Tag Archives: Drones

Analysis: U.S. Builds Drone Fleet To Counter China

Wall Street Journal (December 6, 2023) – To help counter China, the U.S. military is racing to develop a fleet of next-generation drones. For the Pentagon, it’s not just a matter of gaining the technological edge.

Video timeline: 0:00 Autonomous systems 0:40 The need for next-generation drones 1:49 Scaling up 4:07 Keeping up with China

It’s a race against the clock, as Beijing has militarized islands in the South China Sea, and President Xi Jinping has ordered his military to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Some experts are skeptical the U.S. military can work fast enough to meet its goals.

News: Belarus And Poland Tensions, India Bans China Made Drone Components

The Globalist Podcast, Wednesday, August 9 2023: Is Belarus’s Lukashenko aggravating Poland without direction from Putin?

Also in the programme: we discuss why India is banning makers of military drones from using Chinese parts, get the latest from France’s bubbling wine harvest and flick through the day’s papers.

Analysis: Ukraine Drones Destroying Russian Tanks

Wall Street Journal (July 27, 2023) – Since the Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces began, there’s been a dramatic increase in Ukraine’s use of FPV, or first person view drones to execute kamikaze-style attacks on Russian tanks, troop positions and other large-scale weapons.

Video timeline: 0:00 Increase in use of FPV drones 1:01 The kamikaze drone process 2:15 Destroying targets

The aim is to operate cheaply and to make the military less dependent on Western weapons. WSJ gathered dozens of videos from Ukrainian units on the frontlines, to break down how their drone teams execute these attacks on Russia’s military.

#Russia #Ukraine #WSJ

Analysis: Ukraine’s Tech Sector Leads ‘Drone War’

Financial Times (July 25, 2023) -From the production of cheap battlefield drones to AI-powered missile detection, Ukrainian tech start-ups, IT workers and volunteers have been developing military tech and putting themselves on the front line of the war effort

Video timeline: 00:00 Ukraine’s tech war 00:39 The growing tech sector 01:28 The tech start-up: Respeecher and AI voice cloning 03:35 The miltech start-up: Zvook and AI missile detection 05:32 A digitally-focused country 08:00 A fully-fledged drone war 09:06 The drone start-up 11:17 Drones: the growth of the market 12:41 Why drones? 14:13 Drones and the women’s veteran movement 16:00 Ukrainian resilience 16:30 Air Alert! Ajax Systems 19:30 It’s not just about drones 20:12 The anti-drone gun: DroneUA 21:04 Who’s winning the tech war? 22:45 The army of robots 23:36 A new Israel? 24:46 The war has changed us

#Ukraine #Fedorov #drones

Travel: An Aerial Tour Of Victoria, Australia (2023)

STREAMSTAR

STREAMSTAR VIDEOS (May 10, 2023) – Victoria is a state in southeast Australia. It encompasses mountains, national parks, wineries and surfing beaches. Melbourne, the state capital, has a warren of 19th-century ‘laneways’, and a central arts precinct. The Great Ocean Road follows the coast west to Port Campbell National Park, where the Twelve Apostles are limestone stacks on the edge of the ocean.

Military Analysis: The U.S. & China Drone Competition

China is expanding its military arsenal with new drones, including stealth versions and those that can swarm and drop bombs. WSJ compares the tech and design of these drones with their U.S. counterparts to see how Beijing is equipping its military for possible future conflict. Photo composite: Sharon Shi

Views: Goat Herding With Drones & Smartphones In Inner Mongolia (Video)

Troubled by his missing goat, Hu-Chun, a herder living in the steppes of Inner Mongolia, embarks on a journey to bring Ghalatar back into the fold. With a smartphone in hand and a motorcycle as his faithful steed, Hu-Chun traverses the mountain and desert plains herding around 500 goats. As a college-educated man who has returned from the city to continue his family’s agricultural way of life, Hu-Chun is part of a new generation of Mongolian herders embracing technology and a traditional lifestyle. He has also installed a 360-degree camera on top of a hill to monitor the precipitous terrain surrounding his home… continue reading on https://o6g7.app.link/kCWWETUZ1ib

Analysis: Why Demand For Armed-Drones Is Surging

Armed drones are growing in military importance as conflicts around the world have proven the utility of these effective tools of war. Companies in China, Turkey, and Russia, among others, have developed advanced remotely piloted aircraft that can use guided weapons on and off the battlefield.

The widespread use of drones in Iraq and Afghanistan by the United States to target and kill insurgents jump started a new chapter in the history of conflict. These high flying and remotely piloted aircraft could engage targets with impunity while the operators were safely working in a ground control station. Keeping the crews out of danger also made the drones politically cheap to use over dangerous skies.

Now more and more countries are gaining this military capability for their own purposes. “At the moment, we’ve seen over 100 states worldwide using military drones and that number is growing significantly” said Wim Zwijnenburg, Project leader, Humanitarian Disarmament at PAX. “We have over 20 states that are using armed drones in conflicts or outside of armed conflicts.”

Although larger and more complex drones, like the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper are not cheap to develop or operate, smaller drones are becoming more ubiquitous in conflict zones. Limiting the proliferation of these smaller drones, and the ability to weaponize them, is a regulatory nightmare for government agencies around the world.

“Drones are just model airplanes with great sensors on them. And all of these are dual use and have been used in the civilian realm” said Ulrike Franke, a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “And in fact, drones have risen enormously in the civilian realm over the last five to 10 years. And so controlling their export is really difficult.”

City Views: Philadelphia – Pennsylvania (4K Video)

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s largest city, is notable for its rich history, on display at the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall (where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed) and other American Revolutionary sites. Also iconic are the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, immortalized by Sylvester Stallone’s triumphant run in the film “Rocky.” 

Aerial Travel: ‘Threlkeld – Lake District’, Cumbria In Northern England (Video)

This was filmed in late Nov 28th 2020 in the late afternoon with the Mavic 2 Zoom. Filmed & edited by Eden Valley Drones UK.

Threlkeld is a village and civil parish in the north of the Lake District in Cumbria, England, to the east of Keswick. It lies at the southern foot of Blencathra, one of the more prominent fells in the northern Lake District, and to the north of the River Glenderamackin.