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Boat builders looking for new mission: Weapons and Warfare

May 1, 2024
In this episode of Weapons and Warfare, head out on the Potomac River with host Ryan Robertson as he visits a longtime boat maker. Ghostworks Marine is a maritime company hoping to turn its yacht racing background into a winning formula for special operations forces.

Also featured in this episode:
- The United States is planning to pull out from a West African nation, but that could be cause for concern if the country turns to Russia or Iran for help.
- A German manufacturer is setting up shop in the Baltics, bringing more security to the region.
- The Army axed its plans for a new helicopter program, saying its mission has changed, leaving hundreds looking for new work.
- Plus, this episode’s weapon of the week is an unmanned assault aircraft from Bell, which could be a big player in the future of America’s national defense.
You can subscribe to the Weapons and Warfare podcast on the platform of your choosing here.
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Ukraine retreats from villages as it waits for US aid to arrive

April 29, 2024
Over the weekend of April 27, Ukrainian troops were on the retreat from Russian forces. The United States is rushing aid to Ukraine since the foreign aid package passed on April 24. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the weapons coming from the U.S. need to come faster because Russia is capitalizing on the holding period.

Zelenskyy said the aid is urgent since Russia’s artillery shells outnumber Ukraine’s 10 to one.

Ukraine’s shortfalls on the battlefield range from manpower to artillery. Russia is taking advantage, advancing through at least half a dozen villages since February following a capture in the critical town of Avdiivka, which was once held by Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is on the offensive. Ukraine is pulling back its line of defense as Ukrainian troops were ordered to retreat from multiple villages.

Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, one of Ukraine’s top commanders, said his troops have been outgunned and are in a dire situation. Syrskyi said the conditions are worsening as Russia presses against Ukraine, which is waiting on U.S. stockpiles to help reload on the battlefield.

Ukrainian officials said the retreat ordered by Ukraine is to strategically and safely position its forces until the troops can get the new artillery. The acquisition of aid from the U.S. could help forces potentially try to go back into captured areas.

According to Ukraine’s own intelligence, the war will be its most difficult from mid-May to early June.

Zelenskyy is hopeful the aid from the U.S. can change the situation on the battlefield. While the aid did pass Congress, there has been skepticism surrounding whether the $60 billion for Ukraine will do anything significant.

Some military experts are doubtful it will equip Ukraine for a major offensive operation. The only Ukrainian-born U.S. lawmaker, Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., was against the aid package — even for her homeland.

“You know, we have the false choice of either saying that Ukraine doesn’t matter to America or support Ukraine with no question asked with blank checks,” Spartz said. “Both of these positions are not good in our national interest, and both of these positions are not good in the interest of the people of Ukraine.”

Now in its third year, people have different viewpoints on how the war is going. Some military experts said this latest round of aid will give Ukraine the chance to prevail while others believe it will help Ukraine stay in the war, not win it.
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Aid package to Ukraine ‘not aimed at achieving victory’

April 25, 2024

The United States has passed a Ukraine aid bill and is sending more than a billion dollars worth of weaponry to Ukraine. So, that means Ukraine can finally win the war with Russia, right? Well, no. Not at all really.

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1783188939479589338

“This aid is not aimed at achieving victory, but rather at avoiding a clear loss,” said Irina Tsukerman, a human rights and national security lawyer, as well as a geopolitical analyst.

Tsukerman said while Congress debated whether to send more aid for months, Ukrainian soldiers were forced to ration everything, even bullets.

Once President Joe Biden signed the over $61 billion aid bill into law, he immediately used his drawdown authority to put together an initial aid package totaling more than $1 billion. However, not all of that money is going to Ukraine; around three-quarters of the funds from the package will be spent in the U.S. to restock its own supplies.

What is included for Ukraine in this first tranche is ammunition for pretty much every kind of U.S. weapon in Ukraine — small arms rounds for rifles, several types of missiles for air defense systems, artillery — including high explosive and cluster rounds, more Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles and the long-range variant of the ATACMS missile, which is designed to be used against more hardened targets like buildings and bunkers.

Russia’s nuclear intentions up in space: Weapons and Warfare

Many in Congress thought this would be the first time the long-range ATACMS would be sent to Ukraine. But, after Biden signed the aid deal into law, National Security advisor Jake Sullivan revealed the U.S. had already secretly sent some long-range ATACMS to Ukraine in February and March, and that they were used against a Russian airfield in Crimea.

The attack proves Ukraine can use the ground-launched weapons to strike hardened Russian targets up to 200 miles away. So, more Russian logistics hubs, command centers and other sensitive sites are now at much greater risk.

Tsukerman emphasized that while Ukraine will find ways to ration its new supply of ATACMS effectively, the weapons won’t be enough to secure a Ukrainian victory.

“All [the ATACMS are] doing is offsetting a very serious disadvantage that [the Ukrainians] have had since the end of their own counter-offensive until the present day,” Tsukerman said.

