Battles are won long before the first missile is launched

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In World War II, armies began to discover that intercepting a radio signal could be as decisive as sinking a ship. Decades later, that logic has multiplied: today a modern conflict can involve satellites, algorithms that process millions of data per second and attacks that occur on invisible networks long before the first plane or the first missile appears in the sky. The war that happens before. In the past, wars began with the first visible shot: a cavalry charge, an artillery barrage, or a missile launch. But the conflicts of the 21st century have changed radically that logic. Before the first projectile crosses the sky, it has already been released a decisive battle in another much less visible place: computer networks infiltrated for years, satellites observing movements, electronically blinded radars and algorithms that analyze mountains of data to anticipate each enemy movement. The war in Iran has proven it again crudely. Same as it happened in ukrainethe real showdown begins long before the audience sees the explosions. A years-long murder. I was counting last week the financial times in an extensive report how the attack that ended the life of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was planned, one of the most extreme examples of this new way of fighting. When Israeli fighters dropped their bombs on the Pasteur Street complex in Tehran, the operation was actually years developing in silence. Israel had hacked a large part of the traffic cameras in the Iranian capital and transmitted their encrypted images to servers in its territory. Those data are combined with algorithms able to reconstruct patterns of life: what time the bodyguards arrived, where they parked their cars, what routes they followed and which officials they worked with. This information was integrated with human intelligence, communications interceptions and social network analysis that identified centers of power within the Iranian system. The result was a production chain targeting: an intelligence machine designed to convert data into military targets. Blind first, attack later. When it came time to execute the operation, the missiles and bombs were actually the last phase of the plan. Before the fighters went into action, the United States launched cyber attacks aimed at degrading Iranian communication and air defense systems. The goal was simple: blind the enemy. Disabled radars, confused command networks, and cell towers unable to transmit warnings created a temporary vacuum in which attacking forces could move with advantage. That logic (take away first the eyes to the opponent) had already appeared in previous conflictsbut has now become a centerpiece of modern military strategy. The invisible battlefield. This previous combat is fought in what the military calls the electromagnetic spectrum: the domain where radars, communications, satellites and navigation systems operate. Controlling that space means being able to detect threats before the enemyguide precision weapons or block signals that allow a defense to be coordinated. Losing it can have immediate consequences. Without secure communications, units cannot coordinate, without satellite navigation, guided weapons lose precision, and without radar, anti-aircraft systems stop seeing the targets they must intercept. That is why military strategists repeat a warning increasingly clear: if the electromagnetic spectrum battle is lost, the war is probably already lost. The lesson that came from Ukraine. How have we been countingthe war in Ukraine was the laboratory that demonstrated to what extent this invisible combat It is decisive. There, both Russia and Ukraine have employee war systems electronics to jam drones, jam GPS-guided missiles or disable enemy communications. At times, Western precision weapons such as lHIMARS rockets or the JDAM pumps They lost some of their effectiveness due to Russian electronic interference. The result was a battlefield where spectrum control (and not just the number of missiles or tanks) determined who had the advantage. The new phase of modern warfare. The operation against Iran confirms that this trend is not a Ukrainian anomaly, but rather the norm in contemporary wars. Today the first movements in a conflict are not usually visible, because they are hackers infiltrating networks, satellites detecting signals, algorithms processing data or electronic systems blocking communications. If you like, it is also a silent phase, but absolutely critical. Only when that battle is won do missiles take off, planes cross the border or bombs fall on their targets. By then, however, much of the outcome has already been decided. Because in the wars of the 21st century, the most important combat is not fought in the air or on the ground, but in an invisible domain where seeing before the enemy is as decisive as shooting first. Image | US Navy, nara In Xataka | Iran’s drones have aimed at the same target as the US. And now that they have pulverized it, they are going to unleash their most dangerous weapon In Xataka | Iranian oil made the Shah of Persia immensely rich. He also financed palaces, 140 luxury cars and a private Boeing 727.

