missiles

Ukraine has returned from the US with two bad news, and the least of it is the Tomahawk missiles

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Last Friday it was supposed to take place a nuclear meeting for the future of war in ukraine. However, what happened in the White House ended up being less a diplomatic exercise than a scene of head-on collision: a president demanding territorial capitulation from an invaded country, a president refusing to give up what he still defends under fire, and a third absent actor marking the remote script of what Trump repeated with a literality that blurred any pretense of mediation. Concessions and threats. He had exclusive the financial times that Trump discarded the maps of the front, repeated that the war was not such but a “special operation” in Putin’s words, and urged Zelensky to accept the loss of Donetsk and the entire Donbas as the price of peace, warning that “If Putin wants, he will destroy you.” The conversation degeneratedapparently in shouts and ultimatum language, with the Ukrainian delegation attempting achieve Tomahawks (denied) while listening to arguments identical to those from Moscow put forward one day before to Trump himself. The American president even verbalized in public, already on Air Force One, the solution of freezing the war “where the lines are,” leaving negotiations on territory “for later.” The Russian proposal. Putin, in his previous call, demanded total surrender of Donetsk (a military objective that Moscow has failed to achieve in eleven years of combined war) offering as a counterpart only parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia that it currently controls precariously. For Ukraine, surrender the eastern bastion without combat (key to containing a penetration towards the Dnieper and kyiv) it is unacceptable because it would be equivalent to dynamiting the strategic defense of the entire country and, in psychological and political terms, to legitimizing a violent annexation project active since 2014. Trump and the European reading. trump had hinted Weeks ago that Ukraine could recover “everything and more,” and that Russia was a “paper tiger,” he now maintains that Moscow “has gained property” and should be given some credit. The literal echo of Putin’s points in Trump’s words dissipated among allies the hope of reopening the arms route and revealed that the matrix of the negotiation that Washington is pushing is no longer symmetrical but asymmetrical: downward pressure on the invaded and assumption of the invader’s premise. Russian internal calculation. For Ukrainian analysts, Donetsk’s demand does not so much seek to maximize territorial gain as to induce a sociopolitical fracture within Ukraine: forcing the leadership to consider what society will not tolerate to open an axis of internal delegitimization. Putin, in fact, already knows the social impossibility of barter, and that is why he insists: the desired cost is the erosion of cohesion rather than the line on the map. The Ukrainian position. Zelenskiy confirmed after the meeting that I would agree to freeze the front in its current location as a condition for entering talks, but stressed that there will not be additional delivery of territory. Considers that any negotiation must start with an immediate cessation on the line of contact, not with prior territorial modifications in favor of the aggressor. Trump’s public statements and the prospect of a Trump-Putin meeting in Budapest They do not alter that principle: without prior freezing and without forced concession, there is no viable dialogue. Tactical horizon. Ukraine enters winter under massive attacks on your energy infrastructure while responding by hitting Russian refineries. The lack of long range missiles from Washington after the call with Putin limits its capacity for deep counter-escalation just when Moscow is looking for time, social fatigue and diplomatic fracture. kyiv, in the absence of immediate alternatives, indicates that a ceasefire on current lines would be acceptable as a table key, but not the surrender of Donetsk as an entry passport. Peace on demand. If you will, the scheme that has emerged from this sequence (Putin-Trump call, Trump-Zelensky meeting, territorial barter proposal and appeal to the “agreement” freezing positions) places Ukraine before a conditional peace that recognizes the violence of annexation as a fait accompli and requires the invaded to formalize it. The ukrainian reaction (freeze, negotiate, but not give in) is the last dam between an end to the fire and an end to the State in the political-strategic sense. The meeting did not bring closer an equitable end to the war: it clarified the type of end that certain architecture is willing to accept, even if it does not say it out loud. Image | Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, NARA In Xataka | The factories of deep America have reopened. And they all make the same “toy”: an army of combat drones In Xataka | The crazy number of drones has turned the Ukrainian sky into the M-30 at rush hour. Identifying the enemy is a danger

has bought more missiles from the US in just two years than in the entire last century

