soldiers

There is literally nowhere to put more soldiers.

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He housing problem It is an endemic disease that reproduces in practically the whole planet. What was more difficult to imagine is how far the tentacles of the crisis. Germany thought several decades ago that wars were a thing of the past. And now you have encountered a problem rearmament announced of his army: literally, he lacks houses to accommodate so many recruits. Rearmament and housing. The German offensive to rebuild a military capacity that it dismantled for decades has come up against an immediate internal cost: there is no space to house the soldiers that Berlin wants to reincorporate. The Heidelberg case is already a symbol. There, a former US base (abandoned after the end of mandatory military service and Washington’s partial withdrawal) was being converted into a new neighborhood. for 10,000 residentsin a country besieged by a structural shortage of housing. The Government’s idea of reactivate that same base shows the shift in priorities from civil urbanism to defense, pushed by two simultaneous actors: an openly Russia revisionist in the East and an American ally politically volatile. Strain. It we have counted before. The rearmament, furthermore, it is not doctrine on paper: Germany wants add 80,000 soldiers In five years, he considers reintroducing some conscription form and has decided to freeze the civilian conversion of bases, reexamine barracks under state control and reactivate military soil wherever it is useful, even at the cost of tension with local governments and voters. A reduced army. For years, Germany delegated its security to NATO and practiced “checkbook diplomacy”. Namely: commerce, rules and checkbook, but without hard muscle. Bloomberg recalled that the abandonment of recruiting in 2011 left behind an inventory of surplus facilities: 31 bases were closed and some land was sold to cities with housing shortages. Plus: the partial American withdrawal multiplied those gaps. This territorial liquidity made it possible to alleviate a strangled real estate market in medium-sized cities. like Heidelbergsandwiched between hills and with limited supply. The war in Ukraine has reversed the equation: Berlin assumes that the external umbrella is no longer enough and that military shortages It is structuralnot circumstantial. The arithmetic of space. Furthermore, and as analysts point outthe collision is physical and political: each re-militarized base is one less neighborhood in a country with skyrocketing rents and exhausted voters. In fact, researchers warn of an inevitable internal conflict because two legitimate goods (credible defense and affordable housing) compete for a non-expandable resource: land. The Government has already suspended the civil conversion of military properties, accelerated military work (+20% in 2024) and plans 270 new barracks for 40,000 troops from 2027. The modernization of military infrastructure exceeds 67,000 million until the 2040s, and the Bundestag processes a fast-track package with flexibility of procedures and exemptions low threshold of 1 million to gain speed. Negotiation window. Heidelberg still hopes to save its macro-project if the Defense considers the base inadequate for military use or if a kind of hybrid (barracks + neighborhood) is agreed upon that makes it possible to make security and urban fabric compatible. The municipal team admits who miss the economic footprint of US bases, but emphasize that civilian urbanization alleviates the housing bottleneck. There is no doubt, the current clash distills the German transition from the era of peaceful dividends towards a defense economy that requires redo what was dismantled: money, people, land and social consensus to rebuild against the clock. Fracture of the social contract. If you want, the impasse The current situation also reveals a temporal crack: Germany urbanized and planned as if geopolitics had been abolished after 1991 (end of the USSR and end of the Cold War), reallocating military land to housing under the premise of an environment without major wars in Europe. That assumption (which also ordered budgets, mentalities and territorial planning for three decades) collapsed the February 24, 2022. Today the country operates with institutions, urban planning laws and citizen expectations designed for a post-war era that no longer exists, while it is seen forced to reinsert in a scenario with infrastructure, densities and land uses inherited from prolonged peace. The clash between barracks and floors is not only physical: it is the clash between two historical calendars that coexist in the same territory, that of civil normality and that of abrupt return. of strategic risk. Image | Markus Rauchenberger In Xataka | The US no longer has to worry about Spain or the rearmament bill in Europe. Germany had a plan B In Xataka | The most pacifist city in Germany lived off its legendary train factory. Now they will make it from a gigantic tank factory

There are 10,000 soldiers and unusual artillery pointing at the same place in the Caribbean

