Weekly Update
13 - 19 May 2023
Russian officials are allegedly reaching out to the CIA, dismayed by the war, even as Russia lobs (and loses) advanced weapons in heavy attacks. Turkish president is heading to a run-off election, after failing to capture majority. China’s recovery has stalled, signaling broader trouble ahead for the global economy. Scientists have discovered where most of Mars’ heat comes from (hint: under the ground, due to radioactive decay). Speaking of heat, global temperature rise will surpass the 1.5C key limit for first time. And, OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, appeared before congress where he shrewdly tried to convince them to help him build a moat around his business.
Poll
The weekly roll-up is getting too long to send by email. I’m considering breaking it up with smaller, more frequent editions. If so, it could either break up by topic (e.g., Space topics on Wednesdays, Nuclear topics on Thursdays, Military topics on Mondays, etc). Alternately, it could just be the same categories just fewer articles. What say you?
Weekly News Round Up
Military
Europe, Russia, the Arctic, NATO, and the war in Ukraine
Russian duma votes to formally withdraw from Treaty of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (MT)
NATO contractor accused of smuggling quantum computing and other advanced techs to Russia (S&S)
Russian officials, unnerved by war, allegedly reaching out to CIA (WSJ)
Russia losing military aircraft in its own territory (T&P)
Patriot system shoots down Russian hypersonic missile targeting it (T&P)
Russia keeps arresting its hypersonics scientists on treason charges (NBC)
Ukraine experiences “exceptionally dense” barrage of missiles and drones (BBC)
U.S. fighter jets intercept 6 Russian military planes near Alaska (RT)
… Several days later, Russia attempted another flight near Alaska (S&S)
U.K.’s RAF to guard Iceland during Council of Europe summit (RT)
U.K. to train Ukrainian pilots, supply more missiles and drones (DN)
U.S. deploys F-22 Raptors to Estonia to reinforce Baltics (ASF)
U.S. won’t block other countries from sending F-16s to Ukraine (CNN)
Major accounting error means Pentagon can send more weapons to Ukraine (MT)
Iran expands military aid to Russia amid war (WSJ)
S. Africa army chief visits Moscow in wake of U.S. secret weapons claim (AlJ)
Turkish presidential election to head to runoff (AP)
China, Korea, and Asia
China threatens to ‘smash any form of Taiwan independence’ (MT)
China’s recovery stalls, signals global economic trouble (WSJ)
China’s loans pushing world’s poorest countries to brink of collapse (YF)
U.S. Army seeks closer ties with Indonesia (AT)
Opposition trounces military in Thailand election, questions abound (RT)
U.S. SecDef: New Taiwan military aid package coming in ‘near term’ (BD)
Defense ministers from Japan, China inaugurate hotline (MT)
Photo shows N. Korean leader examining spy satellite to be launched soon (NBC)
U.K., Japan to boost defense and semiconductor ties ahead of G7 (Politico)
U.K. to send aircraft carrier to Into-Pacific in 2025 (DN)
Myanmar military has imported $1 billion in weapons since 2021 coup (AP)
Satellite image shows WZ-8 supersonic drone at Chinese base (C4ISR)
Middle East and Africa
Over-the-horizon counterterrorism mission in Afghanistan has been complete failure (MT)
U.S. 5th Fleet increasing patrols in Strait of Hormuz in response to Iranian activity (USNI)
Fleeing generals at war and violent militias say ‘we’re not coming back’ (NYT)
U.S., Israeli officials: U.S. proposed joint military planning against Iran (Axios)
U.S. Defense modernization and innovation
Pentagon CIO taking over 5G activities with eye on expanded testing (C4ISR)
Concerns grow over pace of DoD Hypersonics testing (ASF)
Gen. Allvin emerges as frontrunner to be next Air Force chief (AFT)
Air Force plans to award Next Gen Air Dominance contract in 2024 (DN)
Air Force looks to fill intel gaps from space (ASF)
Army evaluating first “launched effects” prototype (DN)
Army adds new mobile communications experiment to 2024 calendar (C4ISR)
Army seeks greater mobility and concealment for command posts (C4ISR)
Experts, VCs: “In race with China, SOCOM must leverage private equity” (BD)
Space Force needs a new mission statement (Mil)
Space Force may seek new bidders for future deep-space radars (C4ISR)
Space Force sees “no pushback” from congress on 2024 budget priorities (SN)
DoD officially rebrands JADC2, adds “combined” to focus on partners (BD)
Lawmakers wants Pentagon AI efforts to focus on autonomy (C4ISR)
Pentagon tests joint warfighting tech during TREX exercise (C4ISR)
Space Force ground control operators press for critical network upgrades (BD)
Missile Defense Agency is struggling to meet delivery, testing goals (BD)
U.S. Defense Industry News
Air Force acquisition official: Debt breach could damage defense industry (DN)
Refilling munitions stockpiles threatens production of hypersonics (DN)
L3Harris and Air Tractor have begun initial production of AT-802U Sky Warden light attack aircraft for SOCOM (T&P)