It only costs 16 euros a year

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If you like to take photos and videos non-stop, it is very possible that your phone’s storage is shivering. Of course, you always have the option of pulling a portable SSD or even have an HDD as a safe photo album at home. But if you want to be able to access your files from everywhere, the ideal is a cloud storage service. Google Drive, iCloud and other US services reign there, but there are real alternatives in Europe. As there are more and more users searching depend as little as possible on services from this countryEuropean services are beginning to gain popularity. One of them is Interxt Drive, a cloud storage of Spanish origin that, among many other things, has a quite attractive price: with the code ‘XATAKA‘ you have 1 TB of storage per 16 euros per year. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Cloud storage that even comes with VPN The price we indicate above corresponds to the most economical Internxt modality, which is called ‘Essential’. With it we will have 1 TB of storagea figure that is not bad at all. Although this is the most notable, we cannot ignore that it is a quite attractive price if we take into account, among other things, that it comes with two extra tools: VPN and antivirus. Let’s now talk about the service itself. We have pointed out above that with Internxt we would be betting on a cloud service that does not depend on large US companies, but that is not the only incentive that the platform gives us. It is also very secure, since it uses ‘Zero Knowledge’. What does it imply? That, despite the fact that their servers are going to store our files, Internxt cannot access them. Privacy is important for this service. In fact, It is open sourceeitherso anyone can access and audit it. Thus, it is practically impossible for it to hide any type of back door or secret route so that your data ends up in the hands of third parties. Transparency above all, something that, added to its end-to-end encryption, also makes it a secure option. If we want more capacity, we can jump directly to their ‘Premium’ plan, which offers 3 TB of capacity and costs 31 euros per year. Not only does it have more room for your files, but it also adds some extra features like ‘Version history‘. This allows you to go back to previous versions of files, which is ideal to avoid losing data if you overwrite them by mistake. Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Internxt In Xataka | Google Drive alternatives: the best cloud storage services for your files In Xataka | Best VPNs 2025: guide with the 17 best services to protect your online privacy

OpenAI says its agreement with the Pentagon is completely secure. His way of convincing us: “Trust us”

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Don’t worry about anything, really. Trust us. Who says it is OpenAI, a company led by Sam Altman that has earned the reputation of saying one thing on one hand and doing another on the other. There are whole books written on that premise, and it is inevitable not to remember it now that this gigantic startup has signed a disturbing agreement. soap opera. OpenAI reached an agreement with the Department of Defense to integrate its AI models into government agencies, replacing Anthropic. They did so by indicating that they would impose requirements on the use of these models and would have red lines similar to those defended in Anthropic: no mass espionage, no development of autonomous weapons. That decision has cost Anthropic the contract with the DoDbut also has been tagged as a “risk to the supply chain.” Trust us. There are two problems here. The first, that OpenAI has never shown the contract that makes it clear that there are red lines to the use of GPT by the military. And the second and most serious, that according to OpenAI we do not need it because we only need to trust them. Altman himself tried to dispel doubts explaining that they had added amendments to the agreement to ensure that those red lines were not crossed. The wall of opacity. Despite promises of transparency, OpenAI refuses to publish the contract. The firm’s head of national security, Katrina Muligan, he came to affirm in that it does not feel “obliged” to share the legal language of the agreement. This has raised suspicions about what has really been signed behind the scenes. Holes everywhere. Brad Carson, who served as secretary of the US Army under Obama, indicated at The Intercept how Sam Altman’s legal language in his posts on X is suspect. The CEO of OpenAI mention for example that “the AI ​​system will not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of US citizens.” That “intentionally” is, according to experts like Carson, a kind of blank check to allow data on American citizens to be captured while spying on foreigners “by accident” but systematically. As Carson explains, They are trying to confuse you with complicated legal terms that ordinary people think mean something completely different. But lawyers know what it means. And lawyers know that this is no protection. The human factor. The integration of OpenAI’s AI into DoD systems now falls under the direct supervision of Secretary of Defense Pet Hegseth and President Trump. This represents an ethical dilemma: the security of the system depends on the political will of figures who have traditionally had no problem eliminating restrictions on mass surveillance systems. Quo vadis, OpenAI. The 180º turn it’s clear for OpenAI. While in its beginnings the startup was defined With the message of creating AI systems “for the benefit of humanity” and prohibiting the military use of its technology, this agreement demonstrates that such premises no longer seem to exist. another bad sign. This way of acting by OpenAI has caused it to be openly criticized on networks, but there have also been internal problems. This is demonstrated by the fact that its director of robotics, Caitlin Kalinowski, has decided to resign from office over concerns about the company’s military negotiations. And an obvious question. The dispute between the Department of Defense and the Pentagon centered precisely on the fact that they did not want Anthropic to establish red lines. OpenAI claims to have established basically the same ones, so how is it possible that the DoD allows OpenAI to establish them when it has not allowed Anthropic to do so? It doesn’t seem to make any sense. What a mess. We are living a real soap opera with three protagonists. The US Department of Defense (DoD) – now renamed the Department of War –, the company Anthropic and its rival, OpenAI. The DoD, which used Anthropic’s AI for military operations, He demanded to be able to use it without restrictionsbut Dario Amodei, CEO of the startup, he flatly refused. That was the moment Sam Altman took advantage of to become the new ally of the DoDsomething that has been seen by many as opportunistic and morally reprehensible. Image | Xataka with Freepik In Xataka | The war between Anthropic and the Pentagon points to something terrifying: a new “Oppenheimer Moment”