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It all started under the pretext of “drug trafficking”but the amount of accumulated signals, troops and artillery that the United States has been adding around the southern Caribbean, indicate that the operation has slipped towards a coercion mechanism strategic to force accelerated eviction without a formal invasion. A combination of visible deterrence, explicit threats and preparation of windows of surgical action. In the background: Venezuela. Evolution of the objective. It we count last week. The US deployment began wrapped in the classic language of the fight against drug trafficking, attacking boats fast and reactivating bases with a technical pretext. It happens that the accumulation of gestures (B-52 with transponders assets bordering on the Venezuelan FIR, “ghost ships”, SOF helicopters training off the coast, and the trump admission that “he doesn’t want to play”) seem to have another purpose: the message It no longer seems to deny drug routes, but rather something more akin to overthrowing the Venezuelan regime. The public articulation (“Maduro is a fugitive”, “he must go”) and privately aligns military deployment with a logic of collapse rather than containment. Artillery as pressure. The volume of resources and troops from Washington that CNN reported in the last few hours and the New York Times through satellite data (thousands of soldiers next to the ARG Iwo Jimathree destroyers DDG guided missilesa cruisea SSN submarineairplanes AC-130J armed with hellfire, F-35 in Puerto Ricoairplanes P-8, MQ-9, ISR flights massive and reactivation of the Roosevelt Roads base) is disproportionate to simply hunt down drug boats, although insufficient to occupy Caracas. Is, according to analystsexactly the size that allows hitting nodes (command, radars, escorts, inner rings) without “going fully into” a war, and maintaining a credible “low-profile” escalation vector. American voices match in the Financial Times: “it is too much for drug trafficking, but not enough for an invasion”, and what is left in the middle is a luck calibrated pressure. One of the satellite images captured on October 17 showing F-35 fighter jets at the José Aponte de la Torre Airport in Puerto Rico The mystery of Venezuela. For its part, the Venezuelan Armed Force is eroded by maintenance and spare parts, but much less naked: there is S-300anti-aircraft artillery, MANPADS, F-16 and a million militiamen that cast serious doubt on the reputational costs if Washington crosses the kinetic threshold. At the same time, the national commanders they suspect leaks and purge loyalties, the Times said that they sleep rotating locations and change escorts. A pattern that reveals internal vulnerability and expectation of a selective coup, in any case, there does not seem to be confidence in defeating the United States. Colombia and something more. The dialectical escalation with Colombia (Trump has called Petro a “drug leader,” threats of cut funds and tariffsand rhetorical retaliation after a naval attack that killed a fisherman) reconfigures an alliance that until now was key for Washington: the same one that provided the 80% of intelligence in the area. In other words, the clash erodes the regional pillar precisely when the United States approaches the use of force threshold in Venezuela, expanding the diplomatic front and reducing its margins for sustained maneuver. The political window. While, Donald Trump’s administration acts against the clock: this posture sustained under a climate of war does not seem to be able to be maintained indefinitely and any accident can precipitate an unplanned escalation. Plus: Trump does not seem to focus the operation on normative criteria (elections or institutional guarantees) but rather to a result that he can declare as “victory,” which makes the margins of American rhetoric more flexible, but hardens the incentive for a spectacular blow. Military analysts warn that “over braking” could behead without transition and opening a vacuum, while the opposition replies that Venezuelan social cohesion reduces that risk. Thus, the gap between both hypotheses is precisely where the greatest American pressure operates today. Strategic test. In summary, the combination of visible military troopscredible threat of precision hits and a diplomacy that does not stop tightening the rope, define that kind of ultimatum phase but without a formal ultimatum. From that perspective, the outcome aims to depend less on the balance of fire than on the breaking point within the Chavista leadership and whether Washington decides to stop after a possible departure of Maduro, or explicitly pursues the “end of” as a regime. And while that ambiguity persists, the pressure aims to continue… while the Caribbean wonders for how long. Image | USN/MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST 3RD CLASS THEOPLIS STEWART II, ​​Planet Labs PBC In Xataka | A disturbing idea is gaining strength: that what the US wants is not drugs, and that is why it is targeting Venezuela In Xataka | That the US Air Force flies its three B-52 bombers is normal. That he does it against Venezuela not so much

It is called Soratnik and its soldiers carry it on their heads to get ahead of the enemy.

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It was in the month of August when Russia demonstrated that its advances were not only about drones, also on helmets. Aware of the technological developments in Ukraine, Moscow presented an unprecedented system of portable electronic warfare designed specifically for each combatant, one more step in the miniaturization of anti-drone defense. Now, that effort has been multiplied with a version 2.0 of the helmet. His name: Soratnik. Tactical thinking. More than a century after the horrors of World War I forced a rediscovery of the importance of the combat helmet, Russia has decided to reinvent it completely. He new “Soratnik”developed by the state consortium Frente del Pueblo, represents the definitive transition from the helmet as a simple physical shield to an intelligent platform integrated into the modern warfare network. This model incorporates a artificial intelligence module capable of collecting data from the soldier himself, from his colleagues equipped with the same technology and from drones deployed on the ground. All this information, processed in real time, offers commanders a dynamic map of the situation on the front and shows the position of allies and enemies in an internal display, transforming the perception of the battlefield into an immersive and synchronized experience. The “smart” helmet. The “Soratnik” is not an isolated project: its development is part of a global competition for the integration of artificial intelligence and augmented reality in the soldier’s equipment. In the West, Meta and Anduril Industries They work on the “Eagle Eye”a helmet equipped with AR screens and connection to the Lattice command and control system, with which they intend to achieve the same information superiority that Moscow seeks. Both projects symbolize a doctrinal change: he soldier connected as node of a network of sensors, cameras and drones that turns war into a continuous flow of data. If the “Soratnik” manages to balance weight, comfort and technological capacity, could mark the beginning of a new generation of personal equipment in which information is as valuable as ballistic protection. From steel to silicon. Paradoxically, combat helmets They have not evolved as much as other pieces of modern weaponry. From the steel models of 1915, such as the Frenchman Adrian either the German Stahlhelmits design has changed little beyond the materials used. a study from Duke University even concluded that those helmets from the Great War offered better protection against shock waves than the currentmore designed to resist projectiles and shrapnel than to mitigate the effect of explosions. For decades, progress was limited to lightening weight and improving ergonomics, but never to redefining its function. An auxiliary brain. From that perspective, “Soratnik” intends to take that leap. By integrating a digital layer over the combatant’s field of vision, the helmet ceases to be a passive barrier and becomes a cognitive extension of the soldier, a system capable of interpreting the environment and anticipating threats. The difficulty will be maintaining the balance between technology and physical reality: a helmet that is too heavy or uncomfortable ends up being useless, no matter how smart it is. Russia and its competitors know this, and their challenge is to ensure that technical progress does not sacrifice basic functionality. From clay to the digital age. If we look back, the history combat helmet modern begins in the trenches of World War I, when injuries from shrapnel and artillery forced armies to recover forgotten protection since the Middle Ages. In 1915, France introduced the Adrian modelfollowed by the German Stahlhelm and the british brodieall made of steel and designed to resist projectile splinters. Those helmets marked the beginning of a new relationship between the soldier and his equipment: they were no longer an ornament, but a survival tool. During the 20th century, its design adapted to the change of wars (from European mud to the jungles of the Pacific, from desert to cities), replacing metal with composite materials and reducing weight. However, despite the advancement of military technology, the helmet remained almost unchanged in its basic purpose: to protect the head, not to think for it. Today, more than a century later, that paradigm appears to be changing. War as a data network. If it achieves that balance, the “Soratnik” could inaugurate a new era in which the helmet stops symbolizing only individual defense to represent the total connection between the combatant and his army. It is no longer about protecting the head, but about turning it into a processing center mobile, a link point between humans and machines. In the evolution of the “brain bucket” The “smart helmet” summarizes a century of war history: from tempered steel to silicon, from the physical blow to the flow of informationfrom survival to control of the environment. A change that redefines not only the soldier’s equipment, but also the very nature of war. Image | VPK In Xataka | Ukraine brought its drones closer to the Russian army. Their surprise is capital: the North Koreans are now Cubans with an irresistible promise In Xataka | Ukraine has divided a treasure into six secret locations. If Russian drones find it, the winter will be especially cold