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For months, Washington made Spain his example of disobedience within NATO. Trump came to threaten with punishment trade due to the “low” military spending, while Brussels and La Moncloa they defended their own pace of investment and warned that public accounts could not sustain an uncontrolled escalation. But behind that diplomatic struggle and there was something more to the reproaches exchanged. A “bill” that belittles both, and that reveals a very different story about how far Spain went to appease its most powerful ally. The tariff threat. It all started with an angry warning from the White House: Donald Trump, irritated for the rejection of Pedro Sánchez to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, publicly stated “punish” Spain with tariffs. The threat, which occurred after a summit with Javier Milei in Washington, marked a new level of political pressure on a historic ally. The American president accused Madrid of “taking advantage” of NATO protection without contributing enough and, in a mix of bravado and electoral calculation, he hinted that he could turn the budget dispute into a commercial front. Behind the rhetoric there was an intention deeper: force Europe to finance the containment of Russia with its own resources and, in the process, prop up the military industry United States. The answer. Neither the European Commission nor the Spanish Government took long to respond. Brussels remembered that trade policy is the exclusive competence of the Union and that any attempt to penalize a Member State would have consequences. Madrid, for its part, took pains to emphasize that its military spending had grown more than double in just seven years (from 0.98% of GDP in 2017 to 2% in 2025) and that the debate was not about spending more as a slogan, but about doing it with a strategic sense and within the real capabilities of the country. At the same time, Spain insisted that it contributes to collective deterrence and that its budget increase, although more gradual than that desired by Washington, is part of a structural modernization of its Armed Forces. However, between the lines, the tension reflected something further: the fear that North American demands would end up conditioning the industrial and technological orientation of European defense. The silent turn. And neither one thing nor the other. The diary El País has published figures that confirm what until recently was just intuition: Spain has purchased more American weapons in the last two years than in almost a century. Between 2023 and 2024, the Spanish Government ordered military material for more than 4,500 millions of euros to the United States, a quarter of everything acquired since 1950. The contracts include Patriot systems, MH-60R helicopters and auxiliary equipment that represents the largest volume of expenditure with a single supplier in the recent history of Spanish defense. According to the DSCA (Defense Security Cooperation Agency), sales to Spain reached 2,907 million of dollars in 2024 and 1,682 million the previous year. In other words: while Washington was publicly denouncing the lack of commitment, Madrid was carrying out one of the largest purchasing operations in its history, channeling billions into the US military industry. The geopolitical context. The rebound coincides with the new cycle of European rearmament after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the same one has shot the military budgets of all of NATO. In this context, Spain has accelerated the modernization of its forces with additional spending of 10,471 million of euros in 2025, advancing the goal of 2% of GDP by four years. To finance it, the Executive has resorted to zero interest loans, industrial modernization programs and R&D items, a financial framework that allows keep spending without reform general budgets. However, this expansion has a reverse: the strengthening of technological dependence on the United States, which is consolidating itself as the main supplier of critical systems and reducing the room for maneuver to advance European strategic autonomy. Budget pragmatism. If you also want, the contrast between the Trump threats and the flow contract record with American companies illustrates the balance that Spain has tried to maintain: resisting the public discourse of punishment while, in practice, meeting Washington’s strategic demands and covering its own operational shortcomings. The result could not be more paradoxical. In the eyes of NATO, Madrid meets faster than expected, and in the eyes of its European partners, it risks weakening efforts to consolidate a common industrial base. The movement also redefines the bilateral relationship with Washington, which goes from rhetoric of reproach to the pragmatism of the transaction: while the North American president shows political muscleyour industry reaps the benefits. A lesson. The truth is that the history of these two years reveals how defense decisions, beyond percentages and headlines, are a geopolitical currency. Spain has demonstrated the ability to respond to external pressures without breaking its internal narrative, but the long-term cost (dependency, industrial coherence and technological autonomy) has yet to be measured. Thus, in essence, the question is once again the same as always: whether Europe can rearm itself without falling back into the old pattern of industrial subordination that for decades fueled the transatlantic divide. Spain, with its purchasing record to the American “friend” and his sovereignty speechembodies that contradiction today: that of a continent that seeks independence, but keep buying their safety on the other side of the Atlantic. Image | Kelly Michaels, BORN In Xataka | The US no longer has to worry about Spain or the rearmament bill in Europe. Germany had a plan B In Xataka | Spain committed to investing 2% of GDP in Defense but is not looking for soldiers: it needs 96,000 qualified employees

The US studied what would happen if it enters war with China. Now he has started a career desperate to double missiles