MrBeast makes a video and everyone copies him

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Content on YouTube and other video networks is becoming more and more like fast food: clone flavors, different packaging (although with few differences). MrBeast It is currently the global reference on the platform and has sparked a race to replicate its challenge-show-prize format, flooding other people’s profiles (both North American creators and Spanish streamers) with content with very few differences between them. What we have lost along the way: the personality that turned YouTube into an alternative to traditional television. What are these videos about? A hook in the first ten seconds, absolutely obscene amounts of money at stake (figures like $250,000 in weekly challenges), many people screaming a lotan editing rhythm that doesn’t let you breathe. This is how Jimmy Donaldson’s channel, better known as MrBeast, works, and this is how those of hundreds of creators work who, to a greater or lesser extent, have copied his visual grammar, which ranges from the speed of editing to the video thumbnails themselves. In Spain, Its most relevant copier is Ibai Llanos. But is everything as the same as it seems? According to some studies, yes. This 2024 analysis discussed how YouTube’s recommendation system tends to reduce the diversity of content that reaches the viewer, favoring what researchers call “densely interconnected content communities.” The mechanism is circular: the algorithm rewards what already works, the creators replicate what the algorithm favors, the viewer sees more of the same. Whether it is all part of a plan or something that has simply evolved in that direction is a dilemma that remains subject to discussion. The practical result is a platform where the average video thumbnail includes a face with an open mouth, a large red number, and some high-value object. Youtube Product Manager has recognized that the algorithm drives 70% of all views on the platform, meaning that more than the creators themselves, it is the system that decides what thrives and what doesn’t. And YouTubers have to study it and embrace it if they want to upload. of visits. The first times. For years, around the middle of the last decade, YouTube was a platform that encouraged experimentation: the first big channels, like PewDiePie or the Vlogbrothers, and in Spain people like the foundational AuronPlay, ElRubius or Wismichu, to name just a few, made spontaneity a format and built their video empires on their own personalities. Long, sometimes chaotic videos, where the audience’s loyalty did not come from the spectacle but from the identification with whoever was speaking to the camera. It was parasocial content in the most literal sense: the hook was to sit down and watch someone, week after week, and feel like you knew them. How he triumphed. MrBeast spent, by his own account, between 20,000 and 30,000 hours studying YouTube before building the most viewed channel on the platform. In 2023, a 36-page internal document titled “How to Succeed in MrBeast Production” (or ‘How to Succeed at MrBeast Production’, an onboarding manual for new employees) was leaked online. Its content was revealing: the content of the videos formulated as engineering to retain the viewer with precise metrics, tested formats and detailed analysis of important elements of the videos, such as the so-called “wow factor”, and the suggestion of never reusing the same format twice in a row so as not to fatigue the audience. The triumph. This industrial production manual applied to entertainment worked like a charm: the youtuber brought in 54 million dollars in 2022 alone and surpassed 300 million subscribers in 2024, becoming the first individual channel to reach that number on YouTube. MrBeast himself knows perfectly well that he makes a very imitated model. On the topic declared: “many people copy me every day, but it would be hypocritical to get angry with them”, referring to the fact that his fortune comes from studying previous content that worked. Nobody is blameless. Among his most notable copiers are A4 (Vlad Bumaga), Brent Rivera, Yolo, Morgz. It is copied. In 2023 Ibai Llanos issued the second edition of ‘The Last One Standing’: Ten streamers locked in a square, the one who lasts the longest wins 50,000 euros (in the first edition it was 30,000). Ibai himself made it clear that the format was based directly on MrBeast videos (“it’s great in the United States”). He did it in his own style, of course: he not only published a summary of the event, but it was broadcast live in an eight-hour stream. The relationship between the Spanish-speaking ecosystem and MrBeast had another interesting crossover. In July 2024, Ibai, Rubius, Spreen and Quackity participated in a video by the North American creator with fifty content creators from around the world. The video has more than 447 million viewsalthough the Spanish streamers appeared for just a few seconds. Ibai acknowledged that “Compared to North American YouTubers and streamers, we are insignificant”, That has not prevented the formula from continuing to be replicated on a local scale. The productive infrastructure of Ibai (Kings League, The Evening of the Yearthe Ibainéficos) responds to a similar logic: the event-show as a unit of content and money as a narrative engine. In the case of Ibai, the truth is that the Spanish creator strives to maintain his personality, although most of his formats and approaches would not exist without the precedent of MrBeast. Where are we going? MrBeast seems to sense that the formula has a limit, and there are signs that he is aware of the exhaustion that his own formula generates. In September 2025, the YouTuber himself described one of his most recent videos as “less screaming, slower, more story, more emotion,” and the video surpassed 83 million views in four days. The spectacle continued to predominate (two ex-boyfriends had to remain chained to win a large amount of money), but the feelings and drama were just as high as the substantial prizes. New tiger costume or the same old striped pajamas? In Xataka | Chichén Itzá and the Mayan ruins … Read more

is that we are missing 20 million physical barrels a day and there is nowhere to get them

