plane

that of buying a plane ticket before it costs an arm and a leg

by

If you were planning to buy a plane ticket, we have a warning: it is better that you do it as soon as possible. That’s what the price of jet fuel indicates. The cost of oil for this type of use has skyrocketed since a new war broke out in the Middle East. Following the US and Israeli attacks and Iran’s response, the supply chain has become so stressed and strained that it does not bode well for the future. 2$25.44. It is the figure that has set the record and that tells us about the nervousness that is beginning to be experienced with the supply of fuel for airplanes. Those $225.44 was the price that barrels of jet fuel reached last Wednesday in Asia, they point out in Reuters. That figure was an anomaly that ended up rebounding but it gives an idea of ​​how the market is working. “It’s absolute chaos,” June Goh, an oil market analyst at commodities company Sparta, told Reuters. Financial Times. “We never expected that jet fuel could be twice the price of crude oil,” he explained. years ago. Specifically, four. Since 2022, the price of jet fuel has not been so expensive in the case of Europe and two years if we talk about Asia and the United States. The problem is not so much that “equality” in price. The problem is that it seems that we have already put on the tie and now it is time to tighten the knot. Because it is calculated that 40% of jet fuel that reaches Europe does so through the Strait of Hormuz, currently collapsed between vessels seeking to avoid an enclave over which missiles, drones and fighters fly over in search of targets to bomb. Why is this happening? Jet fuel is more delicate than fuel intended for passenger cars, so it can only be processed in refineries. Europe has reduced its refineries in recent years, something that It already affected the rise in diesel prices in the early stages of the Ukrainian War. And Asian refiners are seeing crude oil supplies disrupted by fighting in Iran and nearby countries. In Saudi Arabia, some refineries have had to suspend operations due to the attacks, according to Barron’s. From China, furthermore, They are already limiting fuel exports outside the country to prioritize the internal market. And it is calculated that 13% of the oil that China buys abroad comes from Iran. That is to say, there is less oil reaching the refineries and some oil companies are considering taking enormous detours to avoid the dangers of Hormuz. Right now, it’s not just that oil is having more trouble getting there. The thing is there are deposits closing because there are no means to transport them to the refineries. In OilPrice They point out that Iran has already had to stop deposits because there is no outlet for its production. And Kuwait could be the next to enter the same situation, according to Financial Times. And most of the oil to be refined in Europe comes from Kuwait. And dwarf tanks. Another pressing problem is that the tanks that hold airplane fuel are small because they require very specific conditions, according to Goh of Sparta. This causes the need for replacement to be high and, therefore, the price of fuel affects this market more. Therefore, the perfect storm is forming. There is oil that does not leave the fields, countries limiting exports, companies looking for solutions to save the Strait of Hormuz and a storage space sensitive to any break in the supply chain. There are already notices. To all of the above we must add that part of this fuel is staying in the Middle East to try to provide service to all the planes that are looking for a space to take off from airports that, right now, are chaos. According to Financial Timesqueues to refuel are causing delays and some companies are choosing to refuel before reaching their destination so as not to do so in the busiest places. The most affected in Europe, everything indicates, will be the low-cost companies, which are the ones that play the hardest with their profit margins. In Bloomberg They report that WizzAir already points out that this increase in prices will make it lose 50 million euros. This means that in their forecasts for 2026 they would go from earning 25 million euros at the end of the year to losing it. Photo | Nicholas Susilo In Xataka | An airline has completed the first transatlantic flight using sustainable fuel. The problem: there is not enough

The new fighter that Sweden is preparing is a “plane of airplanes”