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When China raised the curtain of your military parade staged much more than arms power which has. It was a clear and direct message that had its reaction a few days later, when the United States moved its new platform from missiles to Japan. It was then discovered that, if missiles, there are 3,500 pointing In the same direction. Since then, the United States has started a desperate race: to double its own missile manufacturing for what may happen. The strategic awakening. I told it in an exclusive The Wall Street Journal. The Pentagon has turned on all alarms in the face of the evidence that its missile arsenals would not reach to sustain a prolonged conflict With China. Russian Ukraine invasion and mass consumption of interceptors In Europe the fragility of the American industrial base had already made clear. However, He counted the medium What was the twelve between Israel and Iran, in which Washington launched Hundreds of high -end missiles to support their ally, which finished emptying the deposits and precipitated a shock plan. The message that circulates in the pentagon’s offices is clear: the current arsenal is not enough to defend Taiwan or the allied bases in the Pacific if a direct confrontation with Beijing explodes. The new creation. To face that reality, the Department of Defense has created an extraordinary body, the Munits Acceleration Councilpersonally directed by Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg, who calls the main executives of the industry every week to demand immediate increases. The strategy seeks to duplicate, and even quadruplethe production of the twelve missiles considered critical: from the Patriot interceptorsto him Standard Missile-6the Long Range Anti-Ship Missilesthe Precision Strike and the Joint Air-Surface Standoff Missiles. The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegesh, and the Chief of the General Staff, General Dan Caine, They have presided Meetings with giants such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon or Boeing, but also with new actors such as Anduril Industries and with key component suppliers, from solid propellants to batteries. The destroyer of guided missiles USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) of the United States Navy launches an RIM-174 Standard Eram (Standard Missile-6, SM-6) The industrial bottleneck. The challenge is monumental. The complete manufacture of a missile can take up to two years. The production lines have cooled after decades of divestment, secondary suppliers have disappeared and critical pieces such as Boeing front search engines have become true bottlenecks. Expanding shifts, add square meters and form specialized personnel require billions of investment and firm purchase commitments. As Experts remembercompanies do not produce without contract: they need guarantees that the pentagon will not withdraw financing in the middle of the effort. Even so, some suppliers have taken steps in advance. Northrop Grumman, for example, has invested More than 1 billion in expanding its rocket engines capacity, with the expectation of doubling production in four years. Patriot Priority: Patriot. The most urgent case is the Patriot PAC-3whose global demand has shot himself. In September, the army gave Lockheed a contract of almost 10,000 million of dollars to manufacture 2,000 missiles in three years, but the objective of the pentagon is to reach that same figure Every twelve monthswhich means quadruple the current rhythm. To do this, Boeing has been seen forced to expand Thousands of square meters of its plant to assemble more search engines, while Lockheed studies new investments in assembly lines. The spokesmen insist that they can deliver above their declared capacity, but all claim more money and multiannual commitments that give stability to the productive jump. Precision Strike Missile New acquisition model. The pressure is such that The army announces “Massively substantive changes” in the way of buying weapons. Formulas such as licenseing technologies to third parties are explored, attract private capital or guarantee registration programs to give demand visibility to the entire supply chain. Trump administration already It allocated 25,000 million extra in five years through Big, Beautiful Billbut analysts agree that it will be necessary to multiply For several orders that figure to meet the objectives. The effort, in addition, is part of a greater debate: how to maintain an industrial base capable of sustaining high intensity wars in a world where arsenals are consumed in weeks. Background: China. The ultimate reason for this acceleration is the perspective of a War in the Pacific. A confrontation By Taiwan I would demand simultaneously American and Allied Bases, guarantee maritime runners and face a Chinese Navy increasingly equipped with hypersonic missiles and drons swarms. American superiority will depend not only on the quality of its systems, but on their ability to replace them quickly in case of prolonged conflict. Pentagon fears Discover too late that does not have the necessary volume to hold the pulse. Hence the race against clock to turn the industry into a large -scale war arsenal. The risk of the gap. The acceleration effort reveals the structural contradiction of the West: weapons every time more sophisticated and faces which are consumed at an industrial rate, in front of adversaries willing to flood the battlefield with solutions of low cost and mass production. In that sense, Ukraine’s lesson seems clear: millions of millions of dollars They can be exhausted In a matter of months, and rebuild reserves it has been. If the United States wants to maintain its deterrence against China, it must demonstrate that it can sustain not only technological innovation, but also the mass production on which the survival of its network of alliances depends. Image | Lockheed Martin, Mapn, Us Navy In Xataka | Satellite images have revealed that China has turned its oriental coast into a war zone: 3,500 missiles point to Taiwan In Xataka | After the demonstration of China’s force, the US moves a card sending its new missile platform to Japan

3,500 missiles point to Taiwan

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In the month of July he gave himself A situation which could pass perfectly through the stage of the filming of an action movie. In the early hours of a Monday, the stations of one meter began to fill, but instead of passengers loaded with wallets and suitcases, military, soldiers and more soldiers armed with anti -tanks. The place gave us an idea that this was not a movie, it was a simulation for what can happen: Taiwan. In fact, that possibility seems closer than ever from space. A huge display. I told this week The New York Times. Satellite images show that China is transforming its coast against Taiwan into a vast missile launch platform that constitutes the cornerstone of Xi Jinping strategy to force reunification and, at the same time, challenge US military power in Asia. He Pentagon estimates that the arsenal of the missile force, responsible for nuclear and conventional vectors, has increased by 50% in just four years until reaching about 3,500 units. Although the exact number of missiles located directly in front of the Strait is not known, the images leave no doubt: expanded bases, with tens of additional launch ramps and new facilities in key provinces such as Anhui or Jiangxi. New generation missiles. Among the displayed systems are the Dongfeng-17a hypersonic missile with great maneuvering capacity and difficult to interceptand the Dongfeng-26, known as The “Guam Express” due to its reach to US bases in the Pacific. These missiles can carry both conventional and nuclear heads and are transportable by road, which increases their mobility and complicates their tracking by enemy intelligence. The pentagon calculates that Beijing already has half a thousand df-26which makes this weapon a pillar of its strategy of denial of access against US forces in Guam, Japan or aircraft carrier deployed in the region. Exercises, deployments and messages. Practices on the Oriental China Coast They include simulated releases From agricultural fields, hidden or esplanade valleys next to highwayswhich demonstrates an effort to integrate missiles into the field in a flexible and dispersed way. The Times told that maneuvers have a double function: operational preparation and political signal. For Taiwan, the message is that resisting would be useless before an overwhelming arsenal; For Washington, that intervening would be too expensive. It is not, therefore, only military capacity: missiles They are the starting point of any Chinese coercion strategy and, in peace times, function as an instrument of intimidation through parades, tests and public exhibitions, such as The recent in Beijing in which missiles were Hypersonic and new ICBM. Expansion of Brigades 611 and 616. Brigade 611, in Anhui, ha Duplicate its size With training facilities, simulated tunnels and up to three dozen launch ramps, an unusually dense concentration that underlines the importance of the enclave. There, Xi Jinping It appeared Personally in 2024 to encourage troops to maintain a “crisis and combat mentality.” Further south, in Jiangxi, Brigade 616 is He has prepared To receive to DF-17with Adapted hangars to the dimensions of the new hypersonic missile. These deployments show how the Chinese oriental coast becomes a network of offensive nodes designed to saturate Taiwanese defenses and threaten United States facilities in minutes. Nuclear dimension and risks. The DF-26 Encarna the strategic ambiguity of Beijin, being able to equip yourself indistinctly With nuclear eyelets or conventional. Although American satellites could detect the transfer of nuclear heads from central deposits to these brigades, experts warn that the process It is not infallible And leave a very dangerous margin of uncertainty. A conflict around Taiwan would have, from the first moment, a Latent nuclear dimension. This ambiguity increases the risk of calculation errors and rapid climbing, especially if Washington decides to attack mobile pitchers in Chinese continental territory, which would mean a serious political and military decision. Drills and objectives. The Desert construction West of China of models of US warships and warships, some mounted on rails To simulate movement, confirms that Chinese missiles are not prepared only for static scenarios on land, but also to beat the US Navy In open sea. Chinese military plans plan to disperse mobile pitchers in caves and camouflaged locations, shoot and retreat, in a wear set to saturate and exhaust enemy antimisile defenses. Recent studies They conclude that the US air bases in Asia, many without sufficient reinforced shelters could be devastated in the first bars of a contest. Limits and vulnerabilities. The brilliant increase in capacities has not been exempt from problems. Scandals of corruption and purges internal have splashed to the missile force, and the Pentagon reports They alert that the quality of some nuclear infrastructure could be compromised. In addition, despite advances in radars and satellites, doubts persist about the efficacy of missiles in real combat conditions, especially against moving ships, where tactical uncertainty is much greater than against fixed objectives on land. The missile as a nucleus of power. If you want also, the accumulation of thousands of missiles on the coast Oriental reflects the conviction of Xi Jinping that the future of the Taiwanese issue goes through the coercion and threat of force use. That so -called as missile strength It is, in words of analyststhe “Crown Jewel” of the Popular Liberation Army: an instrument that expands the Chinese projection to the entire Western Pacific complicates any calculation of US intervention and places Taiwan under constant pressure. The “but” is that, the same strategy that seeks to ensure success, also contains the risk of a calculation error by precipitating a escalation nuclear unprecedented from the Cold War. Image | Maxar Technologies, Nara In Xataka | Taiwan has had an idea if Beijing invades her: surprise China underground In Xataka | While China debate about Taiwan, Europe does not waste time. Its greatest port has left a hole for war

