Archive for the 'War' Category
Two Admirals Face Probe in Navy Bribery Scheme
November 9th, 2013[???] Via: Washington Post: Two U.S. admirals — including the director of naval intelligence — are under investigation as part of a major bribery scandal involving a foreign defense contractor, Navy officials announced Friday night. Vice Adm. Ted “Twig” Branch, the service’s top intelligence officer, and Rear Adm. Bruce F. Loveless, the Navy’s director of […]
U.S. Nuclear Upgrade Over the Next Decade: $350 Billion to $400 Billion
November 4th, 2013Via: Reuters: The U.S. nuclear arsenal needs a multi-billion dollar overhaul in the coming decade to ensure the weapons’ safety and effectiveness, defense officials said on Tuesday, despite warnings from arms control groups that the effort is unaffordable and unnecessary. Assistant Defense Secretary Madelyn Creedon told a panel in the U.S. House of Representatives that […]
Last Year President Obama Reportedly Told His Aides That He’s ‘Really Good At Killing People’
November 3rd, 2013Via: Business Insider: This will not go over well for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner. According to the new book “Double Down,” in which journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann chronicle the 2012 presidential election, President Barack Obama told his aides that he’s “really good at killing people” while discussing drone strikes. Peter Hamby […]
1983: How a War Game Brought the World to the Brink of Nuclear Disaster
November 2nd, 2013Via: Guardian: Chilling new evidence that Britain and America came close to provoking the Soviet Union into launching a nuclear attack has emerged in former classified documents written at the height of the cold war. Cabinet memos and briefing papers released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that a major war games exercise, Operation […]
Son of Blackbird: SR-72, Mach 6 Reconnaissance and Strike Drone
November 2nd, 2013I wonder if everyone in the U.S. will be on food stamps by the time this thing takes to the air: Food banks across the country, stretched thin in the aftermath of the recession, are bracing for more people coming through their doors in the wake of cuts to the federal food stamp program. Food […]
The One About BadBIOS
November 1st, 2013I’d make sure to consider skeptical views on this BadBIOS story: Either it is an extremely limited piece of BIOS malware or it is occurring at the OS and escaping detection through previously unknown methods. Half the claims made regarding what it does (disabling registry editing, etc.) are so far from reasonable and possible with […]
Slow and Steady Progress Toward Lethal Autonomous Robots
October 31st, 2013This piece is a good summary of what’s happening in the field of military robotics. I’m pretty sure that all of the systems here have been covered separately on Cryptogon. Via: Vocativ: There are important differences between drones, landmines, and “killer robots” — the more serious term being “fully autonomous weapon,” or “lethal autonomous weapon” […]
Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin to Develop Pod-Mounted Aircraft and UAV Laser Defenses
October 30th, 2013Via: Military and Aerospace Electronics: U.S. military researchers are hiring two defense companies to develop technology for pod-mounted laser weapons to protect manned aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR)-guided surface-to-air missiles. Officials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are choosing the Northrop Grumman Corp. Aerospace Systems segment in […]
Siri, Have Those People Killed
October 28th, 2013Via: GQ: In 2011, Air Force psychologists completed a mental-health survey of 600 combat drone operators. Forty-two percent of drone crews reported moderate to high stress, and 20 percent reported emotional exhaustion or burnout. The study’s authors attributed their dire results, in part, to “existential conflict.” A later study found that drone operators suffered from […]
Mexico Towns Lose Power in Suspected Cartel Sabotage
October 28th, 2013Via: AFP: Unidentified assailants armed with guns and Molotov cocktails attacked power stations in a violence-torn western Mexican state Sunday, leaving 11 towns without electricity in a suspected drug cartel attack. The interior ministry said in a statement that national power company equipment, six gas stations and a convenience store were targeted in 11 towns […]