by

Swedish intelligence is clear: The conflict between Ukraine and Russia will expand across the old continent next year. Given this scenario, Sweden just signed a contract to renew its latest generation fighter for a totally different concept: a key “plane of airplanes” in the first line of defense of a Europe that still He is not very clear how to defend himself. Because Ukraine is not the only front: the threat of United States annexation of Greenland is still in the air. The contract. The Nordic country has hired Saab for 282 million dollars to develop the program Koncept för Framtida Stridsflyg (KFS, Concept for Future Combat Aviation) called to rejuvenate its fleet: KFS will be the basis of the roadmap to rejuvenate its air combat capabilities in the long term. The project started in March 2024 as Vägval Stridsflyg and after financing, it is in the development and first demo phase. Context. Within the old continent, Sweden is a particular case in air defense due to its location: despite be neutral in the Cold Warthe threat of the USSR was just around the corner, in the Baltic. Since then, maintaining strategic sovereignty has been a national priority for the Nordic country. In fact, and although it participated in the Team Tempest program led by the United Kingdom, got off the boat when this evolved into the Global Combat Aviation Program (GCAP) that integrates the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan to go it alone. Because Sweden has been building its own fighters for decades, Draken to the current Gripen E passing through Viggen. After years of service and development behind them, Gripen is already looking for a replacement for 2040. Why is it important. The implications it brings are relevant, both from a technological and geopolitical point of view at the state and continental level: Because it is not a new aircraft, it is a new concept that could redefine the standard of combat aviation. The security context is urgent, as indicated by the information from the Swedish intelligence services and the recent entry of the Nordic country into NATO. For Sweden, it would consolidate its aeronautical defense industry in the long term, reinforcing its commitment to military technological sovereignty. For Europe, if consolidated it would be the continent’s third new generation fighter program along with the FCAS (France-Germany-Spain) and the GCAP (UK-Italy-Japan). Three different projects and the question of interoperability. How this “plane of airplanes” works. What Sweden wants to replace the Gripen is a distributed combat concept. Thus, the fighter’s function is fragmented into different specialized platforms coordinated in real time by artificial intelligence. Although in a simplified and accessible way we have referred to it as “plane of airplanes”, in reality it is sixth generation “system of systems” with a different architecture: This is a manned aircraft that governs a constellation of specialized drones under a centralized AI. Risks and weaknesses. The challenge is enormous for Saab, which has already tried Helsing’s Centaur AI (German) on a real flight with the Gripen E to manage tactical decisions in combat. Of course, the Nordic company has never built a stealth fighter life-size: its background is two small research drones the size of a car, the SHARC and the FILURdating back to the 2000s. On the other hand, although Centaur’s first tests are promising, they are far from validating the use of AI in combat in real conditions. Finally, the project is so ambitious in technical and economic terms and the time window is so long that a medium-sized country like Sweden facing it alone runs the risk of being overwhelmed. In Xataka | “It’s not what we need”: Germany has just put the finishing touches on Spain’s great military dream, the European anti-F-35 is disappearing In Xataka | Europe’s great Achilles heel is not its armies, it is its plugs: NATO’s warning to shield our electrical network Cover | saab

The fastest private plane in the world is now ready to fly, covering non-stop intercontinental routes and less jet lag

by

Few aircraft projects raise as much expectation as that of the Bombardier Global 8000 because he who It will be the fastest civil aircraft in the world since the Concorde It has some characteristics that leave people open-mouthed and others, such as the promise of ending jet lag, that arouse some skepticism. And furthermore, it is rigorously complying with its roadmap to go from becoming an ambitious prototype in testing to being a certified commercial reality: a few days ago completed its international certification process and can now operate without restrictions in the European sky. He Bombardier Global 8000 breaks records. In its test flights, one of its aircraft reached a Mach speed of 0.941, even exceeding Mach 1.0 (Mach. 1.015) in a dive, making it the first aircraft within its commercial people transportation category to break the sound barrier in a controlled and sustainable manner. And also, in the fastest civil jet in active service. However, his certified maximum operating cruising speed is Mach 0.95, exceeding its own expectations and leaving behind others like the Gulfstream G700 or the Dassault Falcon 10X. This is possible thanks to its engines GE Passport and its aerodynamics. Its propulsion system is optimized for a high bypass ratio and thermal efficiency, enabling long flights. Its wings have a design Smooth Flĕx Wing critical: it is a variable profile structure that optimizes lift both when flying at low speed and at cruising speed. This minimizes resistance and improves stability against turbulence. With intercontinental capacity. Precisely its surname 8000 comes from its autonomy: it is capable of flying 8,000 nautical miles, about 15,000 kilometers. Again, its engines and design are largely to blame. If we take into account its range and speed, in practice it means that it is practically capable of linking two cities in the world without the need for stopovers. It is no longer that it can connect New York with Hong Kong, it is that compared to the traditional commercial flight it could save almost two hours. Goodbye to damn jet lag? As if flying from one end of the planet to another non-stop and in less time was not enough, the Bombardier Global 8000 promises minimize jet lag through pressurization and systems engineering. Go ahead something: the jet lag It’s not just lack of sleep and jet lag, it’s also an effect of air pressure. While a standard commercial airliner maintains cabin pressure equivalent to 6,000 – 8,000 feet, the Global 8000 maintains it at only 2,900 feet (about 880 meters) even when flying 41,000 feet. This means more oxygen in the blood of people traveling, so fatigue is reduced. Likewise, it integrates the Soleil System LED circadian lighting based on the dynamic position of the sun depending on the destination. A most exclusive aircraft. This aircraft does not skimp on details to optimize flight or comfort. Thus, it has a HEPA filtration system that renews the cabin air in less than 90 seconds, it has very comfortable a priori Bombardier patented Nuage seats with zero gravity position, four private suites with king-size beds and there is no shortage of shower on board. Beyond its innovations and luxuries, it has something essential from a practicality point of view: its design allows it to operate in small airports and even on wet and bad runways, so it can land or take off in up to 2,050 airports. According to Bombardier, this marks the difference with the competition. The interior of one of its exclusive suites ready to fly. As we mentioned in the intro, the Bombardier Global 8000 already has everything to fly. After the envelope validation phase which took place between 2021 and 2023 where the company verified that elements such as the wing and the stabilizers supported transonic shock waves without losing structural integrity, they moved on to the testing and certification phase. First Transport Canada, then the FAA American and a couple of weeks ago, the European, which opens the doors to accepting deliveries in the United States and Europe. However, the first customers of the launch have already begun to receive their units from 2025. By the way, those who own the previous model, the Global 7500, you can upgrade it to the new Global 8000. In Xataka | The largest plane in the world has just broken its record for flight hours: its real mission is even more ambitious In Xataka | The whale of the skies says goodbye: the Airbus Beluga ST retires after years transporting other aircraft parts Cover and images | Bombardier