In 1980 Europe manufactured 700 aircraft to fumigate crops. Now they carry guided air-air missiles to “fumigate” Russian drones

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After more than three years since the Russian invasion in Ukraine, the war has transformed many of the conceptions that had modern battles. We do not speak just about technological advanceswhere The drones and the AI They have become fundamental pieces that the rest of the powers will apply to their defenses, but also from that artillery mixture of the past where The ingenuity (Due to lack of resources) it has been equally key. The latestfarm planes. Another improvised defense. Yes, Ukraine has incorporated a new piece into its arsenal of improvised solutions against drones: an agricultural plane ZLIN Z-137 AGRO TURBO MODIFIED To carry missiles Aire-Aire R-73one under each wing. This apparatus, normally used for crop fumigation, retains its civil aircraft silhouette, but It has been repainted With a military gray scheme and white stripes in the rear fuselage to reduce the risk of friendly fire. The video which shows its flush flight over a Ukrainian cornless does not require date or place, but confirms that the country continues to take advantage of resources available to reinforce its air defense. Designed in Czechoslovakia as a turboproproproprobous evolution of the Z-37 čmelák, the Z-137 entered into service in the 1980s and were manufactured More than 700 unitswidely used in the eastern block. The exact amount that could be available for Ukraine is uncertain, as well as the operational state of this armed specimen. The R-73 missile and its role in hybrid systems. He R-73called AA-11 Archer by NATO, is a short-range missile with high maneuverability infrared search engine and ability to hook whites up to 75 ° outside the front axle with the help of hull viewers. His Maximum range It is about 30 km against front and 14 km targets against whites in pursuit. Ukraine has reused him in multiple improvised platforms known Like Frankensamincluding land systems such as The serioushawkvehicles Osa antiacera Modified and Naval Drones Be dragon. The integration in the Z-137 seems to use APU-73, although no external sensors are observed, which suggests that the pilot would have to maneuver to place the objective within the field of vision of the missile, or that the installation of a flir system for day and night operations is contemplated. The connection of the plane to the National Surveillance Network, with radars, observers and acoustic sensors, would allow to receive Radio or Digital Link data For interception. Additional loads and future adaptations. In addition to missiles, the device shows cylindrical deposits or containers In internal supports whose function is not clear. They could be remains of their agricultural function, supplementary fuel tanks, weapons pods or auxiliary equipment. Its structure could adapt to other missiles already delivered to Ukraine, such as British Asraam, Sidewinder Americans or even AIM-9X latest generation. This versatility makes it a test bench to integrate weapons into platforms not originally designed for air combat, maintaining a low cost and a quick deployment. Tactical function and limitations. A plane of this type, although much slower than a hunt or an attack helicopter, could serve as “air picket” In specific areas, patrolling sectors where drone activity is foreseen and reacting to low -cost incursions for the enemy. Its limited speed reduces the ability to intercept multiple objectives at a great distance, but in delimited areas its presence It could be decisive. Operations of this type would be complemented with other media, from mobile equipment with machine guns and spotlights to complexes Patriot systemsusing each resource according to the threat detected. Strategic context and value in the wear war. Plus: the adaptation of Z-137 reflects the constant pressure that Ukraine suffers to defend against a high volume of Russian drones, especially The Shahedand the need to allocate the most advanced anti -aircraft systems to threats of greater entity. Faced with the shortage of modern batteries, these improvised solutions serve as a containment force, maintaining a balance between cost and effectiveness. The ability to build civil platforms with military missiles demonstrates a high degree of operational and technical flexibility, and emphasizes that in a prolonged war the war Inventiveness and speed of adaptation can be as decisive as technological sophistication. International precedents and parallels. Finally, we must remember that the use of agricultural aircraft for military functions is not exclusive to Ukraine. The United States Air Force recently introduced The OA-1K Skyraider IIa militarized version of Air Tractor at-802although with a different role and even in definition. Both in this case and in the Z-137 Ukrainianthe central idea is to take advantage of simple and resistant platforms as armament vectors, something that Russia has also tested with rudimentary solutions such as fixed weapons under slow aircraft wings. A trend that reflects A global pattern: In a scenario where drone threats proliferate, even aircraft designed for agricultural tasks can become armed hunters. Image | X, VITALY V. KUZMIN In Xataka | Russia has had an idea to make your kamikaze drones more lethal: launch them on Ukraine at 500 km/h In Xataka | Russia’s most advanced nuclear submarine was a secret. Until Ukraine has revealed everything, even his failures

