Lifeboat Foundation

To keep up with China and Russia. The future of warfare builds on previous successes. And throughout conflicts in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, the U.S. military possessed an unrivaled advantage in air superiority. But all things change, and to face the possibility of conflict with new and advanced weapons and aircraft from Russia or China, the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) wants to upgrade some of its largest aircraft with cruise missiles, according to a recent solicitation shared on a government website. Specifically, SOCOM’s plans call for equipping AC-130s with cruise missiles, in addition to transforming the MC-130 into a \.

Equipping AC-130s with cruise missiles could prove superfluous.

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Taiwan has made a battery-powered exoskeleton suit that will allow its soldiers to run faster and carry heavy objects.

This is the first-generation suit made by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, according to The South China Morning Post. The suit is a part of a four-year project called the “Taiwan Ironman program.” It has a budget of $5.74 million and the goal of providing Taiwan’s soldiers with a lower-body exoskeleton to increase their strength and endurance.

“To reduce fatigue of soldiers in carrying heavy facilities… we started developing the powered suit for the military in 2020,” Jen Kuo-Kuang, head developer of the project, said in comments at a news conference obtained by the SCMP.

In service since 2,002 the Stryker combat vehicles have been constantly upgraded in light of changing warfare techniques. When deployed in Iraq, these combat vehicles had to be protected from the rocket-propelled grenades but were recently found to be lacking against unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Europe. As warfare moves at lightning speed from drones to drone swarms, General Dynamics, the manufacturer of Stryker vehicles, is looking to arm the vehicle with a directed energy weapon.

To accelerate the pace of this upgrade, the defense manufacturer has teamed up with Los Angeles-based Epirus Inc., which has developed a counter-electronics system, Leonidas, capable of handling single as well as multiple threats.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company makes 24% of all the world’s chips, and 92% of the most advanced ones found in today’s iPhones, fighter jets and supercomputers. Now TSMC is building America’s first 5-nanometer fabrication plant, hoping to reverse a decades-long trend of the U.S. losing chip manufacturing to Asia. CNBC got an exclusive tour of the $12 billion fab that will start production in 2024.

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Continue reading “Secretive Giant TSMC’s $100 Billion Plan To Fix The Chip Shortage” »

As the U.S. military has finalized a space for its first micro-nuclear reactor. The Department of Air Force has chosen the Eielson Air Force Base (AFB) in Alaska to introduce this next-generation energy capability, a press release said.

The US military has been inclining towards electronic warfare along with nuclear reactors for cleaner sources of energy. Last month, we reported that the Department of Defense was planning to install a portable nuclear reactor in Idaho.

It is also being said that the micro-reactor pilot is being built in response to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019 that requires potential locations to be identified to build and operate a microreactor before 2027. The Air Force will work in collaboration with the Department of Energy, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to execute the project of the micro-reactor pilot, and to ensure this pilot is conducted with safety as the number one priority, the press release said. This facility will have a license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and will operate commercially.

AI is changing the way we live and the global balance of military power. Ex-Pentagon software chief Nicholas Chaillan said this month the U.S. has already lost out to China in military applications. Even 98-year-old Henry Kissinger weighs in on AI as co-author of a new book due next month, “The Age of AI: And Our Human Future.”

Kai-Fu Lee has been sizing up the implications for decades. The former Google executive turned venture capitalist looked at U.S.-China competition in his 2018 book, “AI Superpowers.” His new book, “AI 2041,” co-authored with science fiction writer Chen Qiufan, suggests how AI will bring sweeping changes to daily life in the next 20 years. I talked earlier this month to Lee, who currently oversees $2.7 billion of assets at Beijing-headquartered Sinovation Ventures. Sinovation has backed seven AI start-ups that have become “unicorns” worth more than $1 billion: AInnovation, 4Paradigm, Megvii, Momenta, WeRide, Horizon Robotics and Bitman. We discussed Lee’s new book, the investments he’s made based on his predictions in it, and where the U.S.-China AI rivalry now stands. Excerpts follow.

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The U.S. Navy has invented a new device to prevent people from speaking, one that people with siblings will recognize instantly. The handheld acoustic hailing and disruption device records a person’s speech and spits it back out again, disrupting their concentration and discouraging them from speaking further. Although an interesting—and very familiar—concept it’s unlikely this tech will ever see use on the battlefield.

The handheld acoustic hailing and disruption (AHAD) was developed by engineers at Naval Surface Warfare, Crane Division, a Navy research and development facility in Indiana that develops handheld and crew-served weapons for the service. The patent, New Scientist reports, was issued in 2019.

Continue reading “The Navy Invented a Device to Prevent People From Talking” »

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the military alliance of 30 countries that border the North Atlantic Ocean, this week announced that it would adopt its first AI strategy and launch a “future-proofing” fund with the goal of investing around $1 billion. Military.com reports that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will join other NATO members in Brussels, Belgium, the alliance’s headquarters, to formally approve the plans over two days of talks.

Speaking at a news conference, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the effort was in response to “authoritarian regimes racing to develop new technologies.” NATO’s AI strategy will cover areas including data analysis, imagery, cyberdefense, he added.

Artificial intelligence is set to revolutionize the world, empowering those nations that fully harness its potential. The U.S. is still seen as the world AI leader, but China is catching up. The race is central to the U.S.-China rivalry and a critical facet of the economic and military competition that will define the decade.

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Continue reading “China’s Race for AI Supremacy” »