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The entire planet has been paralyzed in a funnel of salt water just 33 kilometers wide. With the escalation of war in the Middle East, headlines from around the world warn that the price of crude oil has surpassed the psychological barrier of $100registering record increases of 36% in a single week. However, the price is only the fever; the real illness is much more serious. To understand the magnitude of this crisis, we must stop looking at the stock price and start looking at the physical barrels that are missing. Today’s fundamental and structural problem is scarcity: the market is drying up. Overnight, we face the disappearance of some 20 million barrels a day. It is a logistical catastrophe five times greater than the one we experienced in the historic crisis of 1973. The 20 million barrel hole. According to data collected by The Kobeissi Letter and confirmed by Goldman Sachsthis blockade takes about 20 million barrels a day off the board (approximately 20% of world consumption). To put it in perspective, this supply shock is the largest in history and is equivalent to adding, at once, the losses caused by the Iranian Revolution (5.5 million), the Yom Kippur War (4.5 million), the invasion of Kuwait (4.3 million), the Iran-Iraq War (4 million) and the invasion of Ukraine (2 million). We are not facing a reserve crisis, but rather an absolute logistical collapse. As we have explained in Xataka, just open the platform Marine Traffic to see a swarm of some 240 immobilized vessels, including at least 40 supertankers (VLCCs) loaded with two million barrels each. The chaos is not only physical, it is also electronic as there is severe interference in the tracking systems (AIS), showing ghost ships located inland due to signal hacking. The fear of sailing is justified, tanker traffic in Hormuz has fallen by 90% and freight rates for supertankers have skyrocketed by 600%. The domino effect. Unable to take ships out to sea, onshore storage tanks have been filled to the brim. Iraq has been the first major physical victim of this plug. The data of Bloomberg They give the actual measurement of the cap. Iraq has had to plummet its production by 70%, falling from 4.3 to just 1.3 million barrels per day. The shock wave has already reached the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, which have begun to close wells for a very basic reason advance by Financial Times. They have simply run out of physical space to store the crude oil. Given this scenario, OPEC+ promised to inject an additional 206,000 barrels per day. However, analyst John Kemp explains in Financial Times that this is a mirage: almost all of the cartel’s surplus capacity is inside of the Persian Gulf. If the ships cannot leave, that crude oil does not exist for the rest of the world. Nor are alternative pipelines a panacea. Javier Blas, columnist of Bloombergexplains that Saudi Arabia and the Emirates have pipelines to bypass Hormuz to the Red Sea, but a report from Goldman Sachs warns that the actual diversion capacity It is only 0.9 million barrels per day compared to the theoretical 6.5 million. The shortage is already hitting critical sectors. As my colleague Alberto de la Torre warned about an unprecedented crisis in aviation fuel (jet fuel), whose price in Asia reached an anomalous record of $225.44 per barrel. It is estimated that 40% of the jet fuel arriving in Europe passes through Hormuz. Since airports have very small storage tanks, the supply chain is stretched. Airlines such as WizzAir already foresee losses of 50 million euros due to this extra cost alone. Panic has reached governments. According to reports Financial Timesthe finance ministers of the G7 and the International Energy Agency (IEA) are preparing an emergency meeting to release between 300 and 400 million barrels of their joint strategic reserves. It is a desperate measure to stop the global inflationary impact. President Donald Trump, facing US gas stations at $3.45 a gallon, downplayed the blow on his social media, stating that short-term prices are “a very small price to pay for peace and security.” China’s master plan against the US “Donroe Doctrine”. While the West panics, in Beijing there is the calm of someone who has done his homework. The US strategy was to suffocate the cheap crude oil (Iran and Venezuela) that the Chinese industry feeds on, in what some analysts call the “Donroe Doctrine” (the US attempt to control up to 30% of the world’s reserves together with Guyana and Venezuela). But China was anticipated. Last year it spent $10 billion absorbing excess global crude oil, building up strategic reserves for 96 days. Today it has 166 million barrels floating safely off its coasts. In addition, it has triggered the purchase of Russian and Saudi crude oil, and has accelerated its true national shield: the electrical transition. With a 50% market share in electric vehicles and 430 renewable gigawatts installed in one year, Beijing demonstrates that, unlike a ship in Hormuz, sunlight cannot be blocked by the US Fifth Fleet. ANDThe ghost of 1973. Comparisons with the 1973 Arab oil embargo are inevitable but misleading. In ’73, the cut was 4.5 million barrels; Today the hole is 20 million. The economic damage suffered by the world was seven times greater than the value of the missing oil, all because of the collective panic that paralyzed investment and consumption. Today, however, the physical scenario is so extreme that the structural blow is guaranteedWhether there is panic or not. The only current advantage is that the United States is today the largest producer in the world and its economy depends much less on crude oil than it did 50 years ago, which gives it a certain shield. The tyranny of geography. If the ships do not sail, signatures like S&P Global Energy They predict a brutal “demand destruction”: unaffordable prices that will force the world to forcibly stop consuming crude oil. In the … Read more

