In recent years, small drones have made their way onto battlefields where they’ve been used to surveil US forces or drop bombs on them, prompting the US military to develop new ways to take them down. This week, the US Air Force unveiled a new tool that can be stationed at bases around the world: a high-powered microwave system called Tactical High Power Microwave Operational Responder (THOR), which is designed to protect bases against swarms of drones.
The information age is evolving the very nature of warfare. Today, each nation increasingly depends on closely integrated, high-speed electronic systems across cyberspace, geospace, and space (CGS). But, it’s a cause of great concern if an enemy can easily use a weapon like a small, inexpensive EMP device. An EMP weapon can deny any individual or entity across a nation the ability to use electromagnetic waves for their digital infrastructure and digital connectivity, e.g. radio, infrared, and radar. Moreover, a nuclear blast can also trigger an EMP effect, as can a solar storm. Individually and collectively, this emerging reality understandably changes the nature of warfare, the focus of the war, and the target of warfare, shaking up the very foundation of security.
Electronic warfare is on our doorstep, and no nation seems to be fully prepared. Since electronic warfare appears to already be on our doorstep, in order to meet the complex EMP warfare challenges that are seriously threatening the very progress and advances nations have made in CGS, it is essential to evaluate how prepared each nation is today in their defensive as well as offensive capabilities. How are nations addressing the security challenges to their CGS?
The weaponization of the electromagnetic spectrum is becoming a reality. Acknowledging this emerging reality, Risk Group initiated a much-needed discussion on Electromagnetic Warfare with Colonel Avraham Cohen, Head of National Security Cyber Research Group and the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Sphere-SOC based in Israel on Risk Roundup.
Each squad in the Marine Corps will soon have a new member — a quadcopter drone that will be used in everything from training to surveillance to battlefield assaults. The Marines purchased more than 800 drones at the end of 2017 and now they’re rolling out quickly to every squad in the service, according to National Defense magazine. Continue reading… “The newest weapon for the U.S. Marine Corps is a fleet of quadcopter drones.”
In 2015, a video showing a semi-automatic handgun being fired from a custom-built dronewent viral, raising concerns for authorities, including the FAA. The development of such a DIY device was only a matter of time, as was the commercialization of the technology. Now Florida-based startup Duke Robotics has unveiled the TIKAD, a custom-built multirotor that can carry and fire various military weapons, including semi-automatic rifles and grenade launchers.
Trainees work in front of their computers at the “Cyber Gym” center.
Israel’s new state-of-the-art “Cyber Gym” is where IT and infrastructure company employees train to defend against cyber attacks. The facility is a series of small buildings in the shadow of the looming Orot Rabin power station on Israel’s northern coastline. It was inaugurated this month by the Israel Electric Corp (IEC), which has experienced its fair share of cyber attacks.
Neuroscience in future military conflict, on the cutting edge of medical science should remember that their work could have other, more harmful uses.
It sounds like science fiction warfare. But directed energy weapons that use wave beams to cause pain, and electrical brain stimulation that boosts a soldier’s combat ability are advances in neuroscience are on the horizon.
