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Russia's Claims of Ukrainian Biological Weapons: A Propaganda Ploy?
Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has claimed Kyiv is developing biological weapons with support from the US and Germany. Experts familiar with laboratories in Ukraine say the accusations are groundless.
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Russia’s Hybrid War in Ukraine
Microsoft last week released a report which details a broad cyberattacks campaign by Russia in Ukraine, a campaign conducted in concert with kinetic military action. At least six Russian Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actors and other unattributed threats, have conducted destructive attacks, espionage operations, or both, while Russian military forces attack the country by land, air, and sea.
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World Military Expenditure Passes $2 Trillion for First Time
Total global military expenditure increased by 0.7 per cent in real terms in 2021, to reach $2113 billion. The five largest spenders in 2021 were the United States, China, India, the United Kingdom and Russia, together accounting for 62 per cent of expenditure.
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Reviving the National Defense Stockpile Funding
Established during World War II, the National Defense Stockpile (NDS) ensures that the Department of Defense can access key materials necessary to maintain readiness in the event of a major supply chain disruption. Current critical minerals stockpile is inadequate to meet the requirements of great power competition.
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Amid Carnage in Ukraine, a Shadow War on the Russian Side of the Border
Away from the active battlefronts within Ukraine, though, there’s a less bloody, less prominent front in the two-month-old war, a shadow campaign that has included attacks on military and industrial targets in Russia itself. It’s not clear how many incidents have occurred, or whether they resulted from air strikes, or missiles, or sabotage.
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Can the Russian Military Overcome Its Manpower Problems in Ukraine?
A new phase of the Ukraine war is shaping up in the eastern part of the country, but succeeding with its new war goals will be no simple task for a Russian military that has lost some 15,000 personnel since its February 24 invasion.
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National Action Plan: The U.S. Domestic Counter-Unmanned Aircraft
Over the last decade, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS or “drones”) have become a regular feature of American life. We use them for recreation, for research, and for commerce. But the proliferation of this new technology has also introduced new risks to public safety, privacy, and homeland security. On Monday, the administration released whole-of-government plan to address UAS threats in the homeland.
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Why Is Germany Not Supplying Ukraine with Heavy Weapons?
The criticism of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been unrelenting. He has been accused of stalling and breaking his promises over sending heavy weapons to Ukraine. Here are some of the main points of contention.
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Lessons from the Battle for Kyiv
The Russia operation to take Kyiv rapidly degenerated into an urban battle of attrition favorable to Ukraine, and eventually the Russian government withdrew its troops, conceding defeat in the battle for Kyiv. The fog of war prevents in-depth analysis, but two initial lessons stand out from the first phase of the conflict: First, do not rely on the invaded nation’s popular support; second, know when to quit.
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How Hypersonic Missiles Work and the Unique Threats They Pose
On 18 March, Russia used a hypersonic missile against a Ukrainian arms depot. The technology the Russians used is not particularly advanced. However, next-generation hypersonic missiles that Russia, China and the U.S. are developing do pose a significant threat to national and global security.
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More and More Russian Soldiers Reportedly Refusing to Fight in Ukraine
A growing number of Russian soldiers are refusing to fight in Ukraine. “The phenomenon of refusal is becoming systemic,” says one expert. “Such soldiers are found in practically every unit that has returned from Ukraine. According to our estimates, from 20 to 40 percent of the contract servicemen that returned from Ukraine and that are being readied to be sent back are refusing to return to combat.”
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International Approval Shapes Public Perceptions of Drone Warfare
Drones that carry weapons are increasingly employed as counterterrorism tools, but nations use and constrain strikes differently. France, for example, submits its strikes to the U.N. for approval; the U.S. typically does not. This difference matters when it comes to public support and perceptions of legitimacy.
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DHS S&T Awards $259M to Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System Threats
Germantown, Maryland-based Amentum has been awarded a five-year contract with a maximum value of $260 million by DHS S&T to develop and deploy emerging capabilities and prototypes for countering unmanned systems threats (C-UST).
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Russia’s War in Ukraine: China’s Lessons
China is learning from Russia’s troubled war in Ukraine to improve its battle strategies and prepare for economic sanctions if Beijing ever attacks self-ruled Taiwan. Experts say that China may also be looking harder at peaceful solutions for Taiwan, they say.
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Disrupting Deterrence: The Effects of Technologies on Strategic Deterrence
What are the implications of eight specific emerging technologies for both the effectiveness of U.S. deterrent policies and the stability of deterrence relationships?
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More headlines
The long view
Tantalizing Method to Study Cyberdeterrence
Tantalus is unlike most war games because it is experimental instead of experiential — the immersive game differs by overlapping scientific rigor and quantitative assessment methods with the experimental sciences, and experimental war gaming provides insightful data for real-world cyberattacks.
Testing Cutting-Edge Counter-Drone Technology
Drones have many positive applications, bad actors can use them for nefarious purposes. Two recent field demonstrations brought government, academia, and industry together to evaluate innovative counter-unmanned aircraft systems.
European Arms Imports Nearly Double, U.S. and French Exports Rise, and Russian Exports Fall Sharply
States in Europe almost doubled their imports of major arms (+94 per cent) between 2014–18 and 2019–23. The United States increased its arms exports by 17 per cent between 2014–18 and 2019–23, while Russia’s arms exports halved. Russia was for the first time the third largest arms exporter, falling just behind France.
How Climate Change Will Affect Conflict and U.S. Military Operations
“People talk about climate change as a threat multiplier,” said Karen Sudkamp, an associate director of the Infrastructure, Immigration, and Security Operations Program within the RAND Homeland Security Research Division. “But at what point do we need to start talking about the threat multiplier actually becoming a significant threat all its own?”
The Tech Apocalypse Panic is Driven by AI Boosters, Military Tacticians, and Movies
From popular films like a War Games or The Terminator to a U.S. State Department-commissioned report on the security risk of weaponized AI, there has been a tremendous amount of hand wringing and nervousness about how so-called artificial intelligence might end up destroying the world. There is one easy way to avoid a lot of this and prevent a self-inflicted doomsday: don’t give computers the capability to launch devastating weapons.