missile

We have been avoiding the definitive energy crisis for months. Iran’s missile at Qatar’s largest gas plant threatens to detonate it

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We had been holding our breath for weeks, assuming the logistical tension in the Strait of Hormuz like the new normal. However, the war has crossed an irreversible red line. We have gone from a trade blockade to the physical destruction of the world’s energy engine, and the consequences are already being felt in the global economy. The impact has been immediate. The price of natural gas in Europe (the TTF reference contract) has shot up 35% in a matter of hours, resurrecting the worst ghosts of the Ukrainian crisis of 2022. The magnitude of the disaster is such that Susan Sakmar, a professor at the University of Houston, warns in Bloomberg that this attack could be “a turning point for the LNG sector, similar to the attack against Nord Stream or perhaps even worse”, as it is a sudden interruption with no signs of a short-term solution. The chronological climb. To understand how we got here we have to look at the chain of events of the last 48 hours. The original trigger, as revealed The Wall Street Journalwas an attack by Israel against the South Pars field, the jewel in the crown of the Iranian energy industry, with the aim of suffocating the sources of financing for the Revolutionary Guard. And it is not just any objective. The analyst Joaquín Coronado emphasizes that South Paris (shared with Qatar, where it is called North Dome) is the largest natural gas field in the world, hosting 10% of global reserves. 70% of Iranian domestic consumption gas comes from there and generates 80% of the Qatari State’s income. A withering response from Tehran. As pointed out Financial TimesIran launched ballistic missiles against the giant Ras Laffan industrial complex in Qatar, the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in the world and home to key infrastructure such as Shell’s Pearl GTL plant. State-owned company QatarEnergy confirmed “extensive damage” and fires at its facilities. Panic spread throughout the Persian Gulf. According to Reutersthe Iranian Revolutionary Guard issued public evacuation orders, declaring vital energy facilities in Saudi Arabia (such as the Samref refinery and the Jubail complex), the United Arab Emirates (the Al Hosn gas field) and Qatar as “legitimate targets.” Shortly afterward, Riyadh intercepted missiles aimed at the Saudi capital. The market has felt the blow. Oil prices have gone crazy. As detailed oil price, a barrel of Brent surpassing the barrier of 110-113 dollars, which represents an increase of almost 60% in this month of March. However, the real problem goes beyond the daily price. Martin Senior, of Argus Media, warns of a “new level of impact”. It is no longer just about the logistical closure of the Strait of Hormuz (through which 20% of the world’s oil passes); The problem is that the time to repair these destroyed facilities could last much longer than the war itself. And the worst omens already have figures. As has revealed exclusively in Reuters CEO of QatarEnergy, the Iranian attack has knocked out 17% of the country’s LNG capacity for a period that could last up to five years. The domino effect. This situation is taking third countries on their way. As explained CrownedIraq has suddenly lost 3,100 megawatts of electricity due to the Iranian supply cut, while Türkiye will be forced to compete fiercely for emergency LNG shipments. In Europe, the panic is evident: the bulletin Europe Express of the Financial Times reveals that war has blown up the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, where debate on how to improve competitiveness has been completely overshadowed by fear of energy bills and domestic pressure on the emissions trading system. Geopolitics to the limit. Diplomacy appears broken and America’s allies are losing patience. According to the Wall Street JournalArab governments are “furious” because they feel that the US and Israel strategy has put a target on their backs. For its part, Al Jazeera includes the statements of the Saudi Foreign MinisterPrince Faisal bin Farhan, who has warned Iran that the Gulf’s patience “is not unlimited” and they reserve the right to take military action. Qatar, for its part, has expelled the Iranian diplomats, giving them 24 hours to leave the country. In the midst of this chaos, Washington’s role is erratic. President Donald Trump went to social media to deny prior knowledge of the Israeli attack on South Paris. However, how to collect WSJ, Trump issued an ultimatum to Tehran: if it attacks Qatar again, the US will “massively blow up the entire” Iranian oilfield. Faced with rising prices, the White House is seeking desperate measures. The column of Javier Blas in Bloomberg reveals a controversial plan of the US Treasury: to intervene directly in the financial markets by betting on the downside (shorting) in oil futures to artificially make gasoline cheaper before the elections. An idea that experts such as the CEO of CME Group describe as a “biblical disaster” that would destroy confidence in the free market. The peripheral context. To get the full picture, you have to look beyond the explosions. Verisk Maplecroft Analyst warn in Reuters that the greatest danger right now is that the attacks will extend to Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline or to Red Sea ports. These were the only viable alternative routes to avoid the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil normally transits. In an attempt to cushion the blow domestically, the Trump administration has temporarily suspended the century-old Jones Act (Jones Act) for 60 days, allowing foreign-flagged ships to transport oil and gas between US ports to reduce costs. The dead end. The panorama is bleak. As they reflect on Five Daysthe apparent lightness with which this conflict has developed has dragged us into a dead end. Iran has shown that it does not need to win a conventional war; It is enough for him to set the energetic heart of the planet on fire. Even if a ceasefire were signed tomorrow and ships sailed freely through the Strait of … Read more

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.