Spain is preparing a data center specifically designed to have AI for war. The surprise: it is in Soria

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More than two thousand years ago, on the hill of Numanciaits inhabitants preferred to resist to the end rather than surrender to the siege of the legions of Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus. That story of defiance against a superior enemy has remained engraved in Soria’s memory as a symbol of resistance. Now, a few kilometers from that place, in the Valcorba industrial estate, the Ministry of Defense wants to build another kind of fortress: a data center named Numant-IA, where defense will no longer be measured in walls or swords, but in servers, algorithms and artificial intelligence. A unique project. While we live a technological-military schism in the USSpain accelerates in a project that precisely combines both sections. The Government has launched Numant-IA, a data center with a notable investment and totally dedicated to offering computing for AI. Here there are, yes, two notes that stand out. The full name of the project will be the Center for Advanced Defense Technological Capabilities, and its investment is part of the Annual Contracting Plan of the Ministry of Defense (Pacdef) from 2026. It includes 7,868 proposals and 156 framework agreements with a combined value of 10,102 million euros. Soria, new technological capital. The data center announced by the Government last September and that already it was outlined months before, it will have its headquarters in Soria. The project will take advantage of a space provided by the Soria City Council and that covers an area of ​​almost four hectares in the Valcorba industrial estate. Lieutenant General José María Millán, director of CESTIC, already warned then that said center will carry out the “incorporation of artificial intelligence systems for the benefit of the Armed Forces.” Military applications. The initial investment, which was 70 million euros, has been increased to almost 130 million euros according to El Heraldo de Soriaand will be assumed by the Ministry of Defense. Its resources will be used for applications that will process classified data in the area of ​​operations and logistics, and military applications will be an integral part of its mission. This project confirms other movements of the Armed Forces such as the development of Gonzalo, that “ChatGPT” for the army which is precisely designed to support this type of tasks safely. Employment and template. About 20 people will be a permanent part of the staff of this center that will operate 24/7 once it is operational. The construction of the data center, the Department of Defense states, will generate “a significant economic and employment impact on the city.” We know when, but we don’t know what. The Ministry of Defense has indicated that the project has a construction period of 24 months, and therefore they hope that it will theoretically be ready by early 2028. What we do not know is what type of infrastructure it will house or what the real capacity of the data center will be. 67.88 million euros will be dedicated to information systems and servers – unspecified, perhaps because they are not yet defined – while construction will be allocated 58.68 million euros and a third item of 1.65 million euros has no specified purpose. Sovereignty and decentralization. Choosing Soria as the location for this data center responds to the decentralization strategy of the Armed Forces. The defense budgets demonstrate this with a distribution of these funds throughout Spain in different projects that try to avoid the danger of excessive centralization of critical centers. The movement also answers to others that we have been seeing for months and that make it clear that in Spain and Europe they are trying to find solutions that allow us to have the highest possible degree of digital sovereignty. Image | Ministry of Defense In Xataka | Spain’s main problem is not weapons, fighters or drones: it is the number of hands it lacks to use them

What the hell is C-RAM, the most “science fiction” system that the US has?