China has spent 2025 putting things into orbit. Now they have gone further by launching a reusable space plane

by

Where I said ‘Mars’, I say ‘Moon’. For years, Elon Musk and SpaceX have maintained that colonize Mars It was humanity’s next great leap. While others (and NASA itself) considered the Moon still interesting, SpaceX looked down on her. Until recently, whenThe company has taken a step back recognizing that colonizing the Moon is easier than Mars. And of course, on the other side of the world we can have an explanation: China has the Moon in its sights. And they have just done another test with their mysterious reusable ship. The test. Last Saturday, and in the most aseptic way possible, China launched a reusable spacecraft. This was confirmed by the state news media Xinhua through an release Which leaves more questions than answers. Officially, we only know that, from one of its multiple launch bases, the country launched the vehicle on the back of a Long March-2F rocket. Mission? “The experimental spacecraft will carry out technological verification of reusable spacecraft, providing data and technical support for the peaceful use of space.” What technologies? Why do you want to know that, good night. TOP SECRET. This vehicle it’s not new. In fact, this would be the fourth trip since 2020 of an experimental ship whose characteristics are being kept in a state of absolute secrecy. On the first trip, this model would have been orbiting the Earth for two days. In 2022 it was launched again and returned in 2023 after 276 days going around. And in September 2024 there was another launch that returned after 268 days. As we say, the secrecy is total, so we do not know what type of vehicle it is, but there has been speculation that it may be the answer to the X-37B robotic vehicle of the United States Air Force. Neither Reuters nor Xinhua comment that it could be the Shenlong, the Chinese ‘Divine Dragon’ which is the competition of the aforementioned X-37B. Because if we talk about reusable rockets like SpaceX’s Falcon, China also has an answer: the LandSpace. They don’t stop throwing things. Beyond the reusable ship, China has gotten right into the space race. Like Europeis another of the countries that seeks space sovereignty, and one of the toughest tests was carried out at the beginning of December. To test the overload capacity of its systems and analyze whether they can handle several missions at the same time, in early December, China completed four space missions in four days. In total, there were 80 orbital launches in 2025, surpassing the previous record of 68 launches and achieving with this proof of this something only within the reach of the current SpaceX. And it seems that 2026 has started as last year ended. Target: Moon. Among China’s medium-term objectives is to take astronauts to the Moon before 2030. They want to compete against the NASA and its Artemis mission for establish a research base on the satellite while they finalize the building your own space station. The Moon has become that last piece of cheese on the plate, but instead of giving it up, the great powers want to get hold of it. Reason? Its great value to carry out experiments to expand sovereignty on other planets, but also with regard to resources that can be exploited and sent to Earth refers. Image | Baijiahao In Xataka | We have not known for 10 years what the US fighter jets saw in the sky. Until a Chinese copy has appeared