Iran has spent decades excavating its “missile cities.” Satellite images have just revealed that they are a death trap

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For years, Iran has shown the world tunnel videos endless tunnels dug under mountains, with military trucks circulating between missiles lined up as if they were cars in an underground subway. It was understood that many of these facilities extend kilometers underground and are part of one of the military fortification programs. most ambitious in the Middle East. What almost no one knew until now is to what extent this gigantic hidden labyrinth could become a key piece of the current conflict. The cities, but with missiles. Yes, for decades, Iran has excavated an extensive underground base network known as “missile cities”, complexes hidden under mountains and hills intended to protect its enormous ballistic arsenal against air attacks and guarantee the regime’s retaliation capacity even in the event of open war. There are numerous videos Officials released in recent years where we could see long tunnels illuminated by artificial lights, windowless corridors and convoys of trucks loaded with missiles ready to move to the surface, an entire military architecture designed to hide thousands of short and medium range projectiles away from spy satellites and enemy bombers. Some installations even incorporate silos dug into the rock or mechanical systems on rails to move missiles within underground galleries, a perfectly assembled choreography reflecting a strategic project conceived to ensure arsenal survival Iranian in a protracted conflict. The images that reveal the paradox. However, the war has begun to show the unexpected reverse of that strategy. Recent images from space have revealed Smoldering remains of destroyed launchers and missiles near the entrances to several underground complexes, a sign that systems hidden underground are becoming extremely vulnerable at the moment when they must go outside to shoot. It makes sense. American and Israeli surveillance planes, armed drones and fighters They patrol constantly over the areas where these facilities are located, observing the entrances to the tunnels and attacking the launchers as soon as they appear on nearby roads or canyons. In other words, what for years was a system designed to hide mobile weapons It thus becomes a relatively predictable pattern: tunnel entrances, exit roads and deployment areas that can be monitored from the air and destroyed as soon as activity is detected. From strategic refuge to death trap. They remembered in the wall street journal A few hours ago this change has revealed a structural problem in the very concept of missile cities. Underground complexes are very difficult to destroy from the air, but they are also fixed installations whose location is known by Western intelligence services. In practice, this means that much of the arsenal remains stored in specific places while enemy planes continually fly over the airspace, waiting for the moment when the launchers come out to act. Many military analysts summarize the dilemma in a simple way: What was previously a mobile and difficult to locate system is now concentrated in fixed points, which facilitates its surveillance and reduces its capacity for surprise. Commercial satellite images themselves show destroyed launchers As soon as they left the mouths of the tunnels, fires were caused by leaked fuel and access to facilities bombed with heavy ammunition. Missile base north of Tabriz in Iran. The image on the left belongs to February 23, the one on the right from March 1 after the first attacks The air offensive against underground infrastructure. As the first week of war approaches, the military campaign has begun to focus increasingly on these infrastructures. They told Reuters that the first phase of the attacks focused on destroying visible launchers and surface systems capable of firing at Israel or US bases in the region, while the second stage aims straight to the bunkers and buried warehouses where missiles and equipment are stored. Israeli aviation, with American support, has attacked hundreds of positions and has managed to drastically reduce the number of launches, while an almost constant air offensive that hits targets continues. both in Iran and Lebanon during the same missions. The stated objective is to progressively degrade Iran’s ability to launch ballistic missiles and drones until it is completely neutralized. Missile base north of Kermanshah in Iran. The image on the left belongs to February 28, on the right it belongs to March 3 A gigantic arsenal underground. The actual scope of these facilities remains difficult to determine. There are military estimates that place the Iranian arsenal before the war between about 2,500 and up to 6,000 missilesstored in different facilities throughout the country, many of them excavated under mountains or in remote areas of the territory. Despite the attacks, Iran has managed to launch more than 500 missiles against Israel, US bases and targets in the Gulf since the start of the conflict, although many have been intercepted and the pace of salvos has decreased rapidly. That drop suggests that attacks on launchers and storage centers are beginning to erode the country’s ability to respond. The strategic dilemma. The result is a strategic paradox that is just beginning to become visible. Missile cities were designed to protect the core of Iranian military power and ensure its ability to retaliate, but in a scenario where the enemy dominate the air and watch constantly the entrances to these complexes can become choke points for the arsenal itself. Iran has spent decades excavating these underground bases with the intention of making its missiles invisible. But satellite images of the war are showing something very different: that this labyrinth of tunnels, designed as a shelter, can become one of its greatest vulnerabilities when the launchers are forced to surface under the look constant flow of planes, drones and satellites. Image | X, Planet Labs In Xataka | We had seen everything in Ukraine, but this is new: neither drones nor missiles, bulldozers have reached the front In Xataka | You’ve probably never heard of urea. The missiles in Iran are destroying their production, and that will affect your food

