Weekly Update

18 - 24 February 2023

Feb 24, 2023

Israel weighs strikes against Iran, as the latter marches on towards weapons grade uranium. Russia withdraws from New START nuclear treaty. China plans to give weaponized drones to Russia for their illegal occupation of Ukraine. President Biden makes surprise visit to Kyiv on the eve of the anniversary of Russia’s latest campaign in Ukraine. NASA continues to prepare for our return to the moon as Russia launches rescue mission for its stranded cosmonauts.

Weekly News Round Up

Military

President Biden visits Kyiv in show of solidarity (MT)
President announces $500M in new military aid to Ukraine during visit (Hill)
Biden: “Ukraine will never be victory for Russia” during visit to Warsaw (WH)
U.S. warns China against military aid to Russia, threatens “consequences” (AP)
Washington considers release of intel on potential China-Russia arms deal (WSJ)
U.S. VP to Munich Security Conference: Russia has committed crimes against humanity (AP)
North Korea continues to rattle its saber (AP)
Marcos: China lasing in South China Sea not enough to trigger mutual defense treaty (AP)
Australia, Philippines in talks on joint patrols in South China Sea (AlJ)
Gallagher: Taiwan frustrated by weapons delays (WP)
U.S. to deploy hundreds of troops to Taiwan (WSJ)
U.S. ends search for downed objects over Alaska, Lake Huron (MT)
U.S. could send M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine from stockpiles (BD)
… but they may not arrive until 2024 (DN)
Sweden mulls Leopard tanks for Ukraine (RT)
Israel reconsiders military support for Ukraine (BD)
U.S. Army looks at single vehicle counter-drone system (BD)
U.S. Marines test prototypes for new reconnaissance vehicle (MT)
U.S. Space Force predicts surge in national security launches (MT)
Lockheed secures $1.2B contract for Navy hypersonic missile (C4ISR)
U.S. State Department OKs sale of HIMAR system to Holland (DN)
U.S. Special Operations Command hemorrhaged unclassified emails (CNN)
Pentagon pushes for revival of Rapid Innovation Fund (DN)
Boeing to end F/A-18E-F Super Hornet production in 2025 (AFT)
Northrop reveals new multimode sensor (ASF)
U.S. Navy’s top admiral sees uncrewed vessels as critical to Navy’s future (C4ISR)
U.S. partners with UAE in aquatic drone exercise (S&S)
UAE still seeking MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones from General Atomics (DN)
Collins Aerospace partners with Saudi firm to make combat drones (BD)
U.S. Army jam-resistant navigation kit for vehicles passes Pentagon test (DN)
Rocket strike in Damascus hit Iranian military “experts” (RT)
UAE’s EDGE unveils “Airtruck” drone at IDEX weapons show (DN)
Estonia unveils its first loitering munition (DN)
Serbia to buy UAE-made loitering munitions (DN)
Italian shipbuilding company shrinks submarines for covert uses (DN)

Russia launches Soyuz rocket to rescue stranded cosmonauts (RT)
China’s Mars rover hasn’t moved in months (SN)
U.S. rover finds opal on Mars (SP)
China plans “megaconstellation” of satellites (SN)
SpaceX to move forward with Starship orbital launch after static test fire (SN)
ULA plans first Vulcan launch for May (SN)
NASA prepares for first lunar ‘Gateway’ mission in 2023 (SN)
U.S. Military’s Space Rapid Capabilities Office becomes less secretive (SN)
U.S. Space Force considers hiring civilian companies to service satellites (C4ISR)
U.S. Space Force predicts surge in national security launches (MT)
Congress pushes for a Space National Guard (Mil)

Nuclear Power & Weapons

Iran acknowledges accusation that it’s enriched uranium to 84% (AP)
Israel considers strikes against Iran nuclear program (JP)
Russia withdraws from New START nuclear treaty (NYT)
U.S. Air Force reviewing cancers of nuclear missile personnel (AFT)
U.S. Senate seeks nuclear fuel security (SEN)
36 year old Kathryn Huff leads DoE’s push for nuclear power (FC)
Colorado legislators don’t see nuke as “clean energy” (BP)
New report on waste from microreactors (MV)

Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Energy, and other cool tech

Meta’s new interface for Oculus system doesn’t need controllers (FB)
German government considers $21B+ to buy local unit of power grid operator TenneT in a deal that could mark the starting point for the consolidation of the country’s power grids (BBG)
Fortem Technologies, an airspace awareness and security startup, raised $17.8M in funding led by Lockheed Martin Ventures, Hanwha Aerospace, and AIM13 Crumpton Venture Partners (PRN)
UK-based quantum computing startup Quantum Motion raised a $50.5M round led by Bosch Ventures (TC)
German 3D printing startup Xolo raised an $8.5M Series A led by the HZG Group, the DeepTech & Climate Fonds, SquareOne, and more (FN)
Power generator and distributor Central Puerto bought Italian utility Enel's stake in two Argentina thermal generation plants for $102M total (BBG)
Tesla considering a takeover of battery-metals miner Sigma Lithium, with a $3B+ market value (BBG)
The EV battery unit of Sunwoda Electronic is considering raising up to $580M in fundraising ahead of an IPO (BBG)
Autonomous cargo drone airline Dronamics raised $40M in pre-Series A from Founders Factory, and others (TC)

Drugs

Pentagon concerned that Poppy Seeds cause positive drug tests (MT)
U.S. Army fatal drug overdoses decreasing; but not everywhere (AT)

Egg Drop

Mark Rober used to work for NASA, where he spent seven years working on the Curiosity rover at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Now, he makes STEM (that’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) based educational products and videos that are fun for kids.

Last night, the kids and I watched his video where he attempts to do the highest ever egg drop. An egg drop is a simple challenge where you try to create a device that protects a falling egg from breaking. This challenge is often done in high school science classes, but Rober wanted to push it to its limits.

Originally, he wanted to drop it from the Burj Khalifa, but the Jeddah Tower is anticipated to trump the Burj Khalifa for height when it’s complete. So Rober decided to drop his egg from space.

I won’t give away the details of how he accomplishes this, but will refer you to the video and also give a H/T to my old friend—and incredible officer—Mike Harrison for recommending it!

KPMG Future of Defense

KPMG released a fantastic thought piece predicting the future of defense. Some of the highlights that I took from it include:

Speed is increasing in importance in terms of communication, decision making, and weapons effects (I'd add innovation, prototyping, and acquisition too)
Modeling, simulations, and forecasting are enabling planning, C2, war gaming, and capability development - incidentally, I had a call on Friday with Will Roper (the previous SAF/AQ) on his new company Istari that's allowing various other M&S solutions to work together, which will be incredibly important as we develop increasingly complex solutions like OMFV
Sensor proliferation and integration requires far greater data solutions: architecture, storage, processing, et al.

To capitalize on these trends, KPMG outlines 8 capabilities that they found to be essential for effective defense:

1/ Insight-driven strategies and actions 2/ Innovative platforms and services 3/ Mission centricity by design 4/ Seamless interactions 5/ Responsive operations and supply chain 6/ Integrated partner and alliance ecosystem 7/ Aligned and empowered workforce 8/ Digitally enabled technology architecture

Finally, they caution against existing organizational and bureaucratic roadblocks (I'm sure we can all think of plenty of those in the requirements process) that prevent a defense organization from taking advantage of the digital future. Speed of adoption will be critical, but to capture that speed, barriers need to fall.

KPMG’s Future of Defense Report is available now

Context in International Law

Dr. Joanna Siekiera joined the Army Mad Scientist Podcast to discuss geopolitics through an international lens. I found her conversation on the cultural contexts in interpretation and adherence to international law and norms—she definitely adopts a realistic and pragmatic lens.

It made me think of Philip Bobbitt’s The Shield of Achilles, which is probably the piece of writing that I most return to when I consider the relationships between war, peace, and jurisprudence. I suspect that many non-prominent countries sign on to international legal frameworks to continue to participate, even when those frameworks are at odds with their cultural contexts. Then, those countries either remain as non-prominent and engage in activities at the periphery of the world stage so they revert to their cultural norms, abandoning the international legal frameworks OR they rise in prominence and seek to challenge the preexisting frameworks and believe they have the strength to do so.

I have lots of thoughts on this, but am already running out of space in this edition, so I’ll just encourage you to listen to the episode and carry on the conversation in comments.

Lighter Side

Things have been intense this week and we need to remember to not take everything so seriously.

Mid-career servicemembers and DoD civilians all over the DC-Maryland-Virginia area after reading USD(P&R)’s memo

Meanwhile, at Ft. Bragg (Ft. Liberty):

As the world seems to be on the brink of absolute madness, don’t forget to enjoy the weekend before getting back to work next week. There’s much to do and we must…

Keep building!

Andrew

Building Our Future

Discussion about this post