The train is eating the plane in Spain for a very simple reason: airports exhaust us

by

Although Renfe has given us some somewhat tortuous months in terms of its service, AVE delaysthe truth is that the train continues to be a very important means of transport in Spain, and there are many who prefer it to the plane. Factors like railway liberalization and the fierce price war Among the different railway operators they have also been especially favorable to this preference. According to Renfe data to which El País has had access82% of travelers choose the train over the plane. And this from an environmental point of view is good, since as the media reminds us, this represents an annual savings in emissions that reaches 512,926 tons of CO₂, equivalent to removing about 250,000 combustion cars from circulation for an entire year. Growth. The seven main routes, which connect Madrid with Barcelona, ​​Seville, Malaga, Valencia, Alicante, Galicia and Asturias, have experienced growth of up to 66% in the number of travelers in the last three years, according to the data provided by the railway operator. Numbers. Between September 2022 and August 2025, the Madrid-Barcelona corridor has gone from 7.5 to 8.9 million travelers. Madrid-Valencia rose from 4.4 to 5.3 million, while Madrid-Málaga jumped from 2.1 to 3.5 million, being the corridor with the most relative growth. According to account In the middle, these figures also include the users of Ouigo and Iryo, the private operators that have entered into competition after the liberalization of the sector. The three hour rule. “As soon as the train offers a competitive travel time of less than three hours, demand shifts massively to the railway instead of the plane,” explains Adrián Fernández, director of Sustainability and Energy Efficiency at Renfe, to El País. Fernández presents the case of Madrid-Barcelona, ​​since when the journey lasted seven hours, only 15% of the passengers chose the train; Now, with a two and a half hour trip, that proportion reaches 83%. Where do new travelers come from?. Just like collect In the middle, the International Union of Railways estimates that 50% of current high-speed users come from the plane, 20% abandon the car, and the remaining 30% correspond to induced trips, referring in the latter to trips that were not made before having the AVE. Savings Breakdown. The middle collect Renfe calculations based on European Commission methodologywhich state that the Madrid-Barcelona route avoids the emission of 185,856 tons of CO₂ per year. According to these data, Madrid-Seville saves 76,874 tons, and Madrid-Málaga reduces emissions by 72,121 tons. Adding the connections with Galicia, Valencia, Alicante and Asturias, the total amounts to 512,944 annual tons of CO₂. The equivalent in cars. To measure this figure, the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) esteem that each car traveler emits 121 grams of CO₂ per kilometer, as points out The Country. Considering that a vehicle travels about 11,200 kilometers per year in Spain with an average occupancy of 1.5 people, the savings are equivalent to removing 252,325 cars circulating throughout the year. Challenges. Although the train is more sustainable, Cristina Arjona, Greenpeace mobility spokesperson, counted to El País that “to encourage its use even more it must also be the most competitive in price, since sometimes it is still more expensive than the plane.” “As high speed reaches new corridors, as soon as times are competitive, people decide to use the train en masse, with quotas of 80% and 90%,” account Fernandez in the middle. Now the challenge for operators is to extend this network to more territories and ensure that the offer of frequencies and prices remains attractive. In Xataka | Aragon finally solves the great bottleneck for its Pyrenean dream: joining Navarra and Catalonia by highway

In the middle of the ocean, 250 passengers on a plane learned that one of them was a stowaway. One shaped like a rat