The US is launching a missile capable of burying the Tomahawk on Iran. And the big question is where are you doing it from?

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The image of an American precision strike has been linked to silhouettes taking off from the sea or from the air. However, in recent years the Army has invested billions in recovering a capability that seemed secondary: hitting very, very far… from the mainland. In that bet may lie one of the greatest transformations of modern military power. A debut that changes theater. USA has premiered in combat the so-called Precision Strike Missileits new tactical ballistic missile, within the operation against Iran. It is not a minor evolution of the former ATACMSit is rather a leap in scope and concept. With more than 500 kilometers radius (and room to grow towards 650 and even 1,000) practically doubles the depth of ground fire available until now. As in many other “premieres”, it is not symbolic, it is doctrinal. A missile to bury the Tomahawk. The PrSM flies at speeds greater than Mach 3 in the terminal phase, allowing it to arrive earlier and better penetrate hardened targets. Forehead to Tomahawkslower and subsonic, the new system greatly reduces the enemy’s reaction time and complicates interception. Additionally, two missiles fit in a single HIMARS launcher pod, meaning that double the punch per vehicle. Of course, it does not replace the Tomahawk in strategic range, but in regional scenarios it can be left in the background due to speed, survivability and response capacity against time-sensitive targets. A PrSM capsule seen in front of a US Army M142 during an exercise in Australia. The M142 carries a 227 mm rocket with six projectiles. The Persian Gulf as a platform. At this point, geography explains a good part of the movement. The Gulf has a medium width of just 250 kilometerswith American allies aligned on the western bank and Iran occupying the eastern one. With a range of 500 kilometers, a land battery located anywhere on the Arab side can cover wide swathes from Iranian territory without the need to penetrate its airspace. That makes the missile a perfect tool to support an air campaign without exposing fighters or depending exclusively on ships. A test launch of a PrSM The key question: from where? The most decisive fact remains unknown. No has been confirmed Which Gulf country has authorized the use of its soil to launch these missiles. This mystery is not technical, it is rather political. The reason? Allowing a US land battery to fire on Iran automatically makes that territory in possible objective of retaliation. Many States in the region have historically preferred discreetly support to Washington while avoiding public exposure. Put another way, the exact location of the launch determines what capital takes on the direct risk. Hunting sensitive targets. Short-range ballistic missiles are especially effective against radars, mobile launchers and air defense nodes. Plus: they can be maintained on permanent alert and strike within minutes when a target arises. In a conflict where neutralizing anti-aircraft systems is key to sustaining air superiority, the PrSM provides a ground suppression capability which until now relied heavily on aviation and naval missiles. Beyond Iran. If you also want the premiere of the PrSM send a signal to other scenarios, especially the Pacific. Its planned evolution includes anti-ship versions capable of attacking moving targets and variants with greater range that will touch the threshold of medium-range missiles. It we have counted before. The US Army wants regain prominence in long-range warfare, traditionally dominated by the Air Force and Navy. Iran, in that sense, has been the first real test bed. Cost, volume and future. It is the “but” of any ballistic missile. Each projectile can exceed a million and a half dollars, although the price has been dropping as production increases. The goal is to reach up to 400 units annuallywhich will expand the available inventory and facilitate its sustained use. With future versions that could exceed the 1,000 kilometers rangethe PrSM does not seem just a substitute for the ATACMS. It is the first stone of a terrestrial architecture that seeks to project deep power from solid ground. What is really at stake. In short, the real twist is not that the United States has launched a new missile in a war, but that it has from the ground and against Iran. If he Tomahawk has symbolized precision warfare from the sea, the PrSM aims to represent the return of the tactical ballistic missile as a flexible instrument of regional pressure. And while it is not known with certainty from what ground ally is taking off, the political dimension of that launch will continue to be as relevant as the technical one. Image | CENTCOM, Australian Army, US Army In Xataka | If the question is how much of Europe is within range of Iran’s missiles, the answer is simple: a fairly large In Xataka | The arrival of the B-2s to Iran can only mean one thing: the search for the greatest threat to the United States has begun