Tsukerman suggested that significantly more ammunition and more Patriot batteries should be sent over. Germany indicated it may send another Patriot air defense system to Ukraine. Tsukerman also said Israel may have some air defense systems to spare.

Israel’s relationship with Russia is complicated, and there were some concerns that Israel’s air defense systems may not be able to stop Russian weapons since they were designed to counter Iranian threats. However, since Russia is relying more and more on Iranian weapons to attack Ukraine, Israeli air defenses would likely work just fine.

Attacks from Iran against Israel prove need for laser weapons

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Machina Labs tackles military challenges with new tech: Weapons and Warfare

April 24, 2024
In this episode of Weapons and Warfare, meet the Southern California startup that could change the game for the military’s billion-dollar parts problem. Host Ryan Robertson visits with one of the leaders at Machina Labs to see how its tech could be the answer to many issues facing military maintainers.

Also featured in this episode:
- Israel strikes back at Iran, increasing tensions in the Middle East and with allies.
- New details on a congressional aid package and the delivery of F-16s to Ukraine.
- Deployment delayed: Why a Navy amphibious assault ship turned back.
- And a small, but powerful, piece of tech is our weapon of the week.
You can subscribe to the Weapons and Warfare podcast on your chosen platform here.
A new USV is working to be self-sufficient: Weapon of the week

April 17, 2024
The weapon of the week is Metal Shark’s Prowler — a new unmanned surface vessel (USV) that could help out the Navy and Marine Corps. Ryan Robertson had a conversation with the president and CEO of Metal Shark, Christopher Allard, at the U.S. Navy League’s annual exposition for America’s maritime forces and commercial partners.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Ryan Robertson: Chris, thanks so much for joining us today. The Prowler — tell me about this thing.

Christopher Allard: Yeah, it’s a pretty cool product. So the last five or six years, we’ve been working on autonomous vessels, different Coast Guard, Navy, Marine Corps [USVs]. Learned a lot and wanted to take an opportunity to develop something. It really wasn’t targeted at a specific set of requirements, we could tailor it to what we thought some of the options could be done.

A couple of things about [the Prowler], she’s about 30 feet long, inboard diesel powered but also autonomous. She has a self-powered front wheel that allows her to kind of climb a ramp and move around a base [at] three to five miles an hour. Not long range, just getting in and out of the water on its own. And then the front wheel retracts and the rear wheels are over the road highway rated. It is its own trailer, we learned a lot about how hard it is sometimes in a USV mission, when it starts at location A, moves to location B and it didn’t bring its own trailer, didn’t bring its own support system. So [we’re] working to try and get it to be self-sufficient in those kind of applications.

It’s also semi-submersible. It wasn’t in the original design brief, but one of my engineers and I were looking at it, and we realized that it wasn’t that hard. The boats are a boat in a boat, if you will. There’s a box in the middle. The box is watertight carries the engine, the fuel, the autonomy systems, all the things that it takes to operate. And then the outer part of the boat is basically tanks free to flood. [The Prowler] operates at speed like a normal boat, but when she stops, she kind of automatically ingests water into these tanks creates a lower profile, which [in] certain applications is nice from a visibility or lack of perspective.

[It also] makes them more sea kindly on station, so the extra water… keeps the boat more stable for both the sensors and also for survivability higher sea states that it might have to live through.

Ryan Robertson: So you said you’re you’re working with Marines and the Navy right now, there’s no contracts yet. But you’re working to hopefully get to that point. Is that correct?

Christopher Allard: We still have an ongoing contract with the Marines in support of the [Long Range USV], but we’re certainly at the tail end of it. The boats have been fielded, the Marines have been operating them. But that one’s still ongoing.

Ryan Robertson: What’s next for Prowler? What’s the future?

Christopher Allard: Part of coming [to the exposition] and doing what we’re doing…is to get feedback, see what ideas hit home, what [doesn’t], and understand what people are trying to do. We are moving into developing our own command and control system that will give us the ability to control [the Prowlers]. That’s not done yet. But that would be what was what would be next… we want to make it a turnkey solution that will then just interface with a software only with autonomy providers, [unmanned aerial vehicle] providers, automatic target recognition providers. That’s not our space, but we can provide the host system that makes them ready to ready to do that with a software update, that kind of thing.

To hear the entire conversation with Christopher Allard, listen to Weapons and Warfare podcast and learn more about where the Prowler is in the market now as well as the Navy and Marine Corps’ need for surface vessels.

Access the full Weapons and Warfare episode here.

Access all Weapons and Warfare podcast episodes here.
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Attacks from Iran against Israel prove need for laser weapons

April 16, 2024

Iran’s historic attack on Israel didn’t damage much of anything actually in Israel, but it did cost the Jewish state around $1.3 billion. That’s according to the latest expert analysis of the ordeal.

The Israel Defense Force said 99% of the 300 or so threats fired from Iran at Israel were intercepted. Iran used an assortment of drones and missiles in its attack, which was said to be in retaliation for an alleged Israeli strike that killed two Iranian generals. There is footage from Iranian social media which showed at least some of the drones and missiles fired from Iran failed to leave Iranian airspace, instead falling on fields and homes below.