by

There are few things that can surprise you when you fly at 10,000 meters high in the middle of the ocean. The problem (the big problem) is that when something surprises you in that context, it is not usually a pleasant surprise. And much less if what surprises you is a rat. Can you imagine the feeling? We assume that something similar is what the 250 passengers They were flying from Amsterdam to Aruba, a small island in the Caribbean. The return trip, which passed through the nearby island of Bonaire, had to be suspended by the company itself, forcing passengers to wait one more night until the return plane was ready. A rat at 10,000 meters high By the time the plane wanted to arrive in Aruba, each and every one of the passengers on the KLM plane that was making the journey had already found out what was happening. Among his dreams of paradisiacal beaches and days of relaxation, the image of a rat had slipped in. Specifically, the rat shown by the videos recorded by the passengers themselvesmoving between the curtains that separate the seating categories or the overhead compartments, as can be seen in the images of the Dutch media Of Telegraaf. Click on the image to go to the Instagram post Evidently, the Dutch media has echoed the matter. According to RTL“the passengers remained calm and the crew did not lose sight of the animal at any time.” In Dutch News They point out that it took KLM 36 hours to hunt the animal after it was first seen. And that was the main problem why the return flight was cancelled. Once the rat was caught, the company had to leave more than 250 passengers on the ground in order to carry out a thorough cleaning and disinfect the entire interior of the plane. Asked if passengers traveling on board can request some type of compensation, experts pointed out Telegraaf which was complicated since it was an exceptional situation and they would have to prove that the airline was the real culprit for the entry of the rat. They explain that they could request a compensation economic if the study of the facts shows that the rat sneaked onto the plane into the compartments in which the catering is transported, but they affirm that it is complicated that this could have happened like this. Photo | Florian van Duyn and Nikolett Emmert In Xataka | In 2019, Iberia lost a dog before flying. Now the European Justice says that it is worth the same as a suitcase

In January a SpaceX rocket exploded. Today we know the danger that an Iberia plane was in with 450 passengers in the air

by

On January 16, while air traffic in the Caribbean continued its usual routine, three commercial airliners were thrust into a situation that until recently belonged more to science fiction than civil aviation: passing through a possible cloud of rocket debris in mid-flight. Iberia under a space rain. It was a JetBlue plane heading to San Juan, another Iberia plane and a private jet that ended up declaring fuel emergencies and crossing a temporary exclusion zone hastily activated after the Starship explosion from SpaceX a few minutes after taking off. Altogether, about 450 people were traveling on those planes, which ultimately landed without incident, but internal documents of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reveal that the real risk was much higher than what was publicly known at that time. When the protocol is behind. The Starship explosion caused almost 50 minutes a rain of incandescent fragments over large areas of the Caribbean, a scenario in which the impact of a single piece of debris against an airplane could have had catastrophic consequences. However, the warning chain did not work as planned: SpaceX did not immediately report the failure through the official hotline, and some controllers learned of the incident because the pilots themselves they started reporting “intense fire and fragments” visible from the cabin. The exclusion zones were activated late and, furthermore, only covered US airspace with radar, leaving out pockets of international space where, in theory, flying could continue despite the risk. The result was a extreme workload for controllers and situations of added danger, such as excessive proximity between aircraft that forced intervention to avoid a collision. Impossible decisions at 10,000 meters. In the air, theory became a practical dilemma. The pilots were raised a choice that no manual comfortably contemplates: deviate and take risks to run out of fuel over the ocean or continue through an area where space debris could fall. In at least two cases, the only way out was declare emergency to be able to land. Iberia later maintained that its plane crossed the area when debris was no longer falling, and JetBlue assured that its flights avoided the points where debris was detected, but FAA records describe a tense situation in which decisions were made with incomplete information and under extreme pressure. A structural problem. The incident set off alarms both in the airline industry and in the US Government itself, not only because of what happened in January, but because of what comes next. The FAA plans to go from a historical average of about two dozen launches and reentries annually to managing between 200 and 400 every year for the foreseeable future. A good part of this increase goes through Starship, the most powerful system ever developed, with more than 120 meters high and trajectories that, in future missions, will fly over busy air routes in the North Atlantic, Florida or Mexico. The industry’s own history reminds us that the development of new rockets involves failures: approximately one third of launchers active since 2000 failed on their first flight. Half review. After the explosion January, the FAA convened a panel of experts to review protocols for failed launch debris, an initiative that took on even more urgency after another Starship that exploded in March. That second incident was managed better from the aerial point of view, closing loopholes in exclusion zones and avoiding fuel emergencies, and the panel came to identify high risks for aviation safety, such as forced diversions or overloading of controllers. However, in August the agency suspended unexpectedly that internal review, claiming that many recommendations were already being implemented and that the issue would be addressed at another regulatory level, a decision that surprised even some group participants. The defense of SpaceX. SpaceX responded calling the published information misleading and reiterating that public safety is always its priority, ensuring that no plane was really in danger. Your address insist in which the collaboration with the FAA is close and proposes solutions such as real-time monitoring of vehicles and possible debris, so that a problematic launch can be managed almost like a meteorological phenomenon. Meanwhile, the company has moved forward with new evidence of Starship, some longer before disintegrating and others staying within the planned profile, and preparing an even more powerful version for next year. As recognized Its CEO, Elon Musk, is a radical design that will likely have “growing pains.” A warning from heaven. What happened in January was not only a specific scarebut an early warning of a problem that is barely starts to take shape: the increasingly closer coexistence between commercial aviation and a rapidly accelerating space industry. The night when pilots tthey had to choose between the fuel and a rain of space debris showed that current protocols are not fully prepared for this new scenario. The challenge is no longer just to launch bigger rockets more often, but to ensure that the price of that progress is not paid at 10,000 meters above sea level, with hundreds of passengers trapped between the sky and the sea. Image | Adam Moreira (AEMoreira042281), NARA In Xataka | China is launching more rockets into space than ever before. And the reason is very simple: not to depend on Starlink In Xataka | Google doesn’t have rockets, but it is going to install data centers in space. SpaceX and Blue Origin rub their hands