Civilian ships that can be converted into missile launchers

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For decades, large freighters have been the most recognizable symbol of globalization, platforms designed to move goods and not much else. In recent years, however, some images are beginning to suggest that this separation between civil transport and military capacity is no longer as clear as it seemed. Photographs are circulating of a merchant ship modified in an unusual way, with containers that do not seem intended for consumer goods. Images come from Weibothe equivalent of X in China. They show a medium-sized freighter that does not respond to a standard configuration, with containers placed in an unusual way and equipment visible on deck. There is no official confirmation about the vessel or the exact time the photographs were taken. The entire analysis is based, therefore, on what can be directly observed in these images. Sensors and defense on deck. On the freighter you can see containers used as supports to install equipment, As Newsweek points out. On the front there is a rotating phased-array radar placed on three containers, and on the opposite side there is a second installation covered by a dome, attributable to communications or another sensor. Also noteworthy is the presence of visible self-defense elements in the bow, such as a point defense system and decoy launchers, which reinforces the idea of ​​a setup designed to operate exposed. Beyond the sensors, the element that completely redefines the ship is the presence of vertical launchers integrated into containers. There are several modules installed in a regular arrangement, five wide by three deep, and each with four launch tubes. On paper, that adds up to a total of 60 vertical cells. How far does what we know go? Beyond what is visible, the practical scope of this configuration is unknown. The robustness of the mounts, the possible coverage limitations due to the ship’s own superstructure and the absence of information on an integrated combat system limit any conclusion. Just because something can be physically installed does not mean that it can be used effectively in an operational environment. Click to see the original publication in X A sign within a broader modernization. These images fit with a context in which China has been expanding and diversifying its military capabilities in multiple ways. In aviation, it has officially incorporated the J-20Sthe two-seat variant of the J-20 with drone control capabilities, and prototypes attributed to the programs have appeared J-36 and J-50. In the naval field, the commission of the Fujian aircraft carrier (Type 003)the advance of the Type 055 destroyers and the appearance of new amphibious classes such as the Type 076 They draw a coherent background. None of this makes the freighter a definitive test of strategy, but it helps to understand why such a solution is not foreign to the general direction that Beijing follows. The unknowns surrounding this freighter remain open and will probably not be resolved in the short term. Regardless of whether it is an experiment, a model or something more advanced, these images put a concrete possibility on the table: that civil platforms can be adapted to concentrate launch capacity and operate with their own sensors. Images | Screenshot Weibo and X In Xataka | Satellite images have revealed that China has gathered its most important aircraft carriers. And that can only mean one thing

Google’s secret weapon against CUDA dominance is called TorchTPU. And it’s an NVIDIA waterline missile

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Google has launched an internal initiative called “TorchTPU” with a singular goal: to make their TPUs fully compatible with PyTorch. For the not so initiated, we translate it: what Google intends is to destroy once and for all the monopoly and absolute control that NVIDIA has with CUDA. Why is it important. NVIDIA has become the first company in the world by market capitalization for two big reasons. The first, for its AI GPUs. And the second, much more important, for CUDAthe software platform that is used by all AI developers and that has an important peculiarity: it only works on chips from NVIDIA itself. So if you want to work in AI with the latest of the latest, you have to jump through hoops… until now. What happens with Google and its TPUs. Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) were until now optimized for Jax, Google’s own platform that was similar to CUDA in its objective. However, the majority of the industry uses PyTorch, which has been optimized for years thanks to the aforementioned CUDA. That creates a barrier to entry for other chipmakers, which face a huge bottleneck in attracting customers. Goal is in the garlic. Anonymous sources close to the project indicate in Reuters that to achieve its goal and accelerate the process Google has partnered with Meta. This is especially striking because it was Meta who originally created PyTorch. Mark Zuckerberg’s company has ended up being just as much a slave to NVIDIA as its rivals, and is very interested in Google’s TPUs offering a viable alternative to reduce its own infrastructure costs. Google as a potential AI chip giant. The company led by Sundar Pichai has made an important change of direction with its TPUs, which were previously reserved exclusively for it. Since 2022, the Google Cloud division has taken control of their sale, and has turned them into a fundamental revenue driver because they are no longer only used by Google: Tell Anthropic. A spokesperson for this division has not commented specifically on the project, but confirmed to Reuters that this type of initiative would provide customers with the ability to choose. All against NVIDIA. This alliance is the last attempt to put an end to that great ace in NVIDIA’s sleeve. In these months we have seen how companies like Huawei prepare your own alternative ecosystem to CUDAbut they also participate in a joint effort of several Chinese AI companies for the same purpose. Hardware matters, software matters more. CUDA has become such a critical component for NVIDIA that if other semiconductor manufacturers have not been able to compete with it, it is not because of their chips, but because they cannot support CUDA natively. We have a great example in AMDwhich has exceptional AI GPUs. In fact, they are superior to NVIDIA in certain sections, but their software is not as powerful. In Xataka | Google’s TPUs are the first big sign that NVIDIA’s empire is faltering

