Army’s technical section, missile company MBDA and tech firm Kalray has developed an award-winning system combining artificial intelligence and massively parallel processing—the use of multiple processors working on a program simultaneously—to develop new detection, recognition and identification technology. The program can recognise still and moving targets through real time processing of images and subsequently direct fire.

The US Army has released podcast versions of some of its instruction materials as part of its effort to modernise training. The Combined Arms Doctrine Directorate of the army training command has released audio versions of two training manuals, which you can listen to here.

Final frontier

A civilian observer has snapped pictures of secretive US Air Force space plane known as the X-37B. It’s a reusable robotic spacecraft, and while its missions and payloads are classified, it’s thought that it undertakes extended experiments of new space technology. This mission has set a new flight record, having been in orbit for nearly two years. It’s not known when it will land.

A weather-monitoring satellite has been offline for more than a week as engineers attempt to fix a technical issue with its positioning system. The satellite, known as DSCOVR, is jointly operated by NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It monitors solar wind conditions and provides images of earth’s atmospheric conditions.

Space Norway has chosen Northrop Grumman to develop and build two satellites to be launched late in 2022. The satellites will carry defence payloads for both Norway and the US Air Force and they will also form the core of the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission, which will provide better internet connectivity across Arctic latitudes and improve communications there.

Wired watchtower

A joint investigation by the Guardian has revealed that Chinese border police have been secretly installing surveillance apps on tourists’ phones as they enter Xinjiang from Kyrgyzstan. The app can extract emails, texts and contacts, and scan for specific content, including things relating to Islamist extremism, Ramadan and the Dalai Lama. The pervasive and oppressive level of surveillance in Xinjiang is well-known, but the targeting of tourists is new.

Belgium’s Eurofins Scientific is believed to have paid a ransom to recover its network following a ransomware attack. Eurofins is a leading forensic science firm and is used by UK police to investigate major crimes. Police halted work with the firm following the cyberattack, delaying a number of court cases relying on forensic evidence prepared by the firm. The source of the attack is still under investigation, and the amount paid by the company has not been confirmed.