The electronic war is lying the technologies in Ukraine. So Russia has returned to World War II: horse soldiers

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In the month of June Some images They highlighted a dangerous evolution of assault tactics, one where the Russian army began to Use motorcycles as a main tool to move towards the Ukrainian lines, in an attempt to avoid the destruction of their armored Modern to the power of drones. Now, the electronic war in Ukraine has turned each technological innovation into a weapon with the days counted. Solution? The return of the cavalry. A symbolic return. Yes, the war in Ukraine, characterized by a massive deployment of drones, precision artillery and electronic war, has led the Russian army to explore solutions of archaic appearance: the Reintroduction of horses On the battlefield. What began as improvisations With donkeys and horses To transport supplies in the front, it has evolved towards formal training units mounted, according to The Kommersant newspaper. The idea greatly reflects the point of the dead to which modern technologies have reached a saturated front of electronic interference, where even the most sophisticated systems have been limited, forcing resort to basic methods that evoke the wars of the past. Training and tactics. In the Donetsk region, the commander of the “Storm” unit of the 9th Brigade has organized Horse training for assault troops. Exercises, video recorded and released in pro -government channels Like “Wargonzo”show soldiers galloping through open fields, some sharing a mount: one controls the animal and the other prepares to open fire. The approach is that, once the objective is achieved, both combatants dismantle and advance on foot against the enemy position. The tests also seek that horses get used to noise of shooting and explosions, minimizing the risk of being scared in combat. Its alleged advantages include the ability to move at night, accelerate without roads and, according to Russian controls, guide themselves by instinct to avoid mines. Limitations and symbolism. Despite these virtues, the use of horses raises important inconveniences: their weight can detonate antipersonnel mines, require constant food and care, and have a load capacity much lower than that of armored vehicles. Therefore, even Kommersant emphasizes that the cavalry will hardly be deployed on a large scale and that the measure is, above all, a symbolic gesture in a conflict that, despite being the scene of leading technologies, has forced the parties to also resort to rudimentary solutionsfrom analog telephone lines to cargo animals. The stamp of Russian soldiers on horseback contrasts with the official story of technological innovation and highlights the material and tactical wear of the campaign. Cavalry Brigade of the SS in Russia, 1941 The vintage resource. The resource for horses is not the first Russian attempt to use unconventional alternatives in the front. It We have counted before: units have been documented in motorcycles, quads, and even E-SCOOTERS AND MONOCICLOS electric, with unequal results. In particular, motorcyclist brigades destined to evade Ukrainian drones have suffered Massive casualties: The open field exposure and the absence of coverage made them easy blank, with most bikers eliminated before achieving their goals. The commitment to cavalry reflects the same logic: Quick and low -cost solutions to an enemy with technological advantage, although without guarantees of real effectiveness in combat. Military stagnation The context of this equine return is the stagnation of the Russian offensive. Between September 20 and 30, Moscow only achieved advance 29 square kmand although in the whole of the month he added 447, most of the profits occurred in little disputed rural areas. In Donetsk, where the “Storm” unit is concentrated, Russia barely He won 181 square kilometersone of its lowest records in a year. The front has been practically frozen for weeks, which has forced the Kremlin to resort to propaganda measures To show dynamism, while Ukraine recognizes difficulties, but maintains resistance in key nuclei such as Pokrovsk and Dobropillia. Echoes of the twentieth century. The return of horses to the battlefield is not an exclusive phenomenon of war in Ukraine. During World War II, both Germany and the Soviet Union They used cavalry In patrol operations and logistics support, while Poland was hard stigmatized by the famous riders of riders against tanks in 1939a partially exaggerated myth but showed the obsolescence of classical cavalry against mechanization. In the Soviet Union, however, mounted units are They used effectively In wooded environments and in the antipartisan struggle, where their mobility offered advantages that vehicles could not match. In subsequent conflicts, horses They reappeared in low intensity wars or in difficult access scenarios. Afghan resistance against Soviet invasion in the 1980s depended largely of horses and mules to transport weapons in mountainous terrain. Paradoxically, after 11-S, the US special forces deployed in Afghanistan They turned to horses To move with its local allies, an image that became a symbol of the clash between the technological war of the 21st century and the indomitable geography of the Hindu Kush. The paradox. The image of Russian soldiers galloping Between drones and artillery summarizes the paradox of the war in Ukraine: in a conflict turned into a showcase of military innovations (Drones swarms, artificial intelligence applied to combat, Hypersonic weapons and Electronic War), the fatigue of materials and the tactical blockade have returned to the battlefield tools typical of another era. While it is unlikely that modern cavalry changes the course of the contest, His mere reappearance It is a powerful symbol of to what extent the war in Ukraine has stressed the limits of technology and has forced to reimagine, even with primitive means, the way of fighting. Image | Wargonzo In Xataka | An AIM-9X missile cost a million dollars to tear down a Russian drone. Ukraine has found the solution for 2,000 dollars In Xataka | In a crucial Ukraine agreement he has given the US his best weapon. In return he has received something unpublished: a map to knock Russia