China had a tank more typical of science fiction. Now he has added a hypersonic missile in a video that attacks Japan

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China presented in August to the world a family of vehicles that broke with the classic logic of armored warfare: the Type 100 hybrid tank and its support vehicles ZBD-100. With barely 40 tons, these armored vehicles mix the lightness of a rapid deployment tank with an electronic architecture capable of converting them into nodes of a system hyperconnected combat. Now it has presented something more disturbing: a hypersonic missile aimed at a target. The Type 100 as a symbol. The robotic turret of the armored vehicles presented, their optical and laser sensors distributed throughout the hull and the fusion of data with drones and external radars give them a situational awareness which surpasses that of many Western cars. China does not seek to reproduce the heavy paradigm of the Abrams or the Leopard, but get ahead of him: Prioritizes sensors over armor, information on raw power, mobility over mass and active survivability against direct fire. His GL-6 system active protection, based on AESA radars that monitor an entire hemisphere, represents this new philosophy: in a battlefield saturated by drones, mines and loitering missiles, armor is no longer measured in centimeters of steel, but in milliseconds of electronic reaction. And more. The autonomy of its attack modules, the use of loads capable of imitating the power of the Abrams despite the smaller caliber and the incorporation of kamikaze drones from the support vehicles point to an ecosystem expressly conceived for contemporary war. He Type 100 also shows the Chinese commitment to lighter platforms that can operate in mountains, rice fields or coastlines, with less demanding logistics and easier to deploy near Taiwan or in possible points of friction with India. Overall, this armored vehicle reflects a theoretical break: China is betting on complete computerization of land combat and the massive use of distributed systems that share data in real time, something that can be decisive if it can be reliably integrated into doctrine and training. Type 100 The leap: low-cost hypersonics. Now, private company Lingkong Tianxing’s announcement that it is already mass manufacturing YKJ-1000 hypersonic missiles at a cost equivalent to 10% of a conventional missile It represents a profound alteration of the military balance in the Asia-Pacific. The fact that a private actor has entered into the systematic production of Mach 5-7 weapons points an industrial transition important: China is moving the frontier of war innovation outside of state monopolies, accelerating technological cycles and reducing prices to levels unthinkable for equivalent programs in the United States, where long-range hypersonics around 40 million dollars per unit. A clear threat. The YKJ-1000 not only stands out for its speed and its range of up to 1,300 kilometers, enough to cover the entirety of Japan from northern China, but also for its architecture autonomy-oriented: detection, target selection, defense evasion and evasive maneuvers in mid-flight. Its ability to travel inside standard shipping containers makes it a weapon hidden deploymentdispersible and easily moved by road or ship, adding strategic uncertainty in any crisis scenario. Plus: the images that close the promotional video (several missiles flying towards targets in Japan) constitute an unmistakable message in the midst of increasing regional tensions. The promise of a future version with integrated artificial intelligence anticipates a generation of cheap, extremely fast missiles designed to overwhelm or deceive defensesgenerating a new family of threats that could multiply in numbers that current anti-aircraft systems are simply not prepared to absorb. Frame from the missile video Japan, Taiwan and an escalation. The appearance of the YKJ-1000 comes at a time when relations between China and Japan are going through its most delicate phase in a decade. The statements of the new Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, hinting at a military response if Taiwan were attacked, have been interpreted in Beijing as a strategic shift of enormous significance. It we have counted: China has responded with travel advisories, flight cancellations and a public campaign suggesting Tokyo is getting dangerously close. to a red line. For Japan, China’s accelerated militarization is not an abstract phenomenon: it is a direct challenge to its sea routes, its energy security and its commitment to deterrence in the Taiwan Strait. For China, on the other hand, Japan is an actor that can decisively influence the American presence in the region. An intimidating missile. In this context, the massive deployment of the YKJ-1000 (capable of reaching bases in Okinawa, Kyushu or Hokkaido in minutes) takes on a obvious political component: It is a weapon designed both to operate and to intimidate. Furthermore, the mobile container system complicates pre-detection, while the multiplication of low-cost hypersonic platforms increases the pressure on Tokyo to reinforce anti-missile systems which, even in their most advanced configuration, were designed for slower, more predictable threats. He result is a spiral in which Japan accelerates its rearmament, the United States reinforces its air and naval presence and China responds by further expanding its panoply of both conventional and hypersonic missiles. Armored and missiles in it ship. What makes these developments more than isolated advances is their internal coherence. So much the Type 100 as the YKJ-1000 They reflect the same emerging doctrine: war based on saturation, speed, autonomy and distributed networks. The tank is not just a vehicle, it is a sensory node capable of sharing data with drones, radars and aerial platforms. And the hypersonic missile is not just a projectile, it is a mobile, cheap and difficult to intercept weapon designed to exploit vulnerabilities in complex systems. China is incorporating into its planning the idea that future conflicts will be decided by the ability to integrate sensors, automate decisions, and generate waves of simultaneous threats that outpace the adversary’s response. An island in the background. Thus, in a hypothetical attack on Taiwan, or in a limited confrontation with Japan, this synergy could allow China to combine computerized ground forces with hypersonic attacks of saturation intended to degrade enemy defenses, air bases and command nodes in the first minutes of the crisis. An explosive … Read more