In 2024 a package bomb arrived on a plane. It was the beginning of the great threat to Europe: that of a “ghost” crossing the red lines

by

Europe lives a strategic transformation that few had imagined possible in such a short time. What began as a series of “flats” (intermittent blackouts, suspicious fires, minor incursions) has become a coherent pattern: a campaign of directed hybrid war that is no longer limited to destabilizing, but rather deliberately explore the thresholds of what it can inflict without provoking a direct military response. It all started a year ago. The silent climb. The plot is explained more clearly from July 2024when several DHL packages exploded in centers logistics from the United Kingdom, Poland and Germany, devices powerful enough to shoot down a plane if they had detonated in mid-flight. The episode, an infiltrated bomb at the heart of the European air system, marked a before and after, because it showed to what extent Moscow was willing to strain continental security and because it exposed the fragility of an Old Continent trapped between an increasingly aggressive Russia and a United States whose commitment has stopped being reliableand. Since then, Europe no longer sees hybrid warfare as a peripheral nuisance, but as a structural threat which targets critical infrastructures, social cohesion and the European institutional framework itself. In Xataka Mercadona has found a vein to grow beyond its white label and prepared food: tourism The Russian laboratory. I counted this week the financial times that the Russian campaign has been refined in breadth and depth. European intelligence services have disabled plots to derail trains full of passengers, set fire to shopping malls, damage dams or contaminate water in urban areas. The attacks are not isolated improvisations: they respond to a “gig economy” model of sabotage in which young recruited by Telegramlocal criminals or foreigners with residence permits act as expendable pawns for unknown objectives. Plus: they are difficult to detect, impossible to anticipate and legally ambiguous, since they rarely there is a direct connection with Russian intelligence that allows them to be accused of espionage. The case of frustrated railway sabotage in Poland (an explosive planted on the Warsaw-Lublin line that came within seconds of causing a massacre) exposed that pattern in its clearest form: unimpeded entry and exit, cryptocurrency financingfalse identities issued by Moscow and a diffuse chain of command that leads to intermediaries as Mikhail Mirgorodsky or even networks managed by former Wagner members. And there is more. Yes, because each cell discovered suggests others not yet detected, and what is worrying is not the errors of saboteurs (sometimes incapable to delete videos of its own attacks) but the scale that this model offers to a Russia resentful of decades of diplomatic expulsions and doctrinally rearmed to a pre-war period. The doctrine that returns. The ISS analysts They recently reported that the archives of the KGB and the StB (Czechoslovak intelligence) reveal parallels disturbing differences between the sabotage manuals of the Cold War and what Europe witnesses today. The objectives listed decades ago (military bases, energy infrastructures, dams, communication systems, transportation) match almost exactly with the whites of the last two years. Equally revealing is the doctrinal sequencing: during times of peace, minor attacks with the appearance of accidents, in pre-war phases, massive sabotage, increased risk tolerated and increasing willingness to cause civilian casualties, and in open war, total activation of clandestine networks for lethal operations. The prelude to something more fat. It we count very recently. If you will, Europe seems to have entered fully into a intermediate stage: a pre-war phase where each incident also functions as offensive reconnaissance, a permanent exercise by razvedka boyem to measure Western reaction capacity, locate vulnerabilities and exploit any weaknesses. The episode of the unidentified drones airports and military bases European operations illustrate this dynamic: cheap raids, of uncertain origin, that revealed systemic failures in the continental air defense and that, due to their replicator effect (copies, jokes, hysteria, false alarms) multiply the psychological and financial wear and tear. A continent without a network. I remembered the new york times This morning an added problem for Europe: that if the Russian threat escalates, the other half of the problem is the growing disconnection with the United States. For the first time since 1945, Europe perceives that Washington is not unequivocally on your side in a matter of war and peace. The Trump administration is not only pressuring kyiv to accept an agreement In Moscow’s terms, it also redefines Europe as a suspicious actor, criticizes the democratic integrity of its governments and promises to openly support the European extreme right. The result is an unprecedented scenario: a Russia that intensifies its hybrid campaign, a Ukraine that depends almost entirely on continental support and a Europe that must finance your own safety while compensating for the withdrawal of US capabilities (satellites, long-range missiles, command and control) that it cannot replace before 2029the year that NATO considers the limit to have a credible deterrent. European leaders also face depleted budgets, electorates hostile to increased military spending, and a rising far-right that Moscow sees as a strategic multiplier. {“videoId”:”x8j6422″,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Declassified video of the clash between Russian fighters and the American drone”, “tag”:”united states”, “duration”:”42″} The battle of money. The internal European debate on how to finance the resistance Ukrainian reflects the magnitude of the challenge. To support kyiv for the next two years, about $200 billion is needed, an unaffordable figure without activating the 210,000 million euros on Russian assets frozen in Europe. The problem? Right now it takes the name of Belgiumwhich guards the majority through Euroclear, and which fears retaliation from Moscow and the possible erosion of the credibility of the euro as a safe haven. Washington, despite its strategic ambiguity, is also pressing for these funds to be don’t touch each othersince its eventual return is part of the US scheme for a peace agreement favorable to Russia. One more thing. And yet, without that money, Europe would have to coordinate (outside the EU framework) a colossal loan and politically explosive. The crossroads are so profound that in Berlin and Paris they are … Read more