The last Russian tactic are not kamikaze drones. His soldiers carry a helmet with antennas that is surprising Ukraine

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Once it has become clear that The drones They are the offensive on which They are sustained The offensives in Ukraine, has begun a face B: the search for tactics that counteract the armies of swarms. Ukraine, for example, had achieved a Unexpected shield: the Fishing networks of a town in Denmark. For their part, Russian soldiers have revealed the last tactic against kyiv’s drones. Boom drones. The war between Russia and Ukraine has entered a phase marked by the hegemony of droneswhich have gone from being tactical weapons against armored to transform into executioners of individual soldiers. In devastated cities Like Chasiv Yar or in the nearby plains To Kupiansk and JárkovFPV drone swarms have Back omnipresentturning any movement of troops into an immediate target. This new reality has imposed a stagnation scenario: any offensive advance is detected, tracked and destroyed in minutes. The strategic consequence is clear: the side that achieves shield their soldiers in front of drones will acquire a decisive advantage In the front. Aware of this, Russia has presented An unpublished system of portable electronic war designed specifically for each combatant, one more step in the miniaturization of anti drone defense. Design of the new system. In A video Disseminated in networks, a Russian soldier has shown a compact device integrated into his team. The system consists of a module with two antennas coupled to the helmet, a connection harness, A mounted screen In the forearm and a power battery. The process is simple in appearance, but complex in execution: the device Detect passively The drone radio signal intercepts the video signal transmitted to the operator and reproduces it on the soldier’s screen. From there you can order the directed interference, blinding the enemy pilot. Innovation lies that this mechanism does not seek to cut the control or navigation link (the usual objective of traditional inhibitors) but directly attack video transmissiona channel that operates with greater power and is more noise resistant. This precise targeting reduces the need to emit large levels of energy, decreases the risk of interfering with Russian communications themselves and maintains the electromagnetic footprint of the system, making it difficult to detect and destruction by Ukraine. The set screen for each soldier Tactical value. The method offers several advantages over conventional suppression systems. First, avoid activating the security protocols of the latest Ukrainian drones, which usually enter into Autonomous or return mode When navigation or control is interrupted. By maintaining those intact channels and limiting yourself to blinding the operator, confusion is immediate: the pilot loses the vision of the target, but no automatic defense is activated. Secondly, portability allows each soldier to have A protection bubble Minimum against hostile drones, instead of depending exclusively on systems mounted on vehicles or on fixed platforms. This is especially relevant in urban or wooded environments, where clashes are decentralized and scattered. Limitations and vulnerabilities. Despite its ingenuity, the Russian system is not exempt from weaknesses. For example, it is ineffective against fiber optic dronesthat transmit their images by physical wiring and, therefore, are immune to the radio block. In addition, it would not be surprising that the evolution of Ukrainian tactics ends neutralizing it, or with the adoption of safer video channelsreinforced encryption or even the implementation of emergency modes by losing visual signal could reduce its effectiveness in a matter of months. Likewise, depending on continuous technical updates to follow the rhythm of the adversary will imply A logistics cost and significant production. Strategic consequences. That said, if Russia manages to display this large -scale technology, even with partial efficiency, it could Transform balance in key front sectors. Neutralize drones, even temporarily, opens the possibility of offensive maneuvers that today are suicidal under the constant look of The enemy FPV. The ability to advance hundreds of meters without being immediately detected can mean the difference between conserving the initiative or being trapped in a wear war endless. And, if we expand the focus, the trend reflects the transition of high -range anti drone systems and Mounted on vehicles toward portable solutionsindividual and adapted to the war of proximity. In this technological career, each innovation determines not only the survival of isolated soldiers, but the viability of entire offensive operations. EVOLUTION OF THE ELECTRONIC WAR. The appearance of this portable inhibitor confirms a deep doctrinal change: the Electronic Warin the past mastery of mass stations and strategic air platforms, now descends to the soldier level. What was previously deployed in long -range radars and powerful antennas is concentrated today on an coupled device to a helmet. If generalized, modern combat will be even more linked to the capacity of engineers to miniaturize electronic defenses and adapt them to the individual soldier. Russia has taken a significant step in that direction, and if its bet is viable in combat, it could inaugurate a new era in which each carrying combatant, next to its rifle, an invisible shield against drones that dominate the 21st century. Image | Reddit In Xataka | Russia has reminded the US that has a last button: it is called Dead Hand and is operated in case of Russian annihilation In Xataka | Not that war in Ukraine has become a laboratory of the future, is that there are drones saving lives with bicycles