Europe has perfected missiles for decades. His new weapon is designed to sacrifice before touching the ground

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Europe has been betting on precision missiles. He Taurushe Meteor or the Aster 30 They are a good example of this: expensive systemscomplex and refined to the millimeter, designed to get it. But the war has changed. It is no longer enough to have better missiles In it Aeronautical Hall of Paris, MBDA has presented Your answer. It is not a drone to show off, nor a weapon for surgical missions. The One Way Effector does not return, does not shoot: it is made to fall. And in that act, fulfill your mission. His role is to saturate. Fly in mass, force reactions, shoot alerts. Overwhelm the enemy based on volume. It does not seek to go unnoticed. Seeks to force you to react The One Way Effector does not fit at all in the best known categories. It is not a cruise missile, although it travels hundreds of kilometers. It is not a recognition drone, because is not designed to return. It is an disposable aerial ammunition, propelled by a small turbophah, whose mission is one: wear defenses. The approach reminds of the Shahed-136 Iranian that have redefined the Ukrainian front: Waves of cheap ammunition against very expensive interceptors. But MBDA has taken the idea one step further: greater speed, greater difficulty of interception and an explosive load would be enough to not be able to ignore it. Because that is logic. If the drone impacts, he has fulfilled. And if they demolish it, also: the enemy has had to spend a missile, activate a radar or turn on an alarm. The system is designed to operate in Salvas. We do not talk about one or two drones, but of tens thrown simultaneously from the ground or from the back of a vehicle. Each unit Follow your route via GPS guidancewithout the need for communication between them or coordination algorithms. They move in a group, enough to saturate the enemy response. Conceptual image of the One Way Effector It reaches speeds close to 400 km/Hy transports a 36 kg eye, equivalent to that of an artillery projectile of 155 millimeters. Has an estimated scope of 500 kilometers And a cost that MBDA describes as “a fraction of a cruise missile.” It is not stealthy, nor does it intend: its effectiveness happens to be visible, for forcing the enemy to act. If no one reacts, the drone arrives. And if someone does, it is exposed. The idea is that each defensive shot destined to demolish a position. Each lost interceptor reduces the response capacity. That is the game. The One Way Effector is not an experiment or an exotic prototype. MBDA wanted it to be, from the first day, a chain manufacturing product. To achieve this, he has signed an alliance with the French automobile sector that allows you to produce even 1,000 units per month. A Taurus missile To climb that production, the design has been simplified to the extreme. Body of compound material, commercial pieces, modular construction. No terminal guidance sensors or technologies difficult to maintain. His great asset is the volume. This does not mean that Europe is renouncing its precision arsenal. On the contrary: One Way Effector does not replace Taurus or the meteor or Aster 30. Is designed to accompany themto open their way. Taurus is a cruise missile that travels hundreds of kilometers and seeks to penetrate defensive layers with precision. The meteor dominates the Aire-Aire combat with its reach of more than 100 kilometers and its ability to correct real-time trajectory. Aster 30 protects airspace as part of a high efficiency antimisile system. But there is a common point: all are scarce and extremely expensive. Each launch is a strategic decision. The One Way Effector, on the other hand, is intended for the opposite: to be launched without hesitation. If the deadlines are met, the first test flight It will take place between October and November, and Production will start in 2027 With the first operational units. Images | MBDA | Saab In Xataka | Russia recalled a threat that appears in the war between Iran and Israel: the possibility of a nuclear disaster

Israel is not only attacking Iran with missiles. He also just steal 90 million dollars in cryptocurrencies