How to create a trip animation with a plane going from one point to another and showing photos at each destination

by

Let’s tell you how to create a video with a travel animationin which you can jump from one point to another, and showing at each destination a photo of that place. This is an animation that you may have seen on social networks, and that you can easily do with an online service. For this, you will be able to use a website called Mult. You can do it all with a free accountalthough as always happens, the website will suggest you become a paying user to be able to export the final video with higher quality or to be able to add more than 10 photos. Create the animation of your trip The first thing you have to do is enter the website of mult.dev. In it, you have to create an account or log in in one of them, something that is totally essential to be able to use the service. You can use your Google, GitHub or Apple accounts, or create an account with an email. Now, go to the option to create a new trip. In it, you will have to add each destination point on the timeline. To do this you can search for the name or coordinates of the point, or directly upload a photo to use the coordinates of its metadata. In the free account the animation will only be shown with a plane to take you from one place to another. However, if you use a paid account you can choose other means of transportation so that the animation is done with them, and also change the route to get from one point to another taking this means into account. The paid Pro version starts at $5.99. When you have added your locations, to the right of each one you have a three-dot button, which displays several options. You can add photosbut also edit the name or change the location. By choosing to upload photos, you can upload them from your computerbut also from files, or even search them on Google Maps or generate them by AI. The free plan allows you to upload up to 10 photos. Once you upload one for a location, select it to add it. As you add photos, they will appear in each location. You can make all the adjustments you want, although you will not be able to see a preview here. And when you have it to your liking press the button Export which you have at the top right. In the export options, you can choose whether you want the video to be square or horizontal and vertical. You can also choose the frames per minute. Here, you can click on the button Preview to see the result and be able to make some changes before. Then, just click on the button Export to download the video and then be able to use it wherever you want. In Xataka Basics | Google Travel: what it is, what you can do with it and how to install it on your mobile