Those who spoke Spanish in their troops were not soldiers, they were druglets

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Officially, since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 there were three armies fighting in the front. To the most obvious in the first bars of the contest, Russia and Ukrainethe troops of North Korea, an alliance with Moscow that It was confirmed several months ago by both parties. No one could also miss that all kinds of flags were found among the armies. But this is something else: Ukraine has just discovered with surprise some legionaries that They come from Mexico. Posters in Ukraine. The war in Ukraine has become a Innovation laboratory military, and one of its most influential developments has been the massive and devastating use of FPV dronescheap, agile and ability to carry explosives to hit vehicles, fortified positions or even penetrate windows and directly attack enemy combatants. These devices, which have transformed Mobility and logistics In the European Eastern Front, they now begin to attract the attention of non -state actors with very different agendas to those of a national army. According to an investigation of intelligence onlinemembers of Mexican posters have infiltrated the International Legion of Ukraine not only to fight against Russia, but also to acquire first -hand the techniques of use and maintenance of FPV drones that could later apply in His intestine wars In Latin America. The Legion as a gateway. From the first months of Russian invasion, Ukraine created the International Legion to receive foreign combatants willing to join their forces. In this framework, intelligence services from both Mexico and Ukraine have detected indications that some Spanish -speaking volunteers, linked to drug cartels, have enlisted with the intention of absorbing technical knowledge that they could hardly obtain in another place. The reports point to that Even the Mexican CNI He sent a memorandum to the Ukrainian SBU alerting about this phenomenon, while kyiv’s counterintelligence has initiated research On several recruits associated with semi-clandestine units, such as the ethos tactical group, which operates in Donbás and Járkov. The presence of former FARC guerrillas, equally interested in these tactics is not ruled out either. Cartel’s arms evolution. Concern is logical if observed The trajectory Of the large Mexican criminal groups, which in the last decade have traveled to improvise homemade explosives to deploy arsenals almost military. About five years ago they began experimenting With quadricopters They carried small explosive loads. Then they perfected Air bombing techniques rudimentary against enemies or security forces. Learning. In recent times it has been documented The use of FPV in direct confrontations between the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) and factions of the Sinaloa Cartel in states such as Nayarit. Videos and Drones remains recovered confirm that they are already testing suicidal attacksalthough They pointed on TWZtheir tactics still seem incipient and plagued with failures. However, the entry of operators with Ukrainian training could radically accelerate that learning curve. The FPV and its criminal application. Unlike a commercial drone like the DJI, whose operation is simple, flying an armed FPV is more similar to pilot a plane: Requires vision immersive with glassesfine control and exhaustive training to achieve precision maneuvers. In Ukraine, they have established themselves Authentic Academies for Train pilots In the offensive use of these weapons, courses that posters and other non -state groups try to take advantage of clandestine. Intelligence experts on posters foresee that, if their domain of this technology will be consolidated, FPV could be used against armored vehicles improvised (calls monsters or narco-tanques), fortified ranches of rival bosses or directly against human objectives of high value, through surprise and lethal attacks. The Ukrainian experience has shown that a drone of just $ 400, well managed, can defeat and generate positions A disproportionate impact. Concern and consequences. No doubt, for kyiv, the discovery of this phenomenon has been reason for indignation. SBU authorities admit that, although the international legion was born to channel foreign solidarity in defense of the country, they now face the reality that Ukraine has become a platform for Global dissemination of asymmetric war tactics. The risk is that knowledge designed to stop a state invader is exported to criminal conflictswhere they will be used to magnify the violence of posters that already have of heavy weaponsorganized hitmen and all kinds of corruption networks. That the CJNG or Sinaloa integrate FPV in its arsenals not only raises the level of its clashes, but also introduces a micro-war dimension Technological in Latin America, with unpredictable consequences for public safety. Global Violence School. He episode illustrates a major phenomenon: contemporary conflicts have become incubators of tactics and technologies that then migrate to other scenarios. As well as Syria popularized the improvised drones In the hands of jihadist militias, Ukraine is exporting The FPV drone as a reference weapon for non -state actors. The fact that the drugs in Mexico travel thousands of kilometers To train on the battlefield more technologically innovative of the present reflects not only the interconnection of conflicts, but also the rapid democratization of access to advanced war tools. If you want also, in a world where the cost of lethal violence is low and its knowledge is globalized, the border between state wars and organized criminal violence is It blurs dangerously. Image | SGT Williams In Xataka | For months Ukraine turned a strategic city into impregnable. Until Russia added a lethal partner to his drones In Xataka | It is not that the US has warned Russia about Ukraine, is that it has just sent nuclear bombs up to 50 kilotons to Europe

The war enters the field of science fiction. Ukraine has captured Russian soldiers without humans: the robots did it