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For some time now, when night comes in the middle of wars or armed conflicts, there are sounds that remain recorded forever. They are not explosions or sirens: it is a mechanical noise that seems to come from another world. In fact, they remember a lot to the metallic roar that Spielberg imagined to announce the arrival of the aliens in War of the Worlds. Only, this time, it’s not cinema. And it’s really happening. The roar that is not forgotten. Occurred two days ago. At night in Baghdad, when the sirens sound and the sky seems calm for a few seconds, there is a sound that cuts through the air like a giant chainsaw. It is not a plane or a conventional explosion: it is the C-RAM going into action. That roar, often described by those who have heard it as an almost unreal metallic roar, is the sound of thousands of projectiles fired in a matter of seconds to destroy rockets, drones or mortars before they fall on a base or an embassy. Just a few days ago it was heard again at the American embassy in Baghdad, when a Katyusha rocket attack activated the defensive system. According to Reuterswas an attack by Iraqi militias aligned with Iran. The sirens sounded, the gun got started and one of the projectiles was destroyed in mid-flight before reaching the diplomatic complex. The result was the same as on many other occasions: no impact inside the venue. But the episode once again reminded us why the sound has become one of the most disturbing in modern warfare. The naval origin. He C-RAM (acronym for Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar) was not originally born to protect cities or embassies, but warships. Its technological heart comes from Phalanx system of the US Navy, developed in the 1970s to shoot down fast-approaching anti-ship missiles. That automatic defense was based on a simple and brutally effective concept: a radar detects the threat, calculates its trajectory and a rotating machine gun automatically opens fire to create a wall of projectiles that destroys the target before it hits. Over time, the Pentagon realized that the same principle could be applied on dry land to protect military bases exposed to attacks with mortars or improvised rockets, a constant threat in conflicts such as Iraq or Afghanistan. Shoot like a storm. The most visible element of the system is its M61 Vulcan cannona gatling gun six-tube capable of firing around 4,500 20-millimeter projectiles per minute. That bestial cadence is precisely the reason its characteristic sound. When the system goes into action, the rotation of the barrels and the continuous firing generate a mechanical roar that is reminiscent of a cross between a chainsaw and a turbine. It is not a simple acoustic effect: the weapon needs to launch a veritable cloud of projectiles to increase the chances of destroying a rocket or mortar in mid-flight. Each shot uses explosive ammunition with programmed self-destruct to prevent projectiles from falling intact on populated areas if they do not reach their target. A technological umbrella. Behind that cannon is actually an entire network of sensors, radars and command systems. The C-RAM is not just a weapon, but an adefensive architecture that combines mortar detection radars, fire control systems and command stations capable of analyzing trajectories in seconds. When a radar detects a rocket or artillery projectile, it calculates its path and determine if it will impact in a protected area. Only then does the system activate the cannon and fire automatically. Within seconds, the weapon tracks the target, corrects its aim and opens fire. This whole process happens so quickly that for those on the ground there is only one sequence: the siren, the metallic roar of the cannon, and an explosion in the sky. The defense of the Green Zone. The system was first deployed years ago in Iraq to protect the called Green Zone of Baghdad, the enclave where the American embassy and much of the Western diplomatic and military infrastructure is located. Since then it has intercepted hundreds of rockets and projectiles launched by insurgent militias. In tests and real operations it has proven to be able to destroy between 70 and 80% of projectiles within its coverage area, making it one of the most effective point defenses in the world. Each unit costs between ten and fifteen million dollars, but its true cost is in the ammunition: each interception can consume tens of thousands of dollars in projectiles. Science fiction of modern warfare. What makes C-RAM so peculiar is not only its effectiveness, but the experience that generates when it comes into action. In a matter of seconds, the sky is filled with tracers that draw lines of fire towards an invisible point while the weapon roars with an almost surreal intensity. To those nearby, the effect is so impressive that many describe it as a scene straight out of a science fiction movie. However, this technological demonstration has a very specific function: to prevent cheap weapons such as improvised rockets or mortars from causing casualties in diplomatic bases and complexes. Announcing the war. Be that as it may, the rocket attack against the embassy American in Baghdad this week has once again recalled the role of this system in current conflicts. Directly framed in the Iran warAlthough one of the rockets was intercepted before falling inside the compound and there were no casualties, the episode confirmed something that American soldiers and diplomats have known for years: when that metallic roar sounds in the night, it means that the defensive shield is working. And also that the war is much closer than it seemed seconds before. Image | United States Air Force In Xataka | Iran’s drones have aimed at the same target as the US. And now that they have pulverized it, they are going to unleash their most dangerous weapon In Xataka | Iran has spent decades excavating its “missile cities.” Satellite images have just … Read more

Spain is betting its future in the semiconductor industry on a single card: gallium chips