Russia’s biggest threat in Ukraine is not a drone or a missile. It is a film agency with 30 secret floors

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That the war in Ukraine has become the largest drone laboratory combat power on the planet is beyond any doubt. In fact, both Russia like, to a greater extent, Ukraine, have elevated these devices to configure a war industry unprecedented that places machines as the army of the future of any conflict. What was not so well known was where most of Ukraine’s drones came from. Origin and metamorphosis. What started three years ago as a location and props agency in basements and garages has mutated into a war industry on an almost industrial scale: Fire Point, whose owner and executives come from from the world of cinema and the construction of outdoor furniture, has gone from assembling drones with commercial parts to producing, according to its executives, hundreds of propelled and long-range munitions from at least thirty secret locations scattered throughout Ukraine. But there is much more, because the company has grown so much that it has currently consolidated itself with contracts for around billion dollars in a single year. A transit that reflects the rapid professionalization and commercialization of initiatives born out of patriotism and urgency in February 2022, when improvised underground workshops became an effective (although precarious and fragmentary) response to a large-scale invasion. Production, design and employment. Fire Point products, such as your FP-1 droneare simple machines in materials (polystyrene, plywood, plastics, and carbon fiber from cycling) but assembled with a logic of volume production: rocket-assisted takeoff, two-stroke engine, range measured in hundreds of kilometers and warheads of more than fifty kilos in some designs. Its catalog also includes the promising Flamingo missilea larger device, with a jet engine and a theoretical autonomy and load that, if confirmed at scale, could reconfigure the Ukrainian capacity to hit deep targets. The Ukrainian industrial philosophy here is clear: cheap, disposable, massive. Efficiency does not require reprocessing or longevity, only that some specimens cross the defense networks and fulfill their unique mission. An FP-1 Military strategy and effects. The proliferation of these munitions has allowed Ukraine to sustain a systematic campaign against energy infrastructure Russian companies (refineries and logistics nodes) seeking not only a tactical effect but also strategic pressure and leverage in eventual negotiations. In fact, the multiplicity of manufacturers domestic forces and technical adaptability have forced Russia to face a daily erosion of its apparent air immunity, forcing it to reallocate defensive resources and contemplate low-cost warfare as a decisive vector. Transparency and control. Fire Point’s meteoric rise has not been free of shadows: Public complaints and audits point out opaque awards, absence of mandatory price negotiations, questions about initial technical quality and the possible involvement of actors linked to the media and business environment close to power. In fact, the National Anti-Corruption Agency has inspected links with figures associated with the presidential circle and there are parliamentary calls to investigate pricesspecifications and the destination of multimillion-dollar benefits. Despite this, the public narrative combines suspicion and exaltation: national heroes and strategic businessmen who have shored up the defensive capacity, while activists and analysts demand more controls and transparency in war contracts. Industrialization and ecosystem. The phenomenon is not an isolated case but the center of an industrial revolution: Thousands of companies, hundreds focused on long-range drones and dozens competing for contracts, attract foreign funds, partners and joint venture projects. State agencies charter incentiveswhile international funds (such as the recent Norwegian-Ukrainian vehicle) show that the ecosystem is beginning to professionalize and seek commercial and technological legitimation beyond the emergency. For European and North American defense, Ukraine now offers a unique experience in unmanned missions and rapid design, which arouses interest both military as industrial. Ethical dilemmas. There is no doubt, the balance raises dilemmas: the domestic war economy reduces dependence on allied donations and scales offensive capacity, but it raises questions on democratic control, accountability and the risk that lucrative war businesses are perpetuated beyond strategic necessity. Plus: the proliferation of cheap and massive systems exacerbates the asymmetric nature of the conflict and poses risks of escalation and diffuse responsibility for selective objectives and collateral damage. Perspectives. In sum, the Fire Point history summarizes the Ukrainian phenomenon: industrial creativity (in many cases, they have no other choice) converted into a strategic muscle, an industry that emerged from volunteering transformed into key actor of the military apparatusbut also in focus of controversy due to its speed, its margins and the opacity typical of a country at war. The future challenge is twofold: to consolidate technological and productive capabilities that continue to perform in combat, and at the same time insert this thriving sector into frameworks of governance and transparency that prevent war efficiency from evolving towards economies of corruption or political capture. How Ukraine resolves this binomial will define whether its revolution dronistics It remains a collective merit or becomes an institutional burden. Image | xMezha In Xataka | They call it Skyfall, Burevestnik, or flying Chernobyl. The problem is not the name, it is what Russia’s latest missile does In Xataka | The war in Ukraine was a drone war. Now it is a war of drones that are not actually combat drones

