Weekly News Update: June 2, 2023
27 May - 2 Jun 2023
Chinese spies attempt to sneak onto U.S. military bases, dressed as tourists. North Korea failed at launching its first spy satellite. Lockheed Martin and the DoD have lost more than a million spare parts for the already overpriced F-35. Axiom’s astronauts return from space. An asteroid is stalking the earth. And, AI is going to kill us all (or so some ‘experts’ warn).
Weekly News Round Up
Military
Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine
Russia has launched a massive drone attack on Kyiv (MT)
New U.S. aid package for Ukraine will total about $300 million (MT)
Estonia to ask for clearer path for Ukraine to join NATO (DO)
U.S. bombers fly over Bosnia in sign of support amid secessionist threats (AFT)
NATO to send 700 more troops to Kosovo amid violent protests (MT)
French Pres. Macron pushes for ‘concrete’ security guarantee for Ukraine (DO)
NATO launches artic exercises, pledges protection of Finland (AlJ)
China, Korea, and Asia
Chinese spies, pretending to be tourists, try to infiltrate U.S. military bases (UT)
China refuses U.S. request for meeting of defense chiefs (NBC)
Officials eye ways to get weapons to Taiwan ‘more quickly’ (BD)
Taiwan receives backlogged Stingers from 2019 weapons sale (TH)
Taiwan says Chinese warships pass through Taiwan Strait (MT)
Chinese J-16 fighter jet aggressively flies by U.S. reconnaissance plane, blames America for provocations (MT)
North Korean attempt to launch first spy satellite fails (MT)
Nimitz Carrier Strike Group nears Guam for disaster relief support (USNI)
Despite AUKUS pledges, Australian defense spending drops $1.5 billion (BD)
China and key U.S. partner Singapore agree to top-level defense hotline (AP)
Malaysia seizes Chinese ship suspected of looting WWII wrecks (AlJ)
U.S., Philippines, Japan to hold first-ever joint naval drills (AlJ)
Middle East and Africa
Turkey continues to ruin its country, electing Erdogan again (AlJ)
U.A.E. pressures U.S. to secure Persian Gulf after Iran seizes tankers (WSJ)
Documents: Iran plans to increase attacks on U.S. troops in Syria (WP)
U.A.E. no longer wants to participate in Combined Maritime Task Forces (S&S)
U.S. imposes first sanctions over Sudan conflict (AlJ)
U.S. Defense modernization and innovation
Air Force AI drone kills its human operator… in a simulation (T&P)
Debt ceiling agreement locks in proposed $886 billion defense budget (DN)
Swarms of AI-fueled drones, vehicles track targets in AUKUS tests (C4ISR)
Army toys with asking defense industry to disclose AI algorithms (C4ISR)
Pentagon shares its new classified cyber strategy with congress (BD)
Army looks to further develop, showcase software updating capabilities (DO)
New leaders tapped for USMC (MT), Missile Defense Agency (DN), NORAD (ASF)
U.S. Defense Industry News
Pentagon awards contract to SpaceX for Starlink internet for Ukraine (BBG)
Lockheed, DoD lose over 1 million F-35 spare parts (DN)
Army moving forward on $214.3 million contract with GM Defense for light infantry squad vehicle (T&P)
Shift5’s CEO Lospinoso: ‘Adversarial AI’ a threat to military systems (C4ISR)
Boeing: future F-15EX will likely cost more than pledged $80 million (BD)
U.S. set to allow GE to make engines in New Delhi for Indian military jets (RT)
Navy issues $200M long-lead Super Hornet award to Boeing (USNI)
Lockheed, Raytheon invest $12.5M in 3D printing firm Fortify (BD)
Multiple companies could win work on Army’s Project Linchpin AI (C4ISR)
Sikorsky to reveal UK new medium helicopter plan (BD)
Military training AR company Red-6 closes a $70 million Series B (PRN)
L3Harris won an $80.8M AFRL contract to test commercial satellite internet integration with military applications (SN)
Northrop Grumman won a $45.5M USSF contract to provide orbital launch services (SN)
Foreign Defense Industry News
Czechs drop $2.2 billion CV90 IFVs; Ukraine ‘days’ from getting them (BD)
Germany buys 18 Leopard tanks to rplace those sent to Ukraine (BD)
French military intel reorganizes with ‘360-degree’ threat analysis (BD)
Italy ends Yemen-linked embargo on arms sales to Saudi Arabia (RT)
Poland buys 800 Hellfire missiles to arm its new attack helicopters (DN)
Spain to receive first Naval Strike Missiles from Kongsberg (DN)
Malaysia adds funds to troubled littoral combat ship program (DN)
Philippine president hints at plan to build a submarine fleet (S&S)
Israel receives first Eitan wheeled APCs (BD)
Israel to share data for weaving Iron Dome into U.S. air defense (DN)
U.S. seeks TNT from Japan for 155mm shells destined for Ukraine (RT)
Space
Ax-2 astronauts splash down, completing second private mission to ISS (Axiom)
Quasi-moon discovered near earth, has travelled alongside our planet for millenia (LS)
Maxar turns its Earth Observation cameras towards the heavens (C4ISR)
U.S. ‘Space Diplomacy’ seeks to counter ‘competitors’ soft-power plays (BD)
Satellite data could boost border security, disaster response (DO)
Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin honorarily promoted to brigadier general (YT)
SPACECOM takes over missile defense from Strategic Command (BD)
NASA, partners achieve fastest space-to-ground laser comms link (NASA)
ispace’s Hakuto-R lander crashed due to an anomalous altitude reading (ispace)
One of Jupiter’s moons spewed water 6,000 miles (BBC)
Boeing’s Starliner continues to concern NASA, launch delayed indefinitely (AT)
Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser reaches ‘power on’ milestone (SN)
Inmarsat won $187.4 million contract for positioning services in Oceania (BW)
OrbitFab, Impulse Space to provide in-space refueling demo (SN)
Planet partners with UAE to build satellite powered climate damage map (ST)
UAE plans asteroid mission for 2028 (AlJ)
New Zealand launches a national space policy (SW)
Japan explores wooden satellites (Space)
High winds halt Spanish Miura-1 rocket launch (Phys)
Spain signs Artemis Accords as 25th signatory (NASA)
Virgin Galactic flies to the edge of space (CNN)
Nuclear Power & Weapons
U.S. to begin tit-for-tat over Russian violations of New START treaty (TH)
New Zealand wants in on non-nuclear aspects of AUKUS (Nik)
Constellation Energy to buy stake in Texas nuclear plant in $1.75 billion deal (RT)
Miss America pushes for nuclear energy (YT)
U.S. announces $46 million in funds to 8 nuclear fusion companies (RT)
Tokamak hits fusion milestone, heats to 100,000,000C (SA)
Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Energy, and other cool tech
AI boom is compounding chip shortages (WSJ)
Carlyle Group to buy Czech optics maker Meopta for $770 million (RT)
AI ‘experts’ hype fear over ‘risk of extinction’ from the tech (RT)
China leads the world in preparing for extreme weather threats to power supplies (BBG)
U.S. seeks to curb investment in Chinese chips, AI, and quantum computing (RT)
Texas’ power woes fuel energy storage and battery boom (RT)
Important Reads
Jack Raines’ totally serious list of ideas to solve the debt crisis from last year has resurfaced.
a16z has an excellent read on “who owns the generative AI platform”
Lighter Side
Milky Way over a Turquoise Wonderland (Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek / Institute of Physics in Opava, Sovena Jani)
Keep building!
Andrew