Tendering has opened for the Australian Defence Force’s new e-health records platform. The platform will replace the Defence eHealth System, which was introduced just five years ago. The procurement of a new system could draw criticism, as the platform will be integrated with the government’s My Health Record, which was the subject of controversyover its ‘opt-out’ system last year.
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Sea state
As
tensions between the West and Iran escalate in the Strait of Hormuz, the Royal Navy has sent a nuclear submarine to the Persian Gulf. The deployment of the Astute-class submarine follows the Iranian Quds Force’s seizure of the British-flagged Stena Impero tanker on Saturday. The navy has said that the submarine is to be used for ‘covert intelligence’ against the port of Bandar Abbas and Iran’s fleet of midget submarines. The UK plans to continue to increase its maritime presence in the Persian Gulf. The Type 23 frigate HMS Kent is scheduled to be deployed to the region in September.
Vietnam has demanded that China remove an oil-survey vessel that is accused of engaging in ‘unlawful activities’ in its territorial waters. The Chinese survey ship Haiyang Dizhi 8 continues to operate in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone, where there has been a standoff between the two countries for several weeks. China and Vietnam have disputed control over this area of the South China Sea for a number of years.
India has delivered the first of its indigenous built torpedoes to the Myanmar Navy. The Advanced Light Torpedo Shyna units are being delivered under a US$37.9 million deal signed in March 2017, and are designed to be launched by surface warfare vessels against submarines. The Indian Navy has provided the Myanmar Navy with technical support, training and capacity-building, although its assistance to Myanmar is outstripped by both China’s and Russia’s.
Flight path
US
Southern Command has released footage of a Venezuelan Air Force Su-30MKI fighter intercepting a US Navy EP-3E Aries II aircraft over the Caribbean Sea. The EP-3E is a signals reconnaissance version of the P-3 Orion, which became famous in 2001 when one of them was involved in a mid-air collision with a Chinese J-8IIM fighter. An EP-3E was also intercepted by a Russian Su-27 over the Black Sea in January 2018.
Desk Aeronautico has reported that a Russian Antonov An-30B carried out reconnaissance flights over Italy under the ‘Open Skies’ treaty. The treaty, which entered into force in 2002, states that all of a party’s territory can be overflown, including prohibited areas. Open Skies flights have priority over all other traffic except for emergency, search-and-rescue and other security flights.
According to Mark Esper, who is expected to become the next US secretary of defence, the US F-35 joint strike fighter fleet won’t reach the desired 80% mission-capable target by the end of the current fiscal year, which finishes on 30 September. It currently sits at 52%, and the shortfall is likely to be exacerbated by the US government’s decision to remove Turkey from the F-35 program. The Pentagon has taken money set aside for spare parts to find new suppliers, and a US government audit official has warned that Australia’s supply of spare parts for its F-35s may be at risk.
Rapid fire
US troops are on their way to Saudi Arabia for the first time since 2003. It’s believed the US is deploying Patriot air-defence missile batteries to Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyaadh, along with a squadron of F-22 fighter jets. Amid increasing tensions with Iran, US Central Command said the move ‘provides an additional deterrent and ensures our ability to defend our forces and interests in the region from emergent, credible threats’.
In an Australian-led beach invasion drill, 2,000 troops landed at Shoalwater Bay in Queensland as part of the Talisman Sabre exercise. Australian, US, Japanese, New Zealand and British troops participated in the exercise—the largest Australian-led amphibious war game since World War II. US Marine Colonel Matthew Sieber said the exercise aimed to assess the ‘combat readiness and interoperability between the coalition forces’.
The US has imposed sanctions on Myanmar’s military chief Min Aung Hlaing and three other senior Myanmar army officers. The US State Department said the decision came after credible evidence was uncovered of the officers’ involvement in the 2017 brutal crackdown against the Rohingya minority group. The US imposed sanctions on some more junior military officials last year, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US is now ‘the first government to publicly take action with respect to the most senior leadership of the Burmese military’.
Final frontier
SpaceX’s
recent static fire test of its Starhopper Raptor engine ended in a dramatic fireball, according to footage released last week. The engine has previously been successfully trialled, but the latest hiccup means that the next planned ‘hover test’ will be delayed for at least a week. Successful testing of Starhopper’s engine is critical for the development of SpaceX’s fleet—the Raptor engine is used on all of its spacecraft.
A Chinese space lab module burned up upon re-entering the earth’s atmosphere, marking a successful conclusion to its three-year mission. Known as Tiangong 2, it conducted a range of scientific and engineering experiments during its mission which was one year longer than planned. It was taken out of orbit safely to avoid an uncontrolled atmospheric re-entry—the fate of its predecessor Tiangong 1.
After celebrating its one-year anniversary earlier this month, the Australian Space Agency has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Myriota, an Australian space start-up focused on ‘internet of things’ connectivity through nanosatellites. Myriota has highlightedthe suitability of its services—notably its satellites’ long battery life—for military applications.
Wired watchtower
The
US Navy has launched its new data platform. The platform was designed to support decision-making by helping to better manage risk in supply chain operations. It aims to provide people in the navy without knowledge of data science and statistics with a business intelligence capability. To aid in decision-making, the platform can generate reports, dashboards and predictive analysis which can identify supply chain issues before they arise.
Optus has been granted an exemption from the provisions of Australia’s controversial metadata laws which require information that’s stored to be encrypted. Optus was granted a limited exemption to store data from legacy systems unencrypted. Considering the controversy surrounding these laws, an exemption like this calls further into question the security of the data collected under these laws.
The hacking group ‘0v1ru$’ has obtained vast amounts of data from SyTech, a major contractor for Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB. Data stolen from the contractor includes information about social media scraping projects and plans to de-anonymise users of the Tor browser. While the scale of the hack is noteworthy, it seems no state secrets were exposed by the hackers. As reported by the BBC, the projects linked to the FSB’s Military Unit 71330 had been known about for several years.
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Sea state

Last Wednesday, a Chinese naval warship collided with a Taiwanese freighter in the Taiwan Strait at around 8 pm local time. Both vessels suffered hull damage. The cargo ship made it safely to Liaoluo Port in Kinmen but the Chinese vessel kept going. The Taiwan coastguard caught up with the ship at around midnight but was unable to identify its hull number in the darkness. Authorities are now investigating the incident to determine whether it was an accident or a deliberate act.

Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, has said that his country won’t participate in a US-led naval patrol mission in the Strait of Hormuz. The announcement came amid rising tensions between Iran and the West as Iran continues to seize foreign oil tankers in the area. However, Germany has not ruled out joining a European-led initiative to protect shipping in the Gulf.

The US Justice Department has filed corruption charges against the head of a Korean port services company. The department alleges that the CEO provided a former US navy captain with various gifts and paid expenses in exchange for sensitive and confidential naval information. This comes as another blow to the US Navy, with observers pointing to similarities with the ‘Fat Leonard’ scandal that has troubled the navy since 2013.

Flight path

Scientists at the Sandia National Laboratories have been studying the dragonfly to see if its hunting abilities can be mimicked in missile defence systems. Led by neuroscientist Frances Chance, the research examines the insect’s neural network and aims to build computer algorithms that simulate its information-processing skills to help improve missile capabilities. While it’s unknown whether the research will lead to more efficient missile systems, such a model could also have benefits in other fields, such as artificial intelligence and self-driving cars.

Israeli company BIRD Aerosystems has received an additional order from the UN for airborne missile protection systems to protect helicopters engaged in peacekeeping operations in Africa. BIRD claims that its system offers ‘the most enhanced protection’ against surface-to-air missiles. The newly ordered systems will be installed on Russian-made UN Mi-17 helicopters, which are currently operating in West Africa and the Sudan.