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In the last hours two unpublished facts have been known in the Ukraine War. The first of all occurred a few hours after Trump announced the Partial resumption of sending weapons to kyiv and criticize hard To Putin. Then Russia launched The biggest attack with long -range drones from the beginning of the war. The second goes directly to History booksbecause Ukraine has stopped Russian troops only through machines. Drones and robots on the front line. In an unparalleled event in modern military history, the 3rd separate assault brigade of Ukraine managed to capture Russian soldiers Without using infantry human, using exclusively aerial drones and terrestrial robotic platforms. The operation, announced on July 9 by official Ukrainian sources, represents a unprecedented milestone In the evolution of automated combat, marking the first time enemy soldiers surrender directly to unmanned systems. According to The statement of the brigade, the terrestrial drones were the immediate receptors of the surrender, an event that until now belonged to the science fiction and that has now materialized in the context of the war in Ukraine. Asymmetric technology and war. The operation took place in the Járkov region, northeast of the country, an area high intensity on the front from the beginning of the large -scale invasion by Russia. The Ukrainian unit deployed FPV drones and robotic platforms Kamikaze -type terrestrial to assault Russian fortifications that had resisted previous attacks from other units. These tools, developed as part of a national strategy to reduce human casualties and adapt to a saturated artillery and surveillance war theater, allowed Ukrainian forces to execute an offensive Without exposing directly to your soldiers. According to Brigade’s storythe drones destroyed several Russian positions, and as a terrestrial robot approached a partially damaged shelter, the Russian soldiers entrenched there chose to surrender, without there being human presence in the immediate vicinity. An automated capture. After the surrender, the prisoners were guided outside the fighting zone by The same drones Ukrainians, in a sequence more typical of fantastic literature that demonstrates not only the offensive capacity of these systems, but also their effectiveness to operate complex tasks such as custody and remote control of enemy movements rendered. Subsequently, the Russian soldiers were taken in custody by Ukrainian forces. The success of this maneuver, they tell, not only allowed capture without direct physical contact, but also facilitated the taking of the fortifications previously defended, as well as the control of a adjacent forest line of considerable tactical value. New military paradigm. No doubt, the episode not only shows the degree of sophistication achieved in Ukraine in the matter of Automated warbut also raises fundamental questions about the future of land combat. The Rendary against drones Terrestres is a radical turn in the psychological dynamics of the battlefield: the soldiers, in this case Russians, did not face visible, human enemies, but to silent machines that approached relentlessly, having destroyed all previous defenses. This type of deployment, which mixes destructive capacity with occupation and control functions, anticipates a new paradigm where direct human interaction could become exceptional even in capture operations. Russia attack in Ukraine An unprecedented offensive. But as we said, if the capture of Russian soldiers was a historical fact of modern wars, Russia’s attack It is not precedents From the beginning of the invasion. On one night that could redefine the limits of the unmanned air war, Russia unleashed the greatest drone attack, launching 728 Shahed drones (including lures) and 13 missiles, including feared Kinzhalagainst 741 objectives throughout the country. The epicenter of the attack was the city of Lutsk, in the Ukrainian northwest, a few kilometers From the border with Polandwhich caused the Polish and NATO Air Forces to be deployed in maximum alert. According to kyivmost of the projectiles were intercepted, especially thanks to electronic warfare systems, although hypersonic missiles managed to cause unspecified damage. War in the front and in court. While the sky becomes a network of autonomous swarms, the situation on land remains marked by intense fighting No significant advances. Russian troops They continue to press In Sumy, Járkov, Luhansk and Donetsk, although reports indicate that Ukraine has contained attacks on most of those fronts. In parallel, a Russian soldier belonging to a criminal battalion He denounced publicly Inhuman conditions and the lack of gunner support, describing suicidal assaults in improvised vehicles and without air backup. On the legal level, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia has systematically violated human rights Since 2014including extrajudicial executions, torture, forced deportation of children and forced labor. The Kremlin, on the other hand, dismissed the ruling as “null and without effect.” Plans. They counted the Twz analysts that kyiv, anticipating a large -scale response, would be preparing a thousand drones long range against Russian objectives, including areas near Moscow. In addition, the Ukrainian Secret Service arrested Two Chinese citizens accused of trying to spy technologies of the Neptune missileused in the Moskva’s sinking and now adapted for long -range terrestrial attacks. On land, the proliferation of unmanned land vehicles, such as New UGV “Snail” Or improvised models with wheels made of mines, shows that automation not only dominates the heavens, but also advances on the mud and steel of the front. The war in Ukraine, ultimately, thus enters a phase every time More hybrid and technological of the traditional forms of combat. The contest, that already It had been a pioneer In use massive drones Of recognition and attack, another threshold has crossed, this time historical and unimaginable does not so much: the surrender of soldiers against machines. Image | Arx Robotics, Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, Emergency Service of Ukraine In Xataka | The production of Russian drones was so huge that Ukraine has opened them looking for clues. The surprise is China In Xataka | We were accustomed to seeing strange things in Ukraine, but this is different: ships and bombers with no one behind the wheel

We believed that the large numbers of soldiers dead in combat were a thing of the past. Until the Ukraine War arrived

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This week a New report Updated from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. The data, by drudos, left the imagination a few doubts: just over three years after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the conflict has reached low figures that place it between The bloodiest of modern history. We have attended historical statistics to find out how much. The human cost of a stagnant war. As we said, the CSIS study revealed that the total number of dead or injured soldiers amounts to almost 1.4 millionof which around one million are Russians and 400,000 Ukrainians. This figure is even more shocking if it is considered that Ukraine does not publish its official data and that Russia, according to Experts warnsystematically underestimate your losses. The study is based on estimates from American and British sources, in addition to satellite images and field analysis. The slowest war. The work tells more things. For example, despite the huge number of casualties, Russian territorial advances since January 2024 have been practically insignificant: less than 1% of the conquered Ukrainian territory, with an average advance rhythm of just 50 meters per day, even more than even the more expensive offensives of World War I. Today, Russia occupies approximately the 20% of the Ukrainian territorybut without achieving decisive advances. This slowness, together with the Mass destruction Of war material, he has turned the Russian campaign one of the clearest examples of wear war of the 21st century. Irreplaceable losses. However, if something betrays the brutality of the contest in Ukraine, that is the data of the CSIS that estimates that at least 250,000 Russian soldiers They have died in combat, which represents the highest military mortality rate of any Soviet or Russian war since World War II. For its part, Ukraine would have lost between 60,000 and 100,000 soldiers. However, the proportion of forces in the front It is overwhelming: More than 400,000 Russian soldiers in front of about 250,000 Ukrainians, with Russia benefiting from a much larger population and aggressive replacement mechanisms. As We have counted: Moscow has avoided declaring a new general mobilization, but has resorted to Recruitment of prisonersdebtors and people with criminal causes, to whom it offers lucrative contracts or the cancellation of charges in exchange for the military service. CSIS data shows a shocking Moscow casualties against other conflicts where Russia was The historical scope. With the figure offered by the CSIS We have attended the historical statistics of similar war conflicts (excluding civil or genocide wars), all after World War II, to measure the scope and impact of the losses that are taking place in Ukraine on the Russian side. The base is that estimate of 250,000 losses since the beginning of the conflict in 2022. A point and apart. The first data we found is that the estimation of the 250,000 losses makes the Ukrainian conflict The most lethal For Russian forces since World War II, surpassing the losses in Afghanistan (1979–1989), where the USSR lost Around 15,000 soldiersbut in ten years. Comparatively, in the Korean War (1950–1953), China (the main ally of North Korea) lost Between 180,000 and 400,000 fighters in three years of conflict, while the United States registered some 33,700 casualties in combat. Not even Vietnam. In the Vietnam War (1955–1975), United States He suffered 58,220 deathsbut, again, it happened in a period of twenty years. For his part, Northern Vietnam lost Between 400,000 and 1.1 million Of soldiers, although those figures, again, accumulate over two decades. Even in the devastating Guerra Iran -ira (1980–1988), with close to One million combined casualtiesonly Iran exceeded the current Russian figures in a longer period, with estimates of 200,000 to 262,000 dead. Therefore, the intensity of Russian losses, concentrated in a short period, is exceptional in the history of contemporary interstate conflicts. Deep consequences. It is the last of the legs to analyze. Russia, despite having a population greater than Ukraine and, a priori, a deeper human replacement capacity, faces a accelerated erosion of their professional military capacity. Unlike previous conflicts where deaths were distributed in longer campaigns, the current wear of wear (right now around 7,000 soldiers dead per month) threat with structural degrade to its armed forces. If these levels are maintained, Russia could exceed the psychological and logistic threshold that prevents you from sustaining the offensive. In front of wars such as the Gulf (1990–1991), where Iraq lost between 20,000 and 35,000 soldiers In just over a month, or the invasion of Iraq in 2003, where the United States suffered less than 5,000 casualties In eight years, the contrast is, if possible, even more extreme. The war in Ukraine, in terms of direct military loss and temporary concentration, has become an atypical case for its lethality and its potential for internal destabilization for the aggressor country. Image | Ministry of Defense of UkraineCsis, Worldindata In Xataka | The true magnitude of the Ukraine drones attack to Russia has revealed the space: the bombers were not alone In Xataka | A technology 20 years ago took Ukraine to the Russian bombers. Moscow’s response comes from China: a laser cannon