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SPARC Foundry is one of the best assets that Spain can cling to to get on a train, that of semiconductors, currently guided with a firm hand by USA, South Korea, Taiwan, China and Japan. This Galician company, however, does not pursue producing silicon chips. In this area, competing with the five powers I just mentioned is essentially impossible. SPARC’s plan involves building a manufacturing factory in the Valadares Technology Park, in Vigo. next generation photonic semiconductors. The interesting thing is that these chips will not be silicon; They will be manufactured using gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP) or gallium nitride (GaN), and will most likely have a leading role in the telecommunications, defense, automotive, consumer electronics, quantum computing or the aerospace industry. Be that as it may, SPARC will not tackle the GIGaNTE project alone. Indra leads it with a 37% stake in SPARC Foundrywhich places the latter group as the majority partner of the company specialized in the production of chips. According to SPARC and Indra, the Vigo semiconductor plant will be operational during the first half of 2027 and will have the capacity to manufacture up to 20,000 wafers per year when it is able to work at full capacity. An interesting note: GIGaNTE, the name of this project, has been designed around the chemical formula of gallium nitride (GaN). Gallium aspires to be the protagonist of the next generation of chips Photonic integrated circuits use photons to process and transmit information. Photons are the elementary particles responsible for forms of electromagnetic radiation, including the manifestation of visible light. They have no mass and are capable of traveling in a vacuum at a constant speed: the speed of light. However, something worth not overlooking is that although we are referring to them as particles, they also manifest as waves, hence the existence of the quantum phenomenon known as ‘wave-particle duality’ to identify the wave nature of light. Although, as we have seen, SPARC will produce photonic chips, the core of its business will revolve around gallium arsenide and gallium nitride. Unlike silicon, They are not elementary semiconductors. And they are not because the latter are characterized by being made up of a single chemical element, while gallium arsenide (GaAs) is composed of gallium (Ga) and arsenic (As), and gallium nitride (GaN) is composed of gallium (Ga) and nitrogen (N). SPARC is going to produce photonic chips and the core of its business will revolve around gallium arsenide and gallium nitride The term semiconductor is appearing many times in this article, so it is a good idea that we review what it is about before moving forward. A semiconductor is an element or compound that, under certain conditions of pressure, temperature, or when exposed to radiation or an electromagnetic field, behaves like a conductor, and, therefore, offers little resistance to the movement of electrical charges. And when it is found in other different conditions it behaves like an insulator. In this last state it offers great resistance to the displacement of electrical charges. In elements with electrical conduction capacity, some of the electrons in their atoms, known as free electrons, can pass from one atom to another when we apply a potential difference at the ends of the conductor. Precisely, this electron displacement capacity is what we know as electric currentand we all know intuitively that metals are good conductors of electricity. Curiously, they are because they have many free electrons that can move from one atom to another and, thus, they manage to transport the electrical charge. Gallium nitride and gallium arsenide are semiconductors, and this implies that under certain circumstances they are capable of transporting electrical charge. When the appropriate conditions exist, the mobility of its electrons is much greater than in semiconductors such as silicon or germanium. And this means that its capacity to transport electrical charge is also superior. Another very interesting property of these compounds is their high saturation rate. It is not necessary for us to delve into this parameter to the point of excessively complicating the article, but it is interesting that we know that it reflects the maximum speed at which electrons can move. through the crystal structure of these compounds. This maximum speed is limited by the dispersion suffered by the electrons during their movement. Gallium arsenide transistors can work at frequencies above 250 GHz This property has very important repercussions. One of them is that gallium arsenide transistors can work at frequencies above 250 GHz, which is a quite impressive figure. In addition, they are relatively immune to overheating and produce less noise in electronic circuits than silicon devices, especially when it is necessary to work at high frequencies. On the other hand, gallium nitride can work at very high voltages and reach extreme temperatures without its performance or stability being compromised. Besides, allows manufacturing compact and efficient transformers Because it dissipates little energy in the form of heat, it will most likely play a fundamental role in the charging infrastructure of electric cars and base stations for 5G communications. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini More information | SPARC Foundry In Xataka | Spain steps on the accelerator in its particular chip race. And it does so with a total commitment to integrated photonics

The almond trees throughout Spain are already in bloom and that is fantastic news for the sector. Or also a disaster

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40 years ago, on January 10, the father of Simplisíssimus told him it would be a bad year for the almond. The reason was simple: when the trees flowered early, the almond embryo was exposed (“weak and sensitive”) to late frosts that could destroy entire crops. Therefore, the good time for flowering was March, he explained. And he must have been right, but in the last 44 years it has been increasingly difficult to prove it. According to an article published by AEMETSince 1981, the flowering of the almond tree has been advancing systematically and documented throughout the country. But it seems that, at least in some areas, this has changed this year. If confirmed, it could be good news. When do almond trees bloom? According to the work of the Autonomous University of Madrid, the Senckenberg Research Institute and AEMETin these 40 years, the median flowering date in the center of the peninsula has moved from February 12 to February 7. Of course, the progress has not been linear: it has accelerated in recent years. At a historical level, the most advanced in recent decades was in 1993 (around January 8). And why should we care? In general terms, because the almond tree is the most extensive woody crop in Spain and, in fact, it is growing: in the last decade the dedicated area has grown by 34%. The almendril madness in the country is such that, well, Spain leads the sector with 765,000 hectares productive. That is, it is an issue that matters to us as a country. So, we’re talking about good news, right? It will depend on how the weather goes from now on and, furthermore, we must not forget that It has not been like this in all places. However, as has been happening lately in the field, it can be (at the same time) good news and bad news. Good because a big harvest would help remove volatility that the almond has had in recent years, because it would help generate rural employment in a year which is expected to be complicated by flooding and will give a break to agricultural insurance. And yet, a good harvest can end up delaying a fundamental debate: that of varieties. The only way the sector has adapt to climate changes is betting on late or hyperlate variants. They are not a magic solution, but it is a solution. The question is whether the global almond giant, up to its eyeballs in debt, will understand that it has to make a move. Image | Tim Mossholder In Xataka | An end of February with 20 ºC, haze and full reservoirs is not “good weather”: it is the sign of a completely misplaced meteorology