The German government has disclosed that only 512 of the Luftwaffe’s 875 pilots met the mandatory 180 training flight hours last year. Chronic underfunding has contributed to equipment shortages and extensive maintenance issues, with only 39 of Germany’s 128 Eurofighters in a state of operational readiness in 2018. Defence spending currently accounts for just 1.35% of Germany’s GDP and falls short of NATO targets. The US has continued to pressure Germany to lift defence spending to meet the NATO target of 2% of GDP.

Rapid fire

The soaring murder rate in Cape Town is generating an undercurrent of fear in the port city. The over-crowded poverty-stricken townships on the Cape flats are being terrorised by gang violence and local police have been unable to quell the disturbances. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has deployed a battalion of several hundred soldiers to help ‘restore law and maintain order’ in the troubled areas. The three-month operation has been welcomed by local residents. However, critics argue that it is a band-aid solution for deeply rooted social problems stemming from the systemic oppression of the apartheid era.

Within months, the US could have ground-based conventional intermediate-range missiles deployed in Asia. US Defense Secretary Mark Esper made this announcement en route to Australia for the AUSMIN meeting, which was held on Sunday. The US plan comes on the heals of the demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said last week that the treaty’s breakdown ‘will likely heighten, not reduce, the threat posed by ballistic missiles’.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has affirmed his support to end the ‘unfair trials’ of British soldiers being prosecuted for their role in the Troubles in the early 1970s in Northern Ireland. The appointment of Johnny Mercer, who has labelled the prosecution of veterans as an ‘abhorrent process’, as veterans affairs minister reflects a wider desire in the Conservative Party to halt historic prosecutions of veterans. Sinn Fein fears that an amnesty would slow reconciliation and prevent ‘public consultation on dealing with the legacy of the past’.

Final frontier

Following French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement last month that he had approved the creation of a space command in the French air force for defence and surveillance, the scope of the unit’s role has been clarified. French Defence Minister Florence Parly confirmed in a speech last week that France plans to defend its constellation of military satellites using a new generation of Syracuse satellites armed with defensive weapons.

The European Space Agency has selected Airbus to build the European component of the ‘Solar-wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer’ (SMILE) satellite. The satellite is part of a joint mission between the ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to monitor and understand space weather.

Astronauts on the International Space Station are set to bake chocolate-chip cookies in space for the first time thanks to a partnership between Double-Tree Hilton, Zero G Kitchen and NanoRacks. While the astronauts won’t be able to consume their creations—the first batch will be sent back to earth for analysis—this experiment will bring them one step closer to understanding the art of baking in microgravity.

Wired watchtower

In response to growing concern about the changing nature of warfare, the UK is establishing a specialist army hybrid warfare division that will study unconventional warfare, below and above the threshold of conflict. The 6th Division, as it will be known, will focus on intelligence-gathering and information operations, as well as cyber and electronic warfare.

Industrial cybersecurity firm Dragos has identified a new hacker group targeting the telecommunication and energy sectors across the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. The group, which Dragos has named ‘Hexane’, has become more active in recent months and is likely targeting telecommunication companies as a means of gaining third-party access to oil and gas companies.