Ukraine soldiers are starting to carry scissors. It is the only way to face Russia’s most lethal weapon

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At the beginning of January the New York Times told which was no longer possible to hide in the Ukraine War. Before the brutality of the contest a technology had sneaked into Evade electronic war and enter the enemy field of both sides as I had not done before. The threat was destroying the lines, making attacks invisible and evading any attempt at interference. Now, that technology has become stronger and deadly in Russia: the optical fiber. The Russian offensive. I explained it a few hours ago BBC in a report. In the Ukrainian town of Rodynske, a few kilometers from Pokrovsk, the war has acquired an even more devastating dimension with the intensive use of 250 kg planning pumps and surveillance and attack drones. The recent impact of one of these projectiles devastated administrative and residential buildings, leaving behind a destruction landscape. Russian troops, unable to take Pokrovsk directly, have begun to surround it strategicallycutting supply routes through a siege that intensifies with every day. The immediate presence of Russian drones about Rodynske reveals that Moscow has advanced from the east, beyond the previously identified positions, displaying their weapons since recently captured areas. The unstoppable rise of fiber. Under that changing scenario, a technology has been perfected as the most feared weapon in the conflict: guided drones by fiber optic cable. Unlike traditional models, their physical connection with the controller makes them immune to electronic interference, one of the most important defensive pillars so far. Although slower and can be tangled (for example, in their passage through trees high), their ability to operate in closed environments, such as Inside buildingsand to stay hidden, each movement of Ukrainian soldiers converts into a possible death sentence. In that sense, Russia has taken the front in its implementation while Ukraine still tested themand although now tries to accelerate its production, the technological difference continues to incline the balance on the battlefield. Fiber cable anchored to a drone in Ukraine The front lines. This new type of threat has completely altered the dynamics of Ukrainian detachments. Soldiers as it is or came, from the 68th Jaeger battalion, They described the BBC How simple transfer to a position can be more lethal than direct combat. The pressure has forced the units to remain much longer in the trenches, without the possibility of rotation. Maksym, gunner of the 5th Assault Battalion, says that they could alternate every few days, but now there are those who take until 120 days in a row on the front. Fatigue, moisture, constant death and the impossibility of lowering the guard have redefined combat. Oses, chief of recognition, explained that Russian tactics have evolved towards small and mobile infiltrations: Motorcycles, quadrimotos, patrols of one or two men who penetrate enemy lines such as scattered pieces on a chess board. Pros and cons of fiber in war. Detailed it in a Interview for The War Zone Yas, a commander of the Ukrainian unmanned units (drones). Operate drones by fiber optic offers an essential tactical advantage: it allows silent control, without detectable emissions, and makes many electronic warfare systems obsolete. However, the system also presents limitations. Drone management It requires great expertisesince an inexperienced pilot can cause losses due to control failures or even unwanted explosions. In addition, the fiber cable can be easily broken or entangled, and technology itself is expensive and difficult to access (especially for Ukraine). Despite this, the success index of fiber drones to achieve and hit their goals Round 50%figure that clearly exceeds that of conventional radiofrequency drones. However, less than 5% of the Ukrainian drone park, According to Yascurrently uses this system, mainly due to the shortage of quality units and the saturation of local manufacturers, many of which, in the beginning, reversed Chinese components without fully understanding the operating requirements in combat. The asymmetric race. In that sense, Russian capacities are not only imposed by number, but by the speed with which Adapt solutions. Every time Ukraine changes frequency or introduces improvements, Moscow responds quickly, climbing his countermeasures in a coordinated way. He has done so with control channels and video transmission. In that context, fiber optic drones They represent a momentary tactical advantage window. Although in Ukraine ranges of 15 and up to 20 kilometers with drones of this type have already been reached, Russia operates models of up to 30 kilometers. Yas lamented to the environment that, except in the case of conventional drones, the Ukrainian State has not yet managed to establish A solid infrastructure of production and deployment for fiber optic drones. A gap that can determine the difference between maintaining defensive positions or losing strategic ground against the enemy. Endurance. In The BBCa Ukrainian soldier said that the fear of drones Invisible Because of the fiber he has led them to start carry scissors everywhere To cut the cables. Technology has already given enough episodes of authentic nightmare where drones have entered buildings chasing human objectives. Meanwhile, and although Russia has made important advances, the Total Take Donetsk It is still far from being an immediate reality. Ukraine continues to resist, but suffers the shortage of ammunition, the imperative need for weapons and a worrying lack of qualified personnel against a more numerous Russian army and with better institutionalized processes at the moment. Yas is clear: The future of the war of drones will depend not only on technology itself, but who is able to organize it and multiply it faster. Meanwhile, every drone that raises the flight with a fiber optic coil becomes a silent bet between life and death. Image | Ministry of Defense of Ukraine In Xataka | The Ukrainian invention that has allowed to repel the waves of Russian attacks: a 41 km fiber optic cable In Xataka | The problem of many to cross the border and flee from the war in Ukraine is not the passport. They are your phones

