Lifeboat Foundation

This all-electric 4×4 off-road concept has a monster battery pack, a brutally angular and military look that borrows heavily from the Cybertruck, and pop-out solar panels for off-grid charging. Oh, and if you need extra range, you can snap two extra wheels and a battery onto the back of it with a self-balancing caboose that makes it a six-wheel-drive.

First things first: Thundertruck is the brainchild of a Los Angeles “creative consultancy,” conceived mainly as a way to keep the team busy during the first wave of COVID lockdowns. “Instead of baking bread or making puzzles,” says the Wolfgang L.A. team, “we decided to make a new state-of-the-art EV truck.”

So while Wolfgang says it “has the ability to support an entire product development program, from research and strategy to initial sketches and first prototypes, all the way to advertising launch campaigns and content creation,” it’s fair to say it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing the Thundertruck out bush-bashing or crushing hillclimbs any day soon.

Reddit user jokes: ‘Not so stealthy now, are ya?’

More about “autonomous” (robot) vehicles.

The vehicle’s abilities were demonstrated on snowy terrain, at low temperatures, and in difficult road and weather conditions. The multi-purpose robotic platform is ideal for military units as it is designed to perform logistics, evacuation, reconnaissance and other special tasks.

Continue reading “Ukraine’s Upcoming ‘Peacekeeper’ Passes Factory Test. The All-Terrain Drone of the Future?” »

(betavoltaic cell or betavoltaic battery) is a type of nuclear battery which generates electric current from beta particles (electrons) emitted from a radioactive source, using semiconductor junctions. A common source used is the hydrogen isotope tritium. Unlike most nuclear power sources which use nuclear radiation to generate heat which then is used to generate electricity, betavoltaic devices use a non-thermal conversion process, converting the electron-hole pairs produced by the ionization trail of beta particles traversing a semiconductor.^[1]

Betavoltaic power sources (and the related technology of alphavoltaic power sources^[2]) are particularly well-suited to low-power electrical applications where long life of the energy source is needed, such as implantable medical devices or military and space applications.^[1].

Defense industries in both the countries will look to complement their technologies to build a powerful engine and other combative capabilities.

Autonomous weapon systems—commonly known as killer robots—may have killed human beings for the first time ever last year, according to a recent United Nations Security Council report on the Libyan civil war. History could well identify this as the starting point of the next major arms race, one that has the potential to be humanity’s final one.

The United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons debated the question of banning autonomous weapons at its once-every-five-years review meeting in Geneva Dec. 13–17, 2021, but didn’t reach consensus on a ban. Established in 1983, the convention has been updated regularly to restrict some of the world’s cruelest conventional weapons, including land mines, booby traps and incendiary weapons.

Continue reading “UN fails to agree on ‘killer robot’ ban as nations pour billions into autonomous weapons research” »

Over 300 million dollars earmarked for developing a demonstrator.

Governments of Japan and the United Kingdom have joined hands to collaborate and develop the jet engine of the sixth-generation fighter aircraft and have signed a memorandum of cooperation to this effect, said a press release from the U.K. government.

The two countries have been exploring opportunities for collaboration for some time and are vested in the development of future combat air systems, the press release said. Earlier this year, U.K.‘s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth set out on her maiden voyage which included a trip to Japan. The U.K. intends to deepen industrial relationships in the defense sector in the Indo-Pacific region where the two countries are looking to counter China’s growing influence.

Continue reading “UK and Japan Join Hands to Build the Sixth Generation Fighter Jet Engine” »

Japan and U.S have agreed to Tokyo’s contribution for hosting U.S. military forces to 9.2 Billion dollars over the five-year period from fiscal 2022, which starts in April, government sources said.

Roughly 5% increase in so-called host nation support came in response to calls from the administration of U.S president Joe Biden for the Japanese government to foot more of the cost, given the need for U.S. forces to deal with China.

The two sides have agreed to reduce Tokyo’s financial contribution for utility costs, with the increased amount to be allocated to funding expenses such as maintenance of facilities used by both Japan’s self-Defence Forces and the U.S. military as well as their joint exercise.

Taiwan’s spycatchers are battling a sustained Chinese espionage campaign. Even the security detail of President Tsai Ing-wen has been compromised.

The operation detailed in these documents shows how Beijing allegedly sought out commanders in the Taiwan military and induced them to become spies. It comes amid a series of convictions for military espionage in Taiwan in recent years. Those cases reveal that China has mounted a broader campaign to undermine the democratic island’s military and civilian leadership, corrode its will to fight, extract details of high-tech weapons and gain insights into defense planning, according to senior retired Taiwanese military officers and current counter-espionage agents, as well as former U.S. military and intelligence officers with experience in Taiwan.

Taiwan’s spycatchers are battling a campaign that has compromised senior officers at the heart of the island’s armed forces and government agencies, a steady stream of convictions handed down in the courts shows.

Continue reading “Chinese spies have penetrated Taiwan’s military, case documents reveal” »