Young hackers accused of committing cybercrimes will be offered a second chance thanks to a joint initiative between the British and Dutch authorities called ‘Hack_Right’. Instead of opting for legal proceedings against first-time offenders, police in the UK and the Netherlands will set out to educate young hackers about the consequences of their actions and engage them in ethical computer training.
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August 13, 2019
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Sea state
China’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Ni Jian, has said that China is considering using its navy to help escort its commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf if a ‘very unsafe situation’ eventuates. China is also contemplating joining the US-led Operation Sentinel, despite the ongoing trade war between the two nations.
Russia is planning to build two new nuclear-powered icebreakers to be delivered in 2024 and 2026. It already has three in production, which are due to be commissioned by 2022. Once in service, the five ships will be the largest and most powerful icebreakers ever constructed and will allow Russia to ‘strengthen its leadership in the development of the Arctic’, according to Alexei Rakhmanov, president of the United Shipbuilding Corporation.
The US Navy has dropped charges against four Navy SEALs for allegedly abusing detainees in Afghanistan in 2012. The navy is currently being plagued by several other scandals, including the recent acquittal of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher over murder and attempted murder charges dating back to 2017. Newly appointed Chief of Naval Operations Vice Admiral Michael Gilday says that he’s determined to ‘quickly and firmly’ resolve the ongoing investigations into alleged misbehaviour.
Flight path
Last Thursday, US and Canadian fighter jets intercepted a pair of Russian bombers just off the coast of Alaska, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command. Though the bombers entered the Alaskan and Canadian air defence identification zones, they stayed clear of both countries’ sovereign airspace. Russia’s motives for the excursion are still unclear, but this isn’t the first time a Russian aircraft has entered the North American air defence zones.
The Chinese-made CH-4B drone, which is in the same size class as the US MQ-1 Predator drone, seems to be falling out of favour among its most prominent users in the Middle East. Only one of Iraq’s CH-4Bs is operational out of a fleet of more than 10, according toThe National Interest. While maintenance issues are apparently to blame, operators have been dissatisfied with the CH-4B’s overall performance.
A scramjet engine built by Northrop Grumman for the US Air Force Research Laboratory has achieved a record-breaking 13,000 pounds of thrust in hypersonic conditions. The Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee underwent a two-year upgrade to accommodate the ‘truly remarkable’ scramjet engine. The project is indicative of the desire in the US military to push the boundaries of hypersonic research, and will feed into the development of other designs, such as scramjet-powered missiles.
Rapid fire
As part of Australia’s biggest peacetime investment in defence, the government has approved $500 million in funding for the first stage of Project Greyfin. It’s part of a planned $3-billion investment in Australia’s special forces over 20 years to ensure that they have ‘cutting-edge capabilities’ in intelligence, science and technology. Liberal MP and former SAS officer Andrew Hastie said that the investment would build ‘discreet insertion and extraction capabilities’ akin to those of the US special forces.
An explosion at a Russian missile test site on Thursday killed five nuclear engineers and wounded three others. It was just the latest in a string of explosions at Russian military facilities last week, at least one of which was caused by a lightning strike. Russia expert Jeffrey Edmonds said ‘there’s a tendency for accidents to happen in Russia’ because its ‘culture of aggressiveness and risk-taking’ doesn’t mix well with outdated military infrastructure.
Taiwan’s military budget is set to grow ahead of the upcoming presidential election, after the Chinese defence ministry affirmed its ‘resolve to “liberate”’ Taiwan in a white paper released at the end of July. President Tsai Ing-wen’s government has committed US$11.3 billion for 2019, up 5.6% from last year, as part of her re-election platform. Her government intends to bolster Taiwan’s defence by allocating money for new US weaponry and lobbying the Pentagon to allow the sale of additional F-16 fighter jets.
Final frontier
Chinese startup LinkSpace has successfully completed the third test of its reusable rocket. The RLV-T5 rocket climbed to 300 metres before independently returning to its launchpad 50 seconds after launch. The rocket is part of China’s efforts to reduce the cost of space launches and deploy more satellites. The test is another example of the growing influence of China’s private industry in space—Chinese firm iSpace successfully delivered a satellite into orbit last month.
SpaceX has announced that it will offer rideshare opportunities for small satellite operators ‘looking to put lighter payloads into orbit’. The initiative will allow customers to pre-book a spot on a Falcon 9 for a specific launch date with the guarantee that the rocket will go up. This is a significant development given that other rideshare missions rely on the main payload, which means small satellites are at risk of being delayed by the larger customer.
Arianespace has successfully launched the second satellite to ‘join the constellation of satellites’ that make up the European Data Relay System. The system, also known as the ‘SpaceDataHighway’, uses lasers to transmit satellite images and data to earth in almost real time, enabling faster responses to emergency situations. It’s the product of a partnership between the European Space Agency and Airbus, and is part of the agency’s efforts to encourage more public–private partnerships in large-scale space projects.
Wired watchtower
Researchers from IBM’s ‘X-Force Red’ have developed a proof-of-concept device called a ‘warship’ to demonstrate a cyberattack that can be carried out through the mail. The method of attack—called ‘warshipping’—is a modern take on the Trojan horse, in which an attacker uses a package to conceal a device. Once the package is delivered, the device can be used to infiltrate a targeted wi-fi network and steal data or passwords.
Hackers were given the opportunity over the weekend to take on DARPA’s secure voting machine prototype at Defcon’s Voting Village. Hackers were asked to look for and exploit any vulnerabilities relating to hardware-based attacks. The prototype is part of a US$10 million DARPA-funded project to develop an open-source voting platform using secure hardware.
Zindi—a company that hosts online competitions with a focus on science and technology—is using Microsoft’s cloud-based computing service, Azure, to power the platform. As part of a partnership between the firms, Microsoft will host two competitions focused on African agtech, and Zindi is set to bring together 4,000 data scientists based in Africa to develop and create data-driven solutions to local problems.