a giant plane made of wood

by

On November 2, 1947, thousands of people gathered near the port of Long Beach, California, without knowing that they were going to witness something that was not in their plans. In front of them, a huge plane built almost entirely made of wood He was preparing to move on the water. It was larger than any aircraft that had existed until then. Its creator, businessman and filmmaker Howard Hughes, decided to take charge. That day, for a few brief seconds, the H-4 Hercules —popularized as “Spruce Goose”— managed to take off and prove that it could fly. Five years before that unexpected flight, the world was at war and German submarines were sinking hundreds of Allied ships in the Atlantic. The United States needed a safe way to transport troops and supplies without relying on sea routes, and magnate Henry Kaiser thought he had the answer: a gigantic transport plane capable of crossing the ocean. Since he had no experience in aviation, he went to Hughes, who accepted the challenge of building it under a condition that would complicate everything: the government prohibited the use of strategic materials such as aluminum or steel. When aluminum was lacking and ambition was left over: the birth of the H-4 Hercules The agreement between Kaiser and Hughes was signed in 1942, in the middle of the war, with the idea of ​​manufacturing three units of the new aircraft. They called it HK-1, after the initials of their last names. However, the initial enthusiasm soon collided with reality: the size of the device, the complexity of the design and material limitations caused the project to be delayed more than expected. Kaiser, accustomed to meeting deadlines in the naval industry, grew impatient and abandoned the program in 1944. Hughes decided to go ahead alone and renamed the aircraft the H-4 Hercules. Deprived of metals such as aluminum, Hughes turned to an unusual material in aviation: wood. But not just any wood. He opted for a system innovative called Duramoldwhich consisted of laminating thin layers of birch and gluing them with synthetic resins until forming a structure that was as rigid as it was light. This process, developed a few years before, allowed the parts to be molded with great precision and reduced the total weight of the fuselage. The result was a gray and smooth surface that, at first glance, barely allowed one to guess that this colossus was made of wood. The result of Hughes’ experiments was a monumental flying boat. The H-4 Hercules had a tall wing that extended almost 98 meters from tip to tip and eight enormous28-cylinder Pratt & Whitney enginescapable of propelling the ship with surprising smoothness. Two floats were installed on the outside of the wings to give it balance when sailing. The entire fuselage was built with the Duramold methodwhich provided a smooth surface, without rivets. It was a strange combination of strength, elegance and enormous size. The H-4 Hercules measured almost 66 meters long and more than 79 meters in wingspan, figures that made it the largest aircraft ever built at its time. Its height, more than 24 meters, was equivalent to an eight-story building. Empty, it weighed about 136 tons, and fully loaded it could reach 180. With a cruising speed of about 240 kilometers per hour, it was designed to transport up to 400 soldiers or the equivalent in war material. Despite its size, Hughes was confident that the design would allow it to take off smoothly from the water. The morning of November 2, 1947 dawned calm in Long Beach. The H-4 Hercules was to carry out simple displacement tests, with Hughes at the controls and a small group of technicians and journalists on board. What happened next was not on the flight plan. Halfway through the trip, the pilot increased the power and the seaplane, of more than 130 tons, rose a few meters above the water. It remained in the air for half a minute and traveled about 800 meters before descending gently. It was his first and last flight. The H-4 Hercules cost about 23 million dollars at the time, the equivalent of more than 278 million today. Its development had spread so far that, by the time it flew, the war had ended two years ago. Many considered it a waste of public money and the press dubbed it “Spruce Goose,” a label Hughes detested. For years he defended his project against critics and kept the aircraft in perfect condition, with a full-time team in charge of keeping it ready to fly. For more than three decades, the H-4 Hercules remained hidden in a climate-controlled hangar under the direct supervision of Howard Hughes. After his death in 1976, his company, Summa Corporation, donated the plane to the Aero Club of Southern California. In 1983, heThe aircraft was again shown to the public: The Wrather company moved it to a huge dome-shaped hangar next to the Queen Mary ship, also in Long Beach. For the first time since 1947, the “Spruce Goose” was again seen by thousands of curious visitors. In 1992, the Oregon-based Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum submitted the winning proposal to give the H-4 Hercules a new permanent home. The plane was disassembled piece by piece and transported by barge from Long Beach to Portland, following the Pacific coast and then the Columbia and Willamette rivers. After several months of waiting for the water level, in February 1993 the sections arrived in McMinnville, where temporary hangars were erected to begin restoration. In 2001, the “Spruce Goose” was again shown to the public, fully assembled. More than seven decades after its only flight, the H-4 Hercules remains a benchmark in aeronautical engineering. To this day it maintains three historical titles: it is the largest seaplane, the largest wooden plane and the largest propeller plane ever built. Its technical influence can be seen in numerous subsequent developments, and its history continues to inspire engineers and enthusiasts. What was born … Read more

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.