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It is not much less cryptocurrency theft more large in historybut those 90 million dollars are especially significant for whom they are involved and why. Those involved They are Israel and Iran. And why, unfortunately, The war that they maintain both nations. Israel hacking to Iran. The war between Israel and Iran is intensified, and does not only New and striking tactics On the battlefield. It also does it through cyber warmen. A group called Gonjeshke Darande, (predatory sparrow, in a translation from the Persian) Hackeo has been attributed of the Iranian market of Cryptodivisas Nobitex. Possible link to Israel. There is no definitive evidence of a direct link between the Government of Israel and this grip hacker, Sophos experts indicate. Rafe Pilling, Director of Intelligence of Threats in that firm, explained that the cyber attack had all the characteristics of an attack supported by a government. 90? Millions of dollars. The Hacker Group has achieved according to The Guardian steal 90 million dollars, although the page of the Wikipedia Persian edition It indicates that the robbery amounted to 3.76 billion rials, about 47 million dollars, although that money may be stolen from one of the two troonscan wallets destination From Gonjeshke Darende they have also threatened to publish both the company’s internea information and the source code of its cryptodivsis purchase platform. The final amount is not entirely clear, and According to Cointegraph It is exceeding 81.7 million dollars. Cold purses, safe. The attack, They support Nobitexhas allowed to steal the cryptocurrencies of the “hot” purses of the platform, used to facilitate daily transactions. He has not affected cold, safer purses. Nubitex blocked access to the platform as soon as they and those responsible say that “all damages will be compensated through the insurance fund.” In a later message They have revealed that the impact of the attack is “more complex than it was initially estimated.” And above, Internet cuts. From Nobitex they explain that their capacity to respond to cyber attack has also been affected by the cuts in the country’s internet infrastructure, “together with limited access to the facilities due to the current national crisis.” They hope to recover and restore their services in the next 4 or 5 days, but in the meantime the platform is still unable to be accessed. A hacking with political motivation.Yehor Rudytsia, security researcher at the Hacken firm, said in Cintelegraph how this cyber attack is more “a political statement than a robbery with economic motivation.” In fact, according to The Guardian the hackers have “burned” those funds storing them in custom addresses (“Vanity Addresses“) that they do not have a known private password or possibility of recovering. For example, a purse such as” 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Transferring cryptocurrencies to this type of addresses is actually destroying them voluntarily by leaving them blocked forever. The hackers have used directions with variations of the term “Jo *** Osterrorists”. Image | Wikipedia | Art Rachen In Xataka | Iran and Israel are starting another war in the background: that of the false images created with AI

All their missiles, fighters and bombs need a mineral that China has vetoed them

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The news took place in April. So, the Chinese government He formalized his answer To tariffs approved by the United States adding to its list of export restrictions a series of metals that went unnoticed for the general public. However, when the United States and Europe have been made numbers To replenish their arsenal sent to Ukraine and the East, they have encountered a problem of difficult solution. Them A component is missing essential. And only China has it. The mastery of the samario. Yes, China has exposed a critical vulnerability in the Western Military Supply chain by imposing severe controls to export Samarioa strange metal for the manufacture of heat -resistant magnets used exclusively in military applications. These magnets, fundamental in components As missile engines, smart bombs and combat fighters, they are irreplaceable due to their ability to withstand extreme temperatures without losing magnetic strength. Since China produces the entire samarium of the world, and has stopped its export under a new licensing system claiming national security motifs, the United States and its European allies now face the real possibility of Not being able to replenish Its advanced armament reserves, especially and as we said, after its intensive deployment in Ukraine and East. Announced dependence. Had the New York Times That the agency of China is not new: since the 70s, the Western Armed Forces trusted a French plant that closed in 1994, unable to compete with the cheap and environmentally lax production of the Chinese city of Baotou, in the interior Mongolia. Despite decades of dispersed warnings and efforts, such as Mine reopening From Mountain Pass in California after the Chinese embargo on Japan in 2010, the United States never developed a viable production of samarium. Leaf, reactivated in 2014broke the following year for Chinese competition. MP Materials, its new owner, relaunched operations in 2018 and received pentagon funds to process samarium, but never installed The necessary equipment for lack of customers willing to cover high costs of the reduced market. Meanwhile, another project backed with federal funds (a Lynas plant in Texas) was never built after regulatory problems In Malaysia. The lost link. And here comes one of the keys to understanding the “problem” of these nations. The largest samarium user in the United States is … Lockheed Martinwhich uses around 23 kg for each F-35 plane. The new Chinese regulations not only stop the direct flow of samarium, but also requires based licenses In the final consumerwhich blocks indirect exports to military contractors. Although China has granted permits for certain magnets destined for the automotive industry (such as those used by disposses or terbio in brakes and addresses) has not given signs of releasing Samario’s supply, given its limited civil application. This hardening coincides with Chinese sanctions to US contractors linked to Weapons sales to Taiwanwhich reinforces the use of samario as a geopolitical pressure tool. An X-35A JSF performing flight tests at the Edwards Air Base in California Other critical applications. A few weeks ago Japan Times summed up Very well what rare metals consisted of and how they influenced the different industries. The seven metals restricted by China (Terbio, Itrio, Disposio, Gadolinio, Luthacio, Samario and Scandio) fulfill crucial functions in both civil and military industries, from the generation of clean energy to the advanced defense. The Terbiofor example, it provides thermal resistance to the magnets used in submarines and aircraft, but it is one of the most scarce elements even within the rare earth deposits themselves. The ititriumvital in treatments against cancer and superconductors, it has historically been extracted in the United States but must still be processed abroad. Disposioresistant to heat and key in the energy transition, is essential for magazine turbine and electric cars magnets, and also for nuclear reactor control bars. The majority of the supply of these three metals goes to Japan, South Korea and, to a lesser extent, to the United States. The nuclear spectrum. For its part, The gadolinio It is widely used in magnetic resonances due to its magnetic properties, but also appears in nuclear reactors and electronic components. The Luthaciodenser than other elements of this list, acts as a catalyst in oil refineries, while the samario, as we said, protagonist in recent blockages, forms magnets that resist extreme temperatures and that are essential in combat planes, turbines and advanced guide systems. Finally, The Scandioof marginal production for half a century, it has applications in military aviation, bicycles and tracers to detect leaks in pipelines, thanks to its resistance and radioactive properties. As We have counted other times, the lack of infrastructure to separate and process these materials in the United States or Europe aggravates their structural dependence on China, which already supplies More than 90% of American imports. Asterisk. Interestingly, China has not included in this round to the neodymium and the praseodimiumtwo of the rare metals most used in the manufacture of permanent magnet motors, essential for electric vehicles and wind turbines. These two elements are still produced in the Mountain Pass mine, in California. Even so, American production barely reaches a fraction of global demand, and China’s dependence is still critical. A strategic urgency. In short, in a context in which the United States and its allies try to accelerate the replacement of reduced arsenals and ensure deterrence, The bottleneck From the samario he highlights the risks of having subcontracted for decades the strategic inputs to China. The commercial conversations In London they seek to reactivate the flow of these metals, but the expectations that Beijing reversed their new licensing system are rather scarce. Meanwhile, the United States and Pentagon face the dilemma of how to reconstitute a national supply chain for an essential resource whose production, for its cost and limited scale, has proven to be commercially unfeasible No sustained subsidies and long -term political commitment. The samario, invisible to the general public, thus becomes a symbol of a new era of technological and military rivalry, where industrial sovereignty is again a … Read more