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Sea state
BAE Systems has started construction on HMS Cardiff, the second of Britain’s Type 26 City-class frigates, which are set to replace the current anti-submarine warfare Type 23 frigates. The new class will ‘contribute to UK and allied security, but also make a strong economic contribution to the country’, says defence procurement minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan. The project milestone also provides a confidence boost for Australia’s own frigate program, which is using the Type 26 design as the baseline for the new Hunter-class warships.
According to a report by the US Naval Facilities Engineering Command, the earthquakes that hit Southern California in July caused more than US$5 billion in damage to the Naval Air Weapons Station in China Lake. The station supports research, development and testing of cutting-edge weapon systems, and getting it up and running again is now a major priority for the navy. It’s just one of several US military facilities that have been severely damaged in a series of recent natural disasters.
Australian shipbuilder Austal has signed a contract to construct two Cape-class patrol ships for Trinidad and Tobago. Metal cutting has already commenced under the $126 million contract, and delivery of the the vessels is expected in the second half of 2020. Austal has already built 10 Cape-class boats for the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Border Force.
Flight path
Russia has conducted another round of surveillance missions over the US, this time photographing a number of military facilities in Hawaii. The mission was conducted as part of an agreement under the Treaty on Open Skies, which allows member countries to perform aerial surveillance activities over the airspace of other parties to the treaty. The US last undertook an Open Skies surveillance mission over Russia in February.
A Syrian Air Force Sukhoi SU-22 fighter jet has been shot down over the rebel-held province of Idlib, near the town of Khan Sheikhoun. Jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Though the group didn’t say how it shot the aircraft down, news agencies assert that the warplane was targeted and hit by a ground-based anti-aircraft missile.
The Royal Air Force is about to receive its 160th and final Eurofighter Typhoon from BAE Systems, 16 years after the first aircraft was delivered. A series of upgrades will keep the Typhoons operational until their planned retirement in 2040. Under Project Centurion, new Meteor, Brimstone and Storm Shadow missiles will be integrated on the Typhoon fleet within the next four years. Further upgrades to the aircraft and EJ2000 engine will be conducted under the long-term evolution program.
Rapid fire
Ceremonies marking the 53rd anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan were held across the country on Sunday to remember the sacrifices made by Australians who served in the Vietnam War. Long Tan, which took place on 18 August 1966, was the most famous battle fought by Australian soldiers during the war. Against all odds and in torrential rain, 108 Australian and New Zealand soldiers fought off as many as 1,000 Viet Cong fighters. Australian casualties were 18 dead and 24 wounded.
Cubic Defence New Zealand has won a contract to train Australian soldiers for chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) defence missions. The company will deliver a ‘simulation-enabled collective training capability’ that is ‘capable of projecting synthetic CBRN effects over large numbers of soldiers’ in a live training environment. The technology is meant to give soldiers experience in the tactical and logistical effects of a CBRN attack.
In centuries past, the humble yak has helped China defend its strategic interests from invaders coming over the northern steppes. Nowadays, the People’s Liberation Army still uses yaks to patrol China’s far-west regions of Tibet and Xinjiang where modern transport and horses can’t venture. Yaks are well suited for traversing the high-altitude rocky escarpments and snow-capped mountains because of their adapted respiratory system and warm outer coats.
Final frontier
Satellite imagery showing increased activity at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in recent weeks suggests Iran is preparing to launch a satellite into orbit following two unsuccessful attempts at the start of the year. Amid allegations that the launch could contravene UN Security Council resolution 2231, Tehran has maintained that there’s no military component to its launches. It is expected that the launch will take place before the end of the year.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is teaming up with researchers from Caltech, MIT and KAIST (a South Korean science and technology university) to participate in DARPA’s Subterranean Challenge. The team sent six robots to the competition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They’ll be competing against 10 other teams, including one from Australia, led by CSIRO’s Data61 project. The competition has the potential to assist with developing space technology for exploration and prospecting, as the robots are required to map and locate hidden objects underground using artificial intelligence.
Virgin Galatic has announced that its new headquarters and customer centre at Spaceport America in New Mexico is ‘operationally ready’, with journalists offered the opportunity to tour the facility this week. Virgin’s mothership—VMS Eve—has already been moved into the new facility, but it remains unclear when commercial flights will start.
Wired watchtower
Twitter has identified a significant information operation involving hundreds of accounts linked to China. The information operation—directed at undermining the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong—promoted paid advertisements and tweets that supported China’s version of events. The accounts have since been removed from Twitter. Facebookhas also removed several pages, groups and accounts originating from China that it says were associated with ‘coordinated inauthentic behaviour’ centred on Hong Kong.
Researchers from Israeli cybersecurity firm vpnMentor revealed last week that a database containing the fingerprints of one million people, along with the corresponding metadata, was inadvertently made freely available to the public. The biometric data, used by the UK Metropolitan Police, as well as banks and defence contractors, was kept in a centralised database controlled by South Korean security company Suprema ‘as a means of identifying people attempting to gain access to buildings’. The vulnerability has since been addressed.
Government officials in Tonga are considering whether to ban Facebook amid escalating tensions online. Tonga is currently grappling with a ‘digital war’ following the government’s proposal of a new set of rules that would transfer certain powers of the king to the government. Monarchists and pro-government forces have mobilised ‘thousands of mostly anonymous Facebook accounts’ to direct abuse and threats against each other.