An AIM-9X missile cost a million dollars to tear down a Russian drone. Ukraine has found the solution for 2,000 dollars

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For Moscow, the Shahed drones They have been a cheap and scalable resource to wear out the Ukrainian defenses, first thrown into small batches and later in waves at greater heightoutside the reach of machine guns and cannons. For kyiv, the challenge has been not only to neutralize those swarms, but do it Without ruined: Each Shahed forced to shoot missile prices missiles, a long -term ruinous equation. This cost asymmetry forced Ukraine to accelerate innovation giving rise to a new air defense paradigm. The birth of something new. In the heavens of Ukraine an unexpected weapon has emerged against the incessant waves of Russian drones: the low cost interceptors Designed in Kyiv. Among them stand out The stinga projectile quadcopter capable of exceeding 315 km/hyred to destroy shaheds and gerberas in flight. Its tiny silhouette and acute sound contrast with the great traditional anti -aircraft systems, and their initial success (with hundreds of enemy drones demolished in a few months) demonstrates that it is possible to neutralize mass threats with fast and cheap solutions. Companies Like Wild Hornetsin collaboration with the Brave1 government platformThey have turned accelerated innovation into the country’s aerial survival axis. The cost war. The great challenge is not just technician, but economic. A Shahed drone costs $ 35,000, while The AIM-9Xused by systems Like Nasams To tear them down, it exceeds million per unit. This imbalance placed Ukraine already its allies in a clear financial disadvantage: each interception was tens of times more expensive than the Russian attack itself. The stinghowever, costs just $ 2,100 and acts as a suicide drone when impacting directly against the objective. The difference is abysmal: by the price of a single AIM-9x they can be manufactured Almost five hundred stinga proportion that explains why Kyiv considers its massive deployment vital to resist bombings of up to 800 drones in a single night. Accelerated innovation. The Ukrainian advantage does not only reside in the unit cost, but in the Radaptation apidity. Each new model responds to the last Russian tactic, either Shaheds to greater altitude, more numerous swarms or reaction versions. Engineers have gone from cannons and machine guns on land interceptors capable of operating partially autonomouslyand even experiences with totally automatic systems that detect, pursue and destroy without direct human intervention. This daily iteration capacity, fueled by the Front feedback, has turned Ukraine into a War laboratory unprecedented aerial. Europe and the lesson. The recent incursion of 21 Russian drones in Poland forced F-35 to deploy that used missiles of very high value to demolish just four devices. The episode has triggered European interest in Ukrainian solutions, which offer A “Drones Wall” much cheaper and scalable than any traditional system. German companies and other countries already Test interceptors Inspired by kyiv, aware that their current defenses are not prepared for cheap and massive waves. For Europe, the lesson is clear: the aerial defense of the future cannot be based on shooting millions from millions against objectives of a few thousand. New paradigm. The irruption of interceptors Like Sting It reflects a paradigm shift. What was previously resolved with very expensive static and arsenal systems now requires flexible, economical and serial solutions. Ukraine, pressured by the urgency of surviving, has made its way Towards a model in which the cost, speed and constant innovation weigh as much as pure technology. If you get displayed Thousands of daily interceptorsnot only will it reinforce its immediate defense, but it will have seated the foundations of a new military approach that will force NATO to rethink their strategy and to abandon the logic of the “Millonada” worn in each missile in front of an enemy that bets on the saturation and wear. Image | Wild Hornets/Telegram In Xataka | In a crucial Ukraine agreement he has given the US his best weapon. In return he has received something unpublished: a map to knock Russia In Xataka | Something has gone out wrong in Ukraine. So much, that the drone war has reached the most unexpected place: Türkiye