In London more and more people lose money when they sell their house. The question is whether it is the canary in Europe’s mine

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Located north of the Thames, Tower Hamlets is one of the districts most emblematic from London. In fact, it covers a large part of the East End, the historic center of the capital. For years (like most of the city) it also represented something else: a juicy market for those who wanted to invest in housing and achieve high returns. Not anymore. In 2025 about 30% Of the owners who got rid of their homes in that neighborhood (mostly apartments) had to do so for less money than they paid at the time. And it’s not just something that happens in Tower Hamlets. What has happened? That in London housing is no longer an infallible business. This is suggested at least by the latest study published by Hamptons, which reveals that in 2025 Londoners were the Britons most likely to lose money from the sale of their properties. Even more than its neighbors in the northeast of the United Kingdom, who have spent years leading the ranking. “Rising London house prices are no longer the safe bet they once seemed,” concludes the report, which is supported by the Property Registry. What do the figures say? that last year 14.8% of people Those who sold their home in London did so for less money than they originally paid. It may seem like a modest percentage, but it is striking for several reasons. To begin with because it is the largest in the entire United Kingdom. The national average is 8.7% and there are British regions where this indicator is much lower, such as Wales (6.2%), East Midlands (6.7%) or West Midlands (6.9%). London has effectively ousted Nort Easth, which had dominated the sales ranking with losses for the last decade. Is Tower Hamlets a unique case? No. Tower Hamlets is the London district where the trend is best appreciated, but is not the only one in which a significant proportion of homeowners (28.2%) have lost money by getting rid of their homes. In the City, 26.2% of sellers closed transactions in “red numbers”, in Kensington & Chelsea 22.4%, in Westminster 22.1% and in Hammersmith & Fulham 20.8%. Curiously, in the cheapest district of London, Barking & Dagenham, only that indicator is much lower: 5.3%. “In some cases, even homeowners who bought a decade ago risk getting back less than they paid, something almost unthinkable in 2015. And for many the sums are small,” the study insists. “In the coming years it is likely that more sellers will have missed out on the price boom that London experienced between 2012 and 2016, as they bought at the peak of the market.” Is there more data? Yes. The Hamptons report raises some interesting ideas. For example, most of the sales with losses (close to 90%) were carried out by apartments. If we talk about houses, the photo is somewhat different. Hamptons technicians recognize that in 2025 the average seller in London pocketed 172,500 pounds more than what they originally paid when purchasing their home, but they insist on the increase in sales at a loss: if in 2019 they represented 5.9%, in 2025 “red” operations already represented 14.8%. Is it the only report? No. Over recent months, more analyzes have been published showing that the London property market is not going through its best moment. There is talk of a price drop of 5.1% at the end of 2025 (which takes the market even further away from the 2022 data) and even from a sluggish prime housing market that will not rise until at least 2028. “In London, the growth of house prices is no longer a safe bet,” he explains to Financial Times Aneisha Beveridge, Hamptons manager. There is studies which show that prices are declining in half of London’s neighborhoods, leaving a “two-speed” market: that of the most expensive (and volatile) areas and the cheapest, which has demonstrated greater resilience. In December Bloomberg warned that homes worth more than two million run the risk of depreciating, losing almost 5% of their value in one year. What is the reason? The big question. When explaining the London trend the analysts they point out several factors. One of the main ones is the regulatory change, marked by the end of discounts to the purchase of housing and a greater penalty for the purchase of second homes and houses as investments. The authorities have also focused on the prime segment, rethinking the status nom-dom for large foreign fortunes and raising local taxes for the most expensive properties. Added to the above is the influence of Brexit, the exorbitant prices that London reached in 2022 or how difficult it is for families to access the market, partly because the cost of rent neutralizes the ability to save. The question that some are already made is whether London is an isolated case or should be understood as a canary in the mine for other European capitals. Image | Benjamin Davies (Unsplash) In Xataka | Housing is getting so expensive that in the United Kingdom there are already people opting for plan B: living on boats

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