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August 27
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Sea state
The US Navy will hold its first-ever joint maritime drill with all 10 ASEAN member states next month. According to the US embassy in Bangkok, the purpose of the maritime exercise is to ‘maintain maritime security, focus on prevention and pre-empt wrongdoing in the sea’. The announcement came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought support for the Trump administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy at a regional summit earlier this month.
The UK has sent a third warship to the Persian Gulf to as part of the US-led effort to safeguard freedom of navigation. The destroyer HMS Defender will join HMS Kent and HMS Montrose in providing ‘reassurance to the shipping industry’ against Iranian aggression. The deployment comes as tensions continue to rise between Iran and Britain after their tit-for-tat detainments of each other’s oil tankers.
Photos have revealed that China is building what’s set to be the Chinese navy’s largest amphibious assault ship. The Type 075 ship, which is being constructed in Shanghai, will feature a flight deck for five or six large transport helicopters and is expected to launch at the end of this year. Once complete, the vessel will dwarf most of its international counterparts and will become the centrepiece of China’s amphibious capability.
Flight path
Chinese military officials ‘responded with fury’ after US President Donald Trump approved the sale of 66 F-16V jets to Taiwan in a US$8 billion deal. Somewhat confusingly, a Chinese officer also claimed the new jets would be ‘useless’ for Taiwan’s protection and will be an ‘extra financial burden’ on the Taiwanese people. This is the second time this year that Beijing has condemned American arms sales to Taiwan. China said it would sanction US firms involved in the sale, though manufacturer Lockheed Martin does little business in China.
Boeing has been awarded a US$999 million contract to supply the US Air Force’s remaining 109 A-10 Warthogs with wing replacements after it completed a package of 173 wing replacements earlier this month. If all options are implemented, Boeing will supply 112 wing assemblies and 15 wing kits, which will ‘increase the flexibility of the aircraft, depending on how many are needed in the future’. The USAF had considered retiring the A-10, which has been in service for about 40 years, but this announcement is expected to extend the lives of the planes into the 2030s.
The Israel Defense Forces have confirmed that Israeli soldiers on the Golan Heights last week opened fire on a civilian light aircraft that they believed was hostile. It’s possible the aircraft was mistaken for a Syrian drone since there have been previous drone incursions into the area. Local media reports the plane was a crop-duster that was spraying fields near the Syrian border.
Rapid fire
The Australian Army has announced a $30 million deal with Saab Australia to provide ‘fully integrated maintenance support’ for its ground-based air defence and counter-rocket, -artillery and -mortar systems as well as its radar capability. The contract streamlines existing agreements to ensure the ‘availability and effectiveness of these important capabilities’ being fielded by the 16th Regiment of the Royal Australian Artillery.
Around 220 engineers from Australia, Timor-Leste, Japan and the US are in Dili for Exercise Hari’i Hamutuk, which means ‘build together’ in Tetum. Australian Brigadier Matt Pearse said the exercise is ‘a great opportunity for our sappers to work alongside and learn from other security forces in the region’. Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said the exercises will ‘enhance regional partnerships at a time of historical significance for Australia and our Timorese neighbours’, a reference to the 20th anniversary of the Australian-led intervention in the country.
Jane’s reports that ‘Centre 2019’ will take place next month and will be Russia’s largest military exercise this year. It’s expected to involve ‘at least 128,000 personnel from seven nations, as well as 600 aircraft and up to 450 artillery systems’. Quoting Russian news agency TASS, Jane’s says the exercise will also involve China, Pakistan, India and other Central Asian nations to demonstrate the ‘readiness of the military of Russia and Central Asian states to protect national interests’.
Final frontier
India’s Chandrayann-2 mission entered the moon’s orbit last week, putting it on track for its scheduled lunar landing in early September. The mission, which was launched on 22 July, will be the first to examine the moon’s southern polar region and includes a lander designed to execute a soft landing on the moon’s surface. If the mission is successful, India will become the fourth nation to land on the moon, following Israel’s failed attempt earlier in the year.
Sierra Nevada Corporation revealed its ‘Large Inflatable Fabric Environment’ (Get it?—Eds) prototype in Houston last week. The prototype is an inflatable ‘human-tended orbital platform’ designed to ‘support missions on the moon’s surface and future flights into deep space’. It’s one of five concepts NASA is considering for its lunar outpost known as Gateway. Sierra Nevada repurposed technologies from its Dream Chaser program to develop the habitat, which will be able to fit inside a rocket and then expand to 8 metres by 8 metres once deployed.
The Trump administration has formally issued a new space policy that establishes a three-tier approval system for the use of spacecraft with payloads carrying systems to support the use of nuclear power in space. The first two tiers require the approval of a spacecraft’s sponsoring agency, and in certain cases a yet-to-be-established interagency nuclear safety review board, while the third tier requires presidential authorisation.
Wired watchtower
Australia will block access to internet domains that host terrorist material during terror attacks and that host ‘abhorrent’ material recorded by the perpetrator of a terror attack. The e-safety commissioner has been tasked with determining what to block on a case-by-case basis, and a 24/7 crisis centre will be established to monitor online content. The government will also consider whether to force digital platforms to improve the safety of their services through legislation.
Amid ongoing unrest in the provinces of Papua and West Papua, the Indonesian government has enforced an internet blackout in the region. A spokesman for the country’s communications ministry confirmed that the internet would remain blocked to the population there ‘until the situation gets back to normal’.
Ukrainian security services have discovered an illegal bitcoin mining operation at a nuclear power plant in the south of the country. A worker had installed bitcoin-mining equipment in one of the nuclear plant’s administrative buildings, inadvertently exposing the plant’s internal network to the internet. The worker responsible was demoted and ordered to pay for the electricity used by his computers.