Sikorsky lobbies congress to avoid planned cuts to HH-60W helicopter (BD)
DARPA announced “X” designation for Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Science’s experimental aircraft (ASF)
Bath Iron Works lays keel for for shipyard’s first Flight III destroyer (USNI)
Pentagon seeks authority to sell two nuclear submarines to Australia (DN)
Space Force picks Parsons to develop ground system for missile-warning satellites (SN)
Romania approves $1.1 billion purchase of U.S. M1A2 Abrams tanks (DN)
Dept of Defense awards Astra new launch contract add-on (BW)
Zeno Power gets $30 million to build radioisotope-powered satellite for U.S. military (SN)
Hypersonics company Stratolaunch to buy Virgin Orbit assets for $17M (RT)
Foreign Defense Industry News
Greece, S. African Paramount Group partner on kamikaze drone production (DN)
David’s Sling nets first live-action kill over Israel (BD)
Dutch to purchase 20 PULS artillery systems from Israel for $305M (ToI)
… Spain also considering purchasing PULS from Elbit (DN)
U.K.’s Rolls-Royce tests new B-52 engines in Mississippi for U.S. Air Force (ASF)
Airbus SDAM maritime drones achieves milestone in French test (C4ISR)
Airbus tees up new surveillance drone with ‘Made in Spain’ tack (C4ISR)
Spain’s Navantia expects new warship sales to Saudi Arabia (DN)
Italy’s new warships will have larger holds for landing forces (DN)
Israel’s Elbit to supply Montenegro with vehicle-mounted mortar system (C4ISR)
Australian watchdog blasts military on new warship selection (BD)
Australia to provide surveillance drones to Philippines (MT)
New Zealand reveals defense budget of around $3.3 billion (DN)
Space
Space Force official: lack of communication with China increases risk of mishaps in orbit (SN)
Space Force delivers second U.S. payload to be hosted on Japanese satellite (SN)
Space Command announces that U.S. will use AI to track orbiting objects (DO)
Axiom-2 private astronaut mission to the ISS is “go” for launch this weekend (FlT)
Earth Observation company Albedo forms a strategic advisory board (Payload)
U.K. cybersecurity software developer Arqit launches sale of satellite division (SN)
Italy awards $256 million contract for 2026 in-orbit servicing mission (SN)
China seeks to copy NASA’s commercial cargo program (SN)
NASA ends Lunar Flashlight mission due to thruster problems (SN)
L3Harris wins contract to extend NOAA’s GOES-R ground segment work (SN)
Most of Mars’ heat comes from the decay of radioactive elements (Ind)
JWST finds water for first time in the main asteroid belt (UT)
Artemis program may face a budget crunch as costs continue to rise (AT)
Northrop Grumman is exploring a space tug to service the Chanda X-Ray Observatory (Space)
Rhea Space Activity receives $250,000 to explore resurrecting Spitzer Space Telescope (IE)
New NASA AI program could give 30-minute warning before solar storms (TWC)
Varda Space raising $25M to continue work on in-space manufacturing (TC)
Nuclear Power & Weapons
U.S. releases nuclear warhead data in bid to pressure Russia (AlJ)
Russian forces dig in at Ukrainian nuclear plant (RT)
Hiroshima survivors warn G7 leaders about nuclear weapons (AlJ)
Nuclear waste management market size to reach $7.4B by 2030 (YF)
First nuclear fusion plants to need $7 billion supply chain (RT)
France holds up EU energy agreement over nuclear power (FT)
Netherlands considers nuclear to reduce emissions (NEA)
N. American subsidies help boost nuclear hydrogen plans (RT)
Tennessee governor issues executive order to advance nuclear innovation & investment (TN)
Chinese EV maker Nio invests in nuclear fusion startup (RT)
Thyssenkrupp seeks to spinout hydrogen unit, Nucera, through $4.3B IPO (BBG)
Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Energy, and other cool tech
Global warming set to break key 1.5C limit for first time (BBC)
DNA can now be pulled from thin air (NYT)
New machine-learning model makes more accurate predictions about ocean currents (MIT)
Montana issues total ban of TikTok within state (WSJ)
OpenAI advocates in front of congress for regulation of AI development (WP)
OpenAI launches free ChatGPT app for iOS (TV)
Together raises $20M from Lux Capital, others to build open source generative AI models (TC)
Spacetop creates first augmented reality laptop (TV)
Tower Semiconductor beats revenues and earnings (YF)
U.S. to buy 3 million barrels of oil for emergency reserve (BBG)
China’s $220B biotech initiative is struggling to take off (BBG)
Global Hydrogen Energy to become a publicly traded company through SPAC with Dune Acquisition Corp (YF)
Pearl Energy Investments closes third fund with over $700M (BW)
ANYbotics secures $50M Series B to build robots for industrial inspection (BW)
Metaphore Biotech raises $50M for biomimicry and machine learning work (FIN)
Glowforge raises $20M for its 3D laser printer work (BW)
Noveon Magnetics closes $75M for rare earths manufacturing (FIN)
ClimateTech company Mitiga raises $14.3M to further modeling of natural hazards (FIN)
Lighter Side
M16: Eagle Nebula Deep Field (Gianni Lacroce)
That’s just Russia…
Keep building!
Andrew