Now we know why North Korea has never left Ukraine. Send missiles to Russia has made it a power

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For a while nobody has heard more about North Korean troops In the Ukraine War. However, the nation has never left the conflict in Eastern Europe. In fact, now it has been known The scope of the collaboration between Moscow and Pyongyang. While North Korean missiles arrived in Russia, another package of measures and artillery has been transforming the military capacity of North Korea. A war and its missiles. I told yesterday The Guardian. A prepared report For the UN sanctions multilateral group of the UN, it has revealed that Russia is using North Korean armamentincluding ballistic missiles and heavy artillery, to intensify their attacks against Ukrainian cities and destroying critical civil infrastructure. According to this consisting team by 11 countries (Among them the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and several EU nations), the Kim Jong-un regime has sent Moscow More than 20,000 containers With ammunition since September 2023, equivalent to some nine million projectiles of artillery and rockets. This massive arms supply, a VIOLATION OF RESOLUTIONS The UN Security Council has allowed Russia to hold and intensify its long -distance bombing campaign, especially in urban areas such as Kyiv and Zaporiyia. From Korea to Russia. The revelation arrives shortly after Kim and Putin signed An association treaty Comprehensive strategic in the summer of 2024. The same compromises both powers to Attend mutually If one of them is attacked. This pact formalizes a military alliance that already It had been brewing de facto through the systematic exchange of armament, technology and military personnel. The transfer of weapons It is not limited To projectiles: North Korea has supplied Russia Balistic missilesLong -range multiple launches, self -propelled cannons and other advanced ammunition, sent by sea, air and rail. Military Renaissance. For decades, North Korea dragged a chronicle inability to modernize His army. Isolated by international sanctions, devastated by natural disasters and impoverished by its own autarkic policy, Pyongyang maintained an oxidized military apparatus, with Soviet technology from the mid -twentieth century and insufficient resources to update it. However, and as explained this week The New York TimesRussian invasion to Ukraine has offered Kim Jong-un an unexpected opportunity: a military power needy ammunition, soldiers and conventional material. In exchange for supplying those millions of projectiles and thousands of troops, Kim has received from Moscow Fuel, food, technological assistance and a flow of weapons, components and knowledge that have completely transformed the North Korean military industry. Expanding arsenal. Thanks to this tacit exchange pact, North Korea has multiplied its capacity Armamentistic HE They have identified Modernized tanks with electronic war systems, attack drones led by artificial intelligence, advanced anti-aircraft systems, air-air missiles and naval destroyers equipped with supersonic cruise missiles. Ha also Test missiles Antiacera under the direct supervision of Kim, who has intensified his visits to ammunition factories and military facilities. He kamikaze drones trial With self -destruction capacity, directed by AI, it has been one of the most striking acquisitions, reducing the South Korea gap in the field of conventional weapons. These improvements reflect a Russian technological transfer that would have been unthinkable in the recent past. Troops, experience and diplomacy. Kim has not only exported ammunition. I remembered the Times that has also sent up to 15,000 soldiers North Koreans to the Russian Front, mainly in the Kursk region. Although Moscow initially hid his presence, in the end he recognized his participation as “significant”. For the North Korean regime, this deployment has an incalculable formative value: thousands of soldiers get real experience in combat, returning as veterans, something that not even the South Korean army can exhibit. According to analyststhis symbolic and strategic component full of pride to Kim and reinforces its internal and external image, providing it with greater margin of maneuver against key actors such as Trump or Jinping. If you want also, the result is a north Korea more assertivewith renewed military muscle and expanded negotiation capacity. North Korea nuclear submarine A pact without sanction. It is another of the legs that derive from the alliance. The Cooperation with Russia has allowed North Korea avoid effectively The sanctions of the UN Security Council, which explicitly prohibit the arms trade with the Kim regime. Plus: The Ukrainian conflict has facilitated A perfect route To overcome those restrictions. Moscow needs projectiles and soldiers, Pyongyang Technology and validation. The relationship, which began as A practical exchangehas been institutionalized with the signing of that alliance treaty that we commented. Since then, North Korea has intensified the construction of new destroyers Navales, has reactivated its program Nuclear submarines and has expanded its ammunition industry, multiplying by four its production of artillery projectiles. Naval ambitions. And of all, one of the most disturbing advances We commented recently: The presentation of Choe Hyon destroyerthe first of its class in decades, armed with cruise missiles similar to Russian 3m22 Zirconpotentially nuclear. To this is added the construction project of A nuclear submarinewhose only possibility is a qualitative leap in Pyongyang’s offensive capacity. Although many experts doubt that Moscow dares to share naval nuclear technology (especially a compact reactor for submarines), the fact that North Haya publicly shown The beginning of its construction suggests an unprecedented level of ambition. Its existence, even incomplete, already alters the strategic calculations of the United States and Japan in the Pacific. Errors and improvisations. No doubt, this meteoric advance is not exempt from errors: the recent shipwreck Of the second destroyer, which occurred shortly after his launch, caused Kim’s anger and the arrest of several officers. The incident reveals the pressure that the North Korean leader is exercising on his technical and military apparatus to accelerate development deadlines. Even so, with the support of Russia, these failures do not seem to stop the general rhythm of modernization. Kim has proposed to fulfill the ambitious arms program announced in 2021, and with the resources and knowledge acquired from Moscow, it is closer than ever to achieve it. Power rebalancing. Meanwhile, for Seoul, Tokyo and Washington, the North Korean military transformation … Read more