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September 3, 2019
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Sea state
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a new maritime security agreement with Timor-Leste, which includes a deal for Australia to fund a new wharf at the Hera naval base and provide two Guardian-class patrol boats to the country. The announcement was madeduring a visit by Morrison to Dili, where he declared a ‘new chapter’ in relations between Australia and Timor-Leste. The commitment bears similarities to the one in Papua New Guinea, where Australia and the US will help redevelop the Lombrum naval base on Manus Island.
China has denied a US Navy warship’s request to visit the Chinese port city of Qingdao, according to a US defence official. It’s the second time China has denied a request by the US Navy in the past month, having previously rejected a request for two US Navy ships to visit Hong Kong. While China’s defence ministry has yet to comment, experts claim that the refusal was a ‘natural result of the worsening bilateral ties between China and the US’.
British defence company QinetiQ has won a £18.7 million (A$34 million) contract with the Royal Navy. Technology known as ‘Operational Assessment of Signatures Informing Susceptibility’, or OASIS, will help reduce the acoustic and electromagnetic signatures of the Royal Navy’s submarines and ships, making it harder for them to be detected. QinetiQ’s Steve Fitz-Gerald said that the contract will ‘play a significant role in the modernisation … and development of capability for our forces’.
Flight path
Aerospace company Saab completed the maiden flight of its first Brazilian Gripen E fighter last week. President and CEO Hakan Buskhe said the milestone was a ‘testament to the great partnership between Sweden and Brazil’. The aircraft is the first Gripen E fighter produced for Brazil and is part of a US$5.4 billion deal signed back in 2014, which called for the construction and supply of 36 Gripen fighters, comprising 28 single-seat Gripens and eight two-seaters.
A US Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber has become the first B-2 ever to land in Iceland. The aircraft arrived at Naval Air Station Keflavik, where it spent five hours. The USAF said the purpose of the flight was to ‘conduct theater familiarization … and to demonstrate US commitment to allies and partners’. It also highlighted Keflavik’s potential as an emergency diversion or staging location for B-2s.
Russia’s Kronstadt Group showcased a new drone at the MAKS 2019 aerospace and defence exhibition in Zhukovsky. Kronstadt says the medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle has a payload of 1,000 kilograms and will be able to conduct patrols over the Arctic and Pacific oceans as well as monitor Russia’s exclusive economic zones. The UAV has a claimed cruising speed of 295 kilometres per hour and a flight endurance of 40 hours at full load.
Rapid fire
Three contenders have submitted their final bids to replace the Australian Army’s fleet of Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters from the mid-2020s as part of the LAND 4503 program. The army wants a ‘proven and mature, off the shelf-manned armed helicopter’. The candidates to replace the Tiger are Bell’s Viper and Boeing’s Apache, while Airbus is offering what it says would be a more than $3 billion saving by extending the Tiger’s service life to the 2040s.
The Australian Army’s 51st Battalion is hosting a trilateral military exercise with forces from the US and China in Far North Queensland. The exercise, called Kowari, promotes ‘friendship and co-operation’ by encouraging military personnel from the three countries to work together in the Australian bush. It’s hoped activities such as hiking, canyoning and sea kayaking as well as bush survival training will enable ‘important people-to-people connections’ and enhance regional security.
Poland has expressed an interest in joining the European main battle tank project, which is being spearheaded by France and Germany. The project is part of an initiative founded in 2017 to allow EU member states to engage in joint military projects. Poland’s desire to join the scheme reflects a broader trend among Eastern European countries that are seeking to replace their Soviet-era tanks with modern Western ones.
Final frontier
Following a ‘mysterious explosion’ at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Space Center on Thursday, US President Donald Trump posted a high-resolution image of the location to Twitter, though he denied any US involvement in what’s thought to be a failed rocket launch. Trump has been questioned over his choice of image, as a redacted classification appears to be in the top left-hand corner of the image. The quality and detail of the now very public image have enabled observers to identify the satellite used as one of the US National Reconnaissance Office’s classified KH-11 Evolved Enhanced Crystal satellites.
NASA activated its Deep Space Atomic Clock on Friday, marking the official beginning of its year-long mission. The atomic clock is the first onboard clock that’s ‘stable enough to map a spacecraft’s trajectory in deep space’ and will enable spaceships to calculate their own trajectories and navigate through deep space independently.
Engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have attached the first extraterrestrial helicopter to the agency’s Mars 2020 rover. After landing on Mars, the helicopter will detach itself from the rover and conduct a series of tests to determine whether or not the autonomous vehicle can be flown in the planet’s extremely thin atmosphere.
Wired watchtower
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has confirmed in an article for Prospect that a cyberattack on one allied nation constitutes an attack on them all, triggering a ‘collective defence response’ pursuant to Article 5 of the organisation’s founding treaty. He wrote that NATO will operate and defend itself in cyberspace in the same way it does ‘in the air, on land, and at sea’.
US Cyber Command carried out a covert cyber operation against Iranian intelligence systems in June amid ‘an undeclared cyberconflict’ between the two countries. The systems targeted by the US were reportedly being used by Iran’s paramilitary arm to target commercial vessels in the Gulf. While Iran is still in the process of recovering from the intrusion, it’s thought that it may have learned critical information about Cyber Command’s capabilities.
Security researchers from Google have uncovered a hacking campaign involving a number of malicious websites which exploited software flaws in iPhones over a two-year period. It’s reported that the websites were used to target the Uyghur community in Xinjiang in what appears to have been a state-sponsored attack. By gaining access to a phone, hackers would have had access to the target’s messages, passwords and location, which, if true, is worrying given the Chinese government’s detention of more than a million Uyghurs in ‘re-education’ camps.
 