Openai has just launched a missile to Amazon’s flotation line

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Until now, when you were looking to buy an online product, you did Looking for it on Google, in Amazonor directly in the store of those products. In Openai they want to radically change that shopping experience so you don’t have to do any of that. It will be enough to ask Chatgpt to look for the product … and buy it. And that can change many things. What happened. OpenAI has announced The creation of an option called “Instant Checkout” (“instant payment”) that will allow users to purchase individual products directly through electronic commerce platforms. Etsy and Shopify, the first. This feature will be initially available for purchases in ETSY stores in the US, and soon for more than one million sellers than They use the Shopify platform. They can take advantage of the users of the free plans, Plus and Pro de Chatgpt, and OpenAi hopes to expand this program to more platforms and other countries in the future. Direct attack on Amazon. The new option raises a potential change in the way we bought things. Amazon has become that “Everything Store” (“Store for everything”) to which we go to all kinds of purchases. However, here we have an existential threat, because AI promises to help us with purchases by selecting the best products and prices without having to do practically anything (except confirming the purchase). The alliance with Shopify – each time widespread— It is another clear blow to Amazon’s business model, but the threat is triple. Not only search and can do it outside Amazon … Affiliates. But also every time you buy something with Instant Checkout in Chatgpt, OpenAi takes a commission. The price does not change for the buyer, but the seller (in this case, Etsy or Shopify) pays an Openai commission for convincing the user to make that purchase in that trade. The same goes for Google, whose search engine was also nourished by commissions by recommending products in their sponsored results. Conflict of interest. But with this type of option, the chatbot becomes no longer only an assistant who wants to help you solve doubts, but will also be an interesting recommendation of products. It is not clear how chatgpt chooses the products that it recommends, but it seems logical to think that there will be a system similar to Google or Amazon in which stores and shops can position their products to favor the recommendations. At the moment those responsible for OpenAI indicate That the products that they recommend comes from an “organic and sponsorship search, classified only based on their relevance to the user”. The process, once again, could be distorted, and would win who invests more in marketing and positioning to make their products “look more.” Stock bags. The reaction in the American bags makes clear what has been the reception of this characteristic: ETSY’s actions rose 16%, while Shopify – which does not yet have this option although it will do it soon – they rose 6%. For both platforms this option represents a potential push for sales and income, and AI can become its best ally to reduce the traditional dependence of Google or Amazon users to choose which products buy and buy them … And incidentally, agricultural protocol. Openai also stressed that to offer this characteristic they have developed their Agentic Commerce Protocola component that will allow more stores and developers to create new integrations. The protocol has been developed in collaboration with Stripe, and is available with a license Open Source (Apache 2.0) with its code In Github. Can you trust chatgpt to buy? Taking into account that chatbots They continue to make mistakes and hallucinatetrusting purchases to an AI model can generate doubts. Will it succeed with the purchase process? Will you really ask for what you want to ask for? Here it is true that the answer is much more deterministic, because Chatgpt has a catalog of products defined among which to search. In addition, the AI ​​model depends totally on the decision and action of the user: it is he who must click on “buy”, confirm the order and details, and complete that purchase integrated in the chatbot session. Here Chatgpt is a purchase assistant who tries to simplify the process, but of course in something as sensitive as purchases – with our money at stake – OpenAi can have serious problems if the process ends up having failures. In Xataka | Sending this 320 dollar goal from Japan to Spain costs $ 29. Sending it to the US costs 2,000, and it is not a typographic error

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