The F-35 and the US ballistic missiles need the key component of a magnet. The problem is that it was “Made in China”

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Finally, China carried out what the global industry feared: blocking the export of rare earths more valuable. In this way, without more, it sounds tremendous, although surely many will wonder how far the scope of the veto really comes, or which supply chain will be affected in the short term with Beijing’s decision. There are many sectors against the strings, but there is an especially delicate one for Washington: Defense. If everything remains the same, you have a few months left for your F-35 or ballistic missiles to have a serious problem. The Achilles heel. I told it The New York Times A few hours ago. China’s decision to impose restrictions on the export of critical minerals and, especially, of certain rare earth magnets, represents a direct warning to the national security of the United States, whose military capacities They depend largely of these resources. Which is it? We talk about Combat fighters of the Air Force, like F-35of guided ballistic missiles of the army or electric drones of the Marines, where these magnets (made with elements such as neodymium, disposium or ititrium) are essential for the operation of motors, guidance mechanisms or emergency systems. If, for example, a ballistic missile does not include the component of these magnets, it would be impossible for their goal to reach. The background problem. That 90 % of these components are produces in Chinaand six of the key metals that compose them are only refined there, which gives Beijing a powerful pressure tool. This maneuver, considered a “warning shot” by An official From the Air Force, it could easily climb towards fees, tariffs or even a total prohibition, generating an immediate impact on the costs and availability of American military technologies. A vulnerable chain. It We have counted other times. Rare earth (a set of 17 elements) is not that they are scarce in the strict sense, but its processing is expensive (and polluting), which is why China managed to dominate both its extraction and the associated refining and manufacturing. This supremacy has allowed him control much of the final cost of the modern American weapons, including those poachers, submarines, war ships, tanks, missiles and laser systems. To get an idea, only one F-35 contains around 400 kg of rare earth materialswhile some submarines They exceed 4,000 kg. Although the American defense industry and the pentagon have accumulated strategic reserves of these elements, analysts warn that these collections would barely reach to cover a few months of production and maintenance, not even years. From there, as we recently counted, that Washington has noticed the Pacific fund. Future warnings. Actually, the United States already knew about this unit and what could happen for a few years. It happened with an emblematic case, the call “F-35 “magnet debacle”when in 2022 the Department of Defense temporarily suspended the delivery of these aircraft after discovering that a component contained a Alloy manufactured in Chinacontravening defense acquisition standards. Although at that time it was considered that the material did not represent a direct threat, the incident highlighted the depth of the US dependence. Now, with the obligation that Chinese exporters Request special permits Before sending rare earth to the United States, experts anticipate a price increase that will affect the entire industrial defense base. Yes, the MINTAIN PASS MINA In California it has resumed operations, but its production is far from competing with Chinese capacity. Historical precedents. Looking back, history offers examples of how the United States must have adapted to interruptions of the supply of strategic materials in times of war. For example, now It happened with the bauxite During World War II, when Germany sank allied charges that transported it from Surinam. So Washington turned to Domestic reserves in Arkansas to guarantee the production of airplanes. Today, The Times told that there are already voices from the sector, such as American Enterprise Institutewhich insist that current reserves are not enough to sustain the military-industrial complex in the face of a long interruption of the Chinese supply. Despite the initiatives of Trump and Biden governments to Reactivate national production Of critical minerals, the industry remains highly vulnerable to Beijing’s decisions. A critical dilemma. No doubt, there is a much broader background with what happened in the commercial war. Chinese control over rare earth supply not only implies logistic or economic vulnerability: it represents A geostrategic challenge First order for the technological supremacy of which the United States has always presumed in the military. The recent Chinese measure does not close trade routes completely, but it makes it clear that Beijin possesses A pressure lever Formidable about the American defense industry. Faced with this, analysts agree that Washington must accelerate efforts to diversify their sources of supply, recover internal industrial capabilities and ensure the resilience of a supply chain that supports a good part of its global power. Otherwise, the next crisis may not limit yourself to that “warning shot”, but to become a direct blow to the technological backbone of the National Defense. Image | Jasper Nance In Xataka | The United States imagined that China would veto its export of rare earths. Has a plan B: The Pacific Fund In Xataka | China has done what the global industry feared: block the export of the most valuable rare earths

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