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Sea state
US company Anduril has announced a deal to build three large autonomous submarines in three years for the Royal Australian Navy. The vessels, which could have torpedo tubes and intelligence-gathering capabilities, will be built in Australia in partnership with local small to medium sized businesses. While this proposal may provide some complementary support for the RAN during the transition to nuclear-powered submarines, the three-year manufacturing program is ambitious. Any further delays in RAN submarine delivery will widen Australia’s capability gap in the region.

Almost four weeks after the sinking of the flagship cruiser Moskva, another Russian vessel has been struck in the Black Sea. A Ukrainian-operated Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone has hit a Serna-class landing craft at Snake Island, engulfing the vessel in flames. Two Russian Navy Raptor-class patrol boats were also reportedly destroyed earlier this month. The continued destruction of key assets by Ukrainian forces has placed Russia’s self-proclaimed world-class navy under great strain in the Black Sea.

Flight path
The cost of a single fighter jet under the US Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program is expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to USAF Secretary Frank Kendall. NGAD is being designed as a family of systems that includes manned aircraft and autonomous ones. The program could potentially strengthen US aerial capabilities in the Indo-Pacific by the 2030s.

A Royal Australian Air Force KC-30A tanker has refuelled a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force Mitsubishi F-2 fighter for the first time. The tanker was deployed to Japan in April as a part of a flight test engineering program, which also featured engineers testing mechanical combability between aircraft in a range of configurations and conditions. The successful air-to-air refuelling marks a new milestone in Australian military relations with Japan and signals the potential for further interoperability exercises.

Rapid fire
The Russian military paraded through Moscow on 9 May as part of annual Victory Day events that commemorate the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany. The parade has been a major showcase of Russian military power every year since 2008, featuring Russia’s most advanced weapons systems. This year, the parade included two T-14 Armata tanks and the T-90M, both of which have not seen significant operational use yet, though some T-90s have been lost in Ukraine. Some equipment was noticeably absent, such as the T-80BVM tanks (one of Russia’s newer generation battle tanks), which are largely engaged in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

An advanced force of 350 Danish soldiers, along with nearly 300 vehicles and other pieces of military equipment, has been deployed to Latvia to bolster NATO’s Baltic posture. In addition to armoured and mechanised infantry, the deployment includes logistic, reconnaissance, intelligence and information operation specialists. The remaining 400 members of the 750-strong battalion are to be deployed next year and will form part of a Latvian mechanised infantry brigade. The Danish deployment follows NATO requests in late March and reflects growing apprehension about Russian military adventurism encroaching on NATO members.

Final frontier
Last week, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced that its nuclear thermal propulsion spacecraft project is advancing to the next stage. The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations, or DRACO, project started a year ago when DARPA reached an agreement with General Atomics to develop a preliminary design for a rocket engine reactor. The next part of the project will focus on developing and presenting a demonstration of nuclear thermal rocket engine operation in orbit by 2026. If successful, DRACO could lead to the emergence of faster spacecraft and start a new era of space exploration.

A new Atlantic Council report warns that the US might not be able to maintain its space superiority over the next decade, partly due to a failure to quickly adopt small-satellite technologies. The small-satellite revolution has fuelled a thriving space economy, but the US national space security program has yet to adapt. In order for the US not to be outpaced by China, the report urged substantial cultural, doctrinal and operational reforms to the US government’s relationship with the commercial space industry.

Wired watchtower
Microsoft has reported that hackers aligned with the Russian government have conducted ‘hundreds of cyberattacks’ against Ukrainian targets since February, suggesting ‘hacking has played a bigger role in the conflict than previously known’. In addition to compromising Ukraine’s public information sources, Russia-affiliated hackers have relentlessly pursued ‘critical infrastructure’, potentially generating ‘second-order effects on the government, military, economy and people’. However, Microsoft anticipates that the worst might be yet to come, warning that ‘Russian actors may be tasked to [conduct attacks] … against targets outside of Ukraine’.

Authorities in Ethiopia successfully neutralised a series of cyberattacks targeting the country’s national institutions last week. The hackers’ primary target was the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, an operation that could potentially have triggered flash floods downstream. The Ethiopian Information Network Security Agency claimed the attacks were ‘sponsored by countries that envy the peace and development endeavours of Ethiopia’ but declined to provide further detail. However, allegations of Egyptian involvement may lead to a further breakdown of relations between the two African nations.
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