Ukraine has turned drones into armed soldiers against Russia. It is no longer necessary to “sacrifice them” because they carry launched

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That the war in Ukraine has become the largest field of technologies and war artillery. out of any doubt. However, if you had to name a single protagonist, that would be the use of drones as “animals” of Combat for everything. The Ukrainian country, in fact, has become one of the Great industries of the planet in the sector developing many of the most advanced (and important, economic) prototypes to date. The latest: turn drones into authentic soldiers of the future holding launched in flight. Aerreo launches. As we said, Ukraine has reached a new mile With a launchersuch and As he revealed The Ukrainian company Wild Hornets, specialized in military technology. The images, disseminated by the company itself in Your telegram channelThey show what they describe as the “exclusive death” of a Russian soldier reached by one of these devices on the Novopavlivka front. The attack was carried out by the Bulava Unit of the separate presidential brigade, and they did it by adapting their drone “Queen of Hornets”(A heavy model usually designed for bombings) to carry and shoot a precision grooved from the air. The operation, in addition to having tactical success, served as proof of concept and exhibition of the modified design, whose stability when triggering resolved one of the main technical obstacles: the recoil. Mortal precision. After the videos and the exclusive, Diego RodríguezRecognition drone operator in the body of unmanned systems, He expressed his astonishment Because this technology has not been implemented before, underlining its technical superiority against Kamikaze drones. In the expert’s opinion, the throws from drones allow faster, accurate and silent attacks, since Granada rounds fly faster and more reaching, reducing the enemy’s reaction margin and exposure to electronic countermeasures. The reason? The drone can shoot, retreat and recharge, multiplying its usefulness Without losing unity In the attack. Faced with the traditional explosive drones that emit noise and give the enemy time to protect themselves, the granades projected from the air arrive almost instantaneously, making them impossible to dodge them. Without anticipation. Another expert, in this case Vadym Feshchenkoex grenadier converted in drone operator, stressed that this innovation completely alters the defensive habits of the enemy. Russian troops have learned to observe the movements of drones to anticipate when they will release their explosive load, but a drone that shoots in full flight eliminates that reaction window. Feshchenko also highlighted the weapons versatility employee, pointing out that some modern launch projectiles have the capacity to drill up to seven centimeters of armorwhich expands its applicability against fortified vehicles and positions. As these systems multiply, it is likely that the simple sound of a drone forces enemy soldiers to retire or hide, increasing the psychological and tactical impact of the device, also as a deterrence In full fray. From standard prototype. That said, what we see is an evolution. In September 2024 already Videos circulated of tests where Ukrainian FPV drones carried RPG-18 launches. While then rudimentary prototypes were considered, their possibilities were already evident. As counted in Ukrainian media, a collateral advantage of this system is Risk decrease For technicians and engineers who must manually assemble kamikaze drones, exposing themselves to injuries that are rarely made public. In this regard, the partial automation that allows an armed and reusable drone represents a step forward in terms of operational security. Adaptive Engineering They remembered in Insider That although the first use in combat has been attributed to Ukraine, the idea of ​​mounting launched in drones had already been proposed in 2021 through the Display Belarusian Design Cabinet during a Russian military exhibition. The most complex technical challenge was drone stability When shooting, since most quadcopters are too light to support the backward. However, The “Queen of Hornets”due to its size and reinforced design, it seems to have resolved this obstacle: in the Video widespreadno instability is observed after the shot. In parallel, Ukrainian engineers have managed to convert even agricultural drones such as the DJI AGRAS T30 (originally designed for fumigation) on attack platforms, equipping them with PKM machine guns and launched Bullspike-Atcapable of attacking tanks, self -propelled artillery and fortified positions. A radical transformation. As we told at the beginning, the war in Ukraine is changing many of the war concepts that were in the battles of the past. But above any other actor, the introduction Drone successnow even shooting grenades from airmarks a before and after in the development of the technological war. While traditional artillery and heavy weapons continue to play an important role, the miniaturization of fire power and its integration into reusable and precise drones represents a strategic advance that combines efficiency, lethality and operational economy. The question now is not whether this technology will be extended, but rather how fast Ukraine can produce it in mass and how Russia will respond to a threat that becomes increasingly silent, unpredictable and difficult to stop. Image | Army Inform In Xataka | The last and surprising tactic of Ukraine to avoid the Russian drones: hide their tanks and artillery underground In Xataka | The last tactic of Ukraine is a drone that seeks to catch him. When Russia opens it displays its threat: a virus

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