Israel employed some of the world’s foremost air defense systems, taking a layered approach to its success. The Iron Dome protects against short-range rockets, artillery and small drones. David’s Sling is useful against planes, larger drones, tactical missiles and ballistic missiles. The Arrow missile system can take out threats like ICBMs while still in the upper atmosphere.

But defense costs more than offense. A single interceptor from an Iron Dome costs $30,000. One launch from David’s Sling is roughly $700,000 and an Arrow 2 missile is $1.5 million. The upgraded Arrow 3 missiles are going for around $2 million a pop. These are all orders of magnitude more expensive than the weapons they’re designed to interdict.

The attack from Iran against Israel is being called “historic” because this is the first time Iran has launched anything from its own territory to attack Israel, but it’s hardly the first time Iran has ever tried to attack the Jewish state.

There is an argument being made that Iran sent just enough munitions to save face as a “response” to the attack against the two generals at an Iranian consular building.

Why a US general thinks the Middle East is more ‘volatile’ now than last 50 years

There’s another argument that says this attack by Iran could be part of a very deliberate battlefield strategy — one that Russia is using to near perfection in Ukraine. The tactic calls to overwhelm an enemy’s expensive air defenses with cheap munitions a country is willing to lose. So, when the offense breaks out the big guns, it’s able to get past the air defenses and do more damage.

When Iran launched its strike, it’s not like the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and all the various Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-aligned factions in Syria stopped their assaults. Israel and its allies in the U.S., U.K., France and Jordan still needed to defend attacks from multiple directions.

Iran is sitting on a sea of oil money too. Launching more of these relatively cheap attacks could eventually exhaust the supply of those fancy defensive weapons faster than they can be built. Or at least faster than they might be resupplied.

That is why there is so much focus on directed energy weapons, like High-Energy Lasers (HEL) and High-Energy Microwaves (HEM).

These energy weapons are currently in development, and here’s basically where that tech stands: it isn’t perfect, but it’s maturing.

The U.S. Department of Defense spends around a billion dollars a year developing directed energy weapons. There are several types of microwave systems that are good against smaller drones, even waves of them, but they have a limited distance.

Lasers give commanders a little more of that stand-off ability they crave, and for a fraction of the engagement cost of most any kinetic option. On average, a shot from a HEL is in the neighborhood of $11-$12. But getting the weapon out of the lab and into the field on a large scale is proving to be quite complicated.

Drone attacks reported on US bases in Iraq, Syria. This new tech could help.

The U.S. Navy is experimenting with some HELs made by Lockheed Martin aboard several vessels, but there’s no fleet-wide weapon yet. The U.S. Air Force just ditched its plans to put a laser on a special forces Ghostrider gunship.

Israeli-based Rafael is working with Lockheed Martin to further develop the Iron Beam into more of an operational weapon. There’s no timeline on when that project will reach completion, though.

The British Ministry of Defence hit a major testing milestone in March with its directed energy weapon, something the U.K. calls DragonFire.

The laser took down aerial targets for the first time in the test. DragonFire is reportedly accurate enough to hit a £1 coin a kilometer away. That means it can hit a one-inch target from a distance of about two-thirds of a mile.

https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1778707968604639347

DragonFire’s production was already fast tracked once so it could be fielded by 2027. However, the U.K. is now thinking about sending the system to Ukraine even sooner because an imperfect system is better than no system.

So, while directed energy weapons certainly seem like the perfect tech to counter the current threat, developing those weapons into fieldable units is going to take more time and more money.
Armed drone-on-drone violence documented in Ukraine

April 1, 2024

Time to add a couple more entries to the list of military records from the war in Ukraine. On March 29, video was captured showing what could be the first recorded combat between an armed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and armed unmanned ground vehicle (UGV).

The video, posted to Telegram and analyzed by Army Recognition, documents an encounter south of Avdiivka between two Russian ground drones and Ukrainian FPV aerial drones.

The Russian UGVs appear to be immobilized while Ukrainian FPVs carrying explosive munitions hammer away, eventually destroying the Russian’s robotic devices.

Russia forming new armies, building railroads in Ukraine

The Russian UGVs appear to be armed with automatic grenade launchers. Army Recognition reported they were AGS-17s, a launcher developed during the Soviet era and known for its firepower.

The analysts at Army Recognition said the historical moment of the first conflict between armed ground and aerial drones showcases the flexibility the technology now brings to the battlefield, and further signifies the shift towards more autonomous forms of combat.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine are now flying FPV drones with auto-targeting capabilities.

In many of the FPV drone videos from Ukraine, the video feed goes to static before impact. That’s because the drone loses line-of-sight connection with its operators or the drone was successfully jammed with electronic countermeasures. Either way, the last part of the attack is more or less guessing where the target will be and hoping for a hit.

https://twitter.com/sternenko/status/1770348417102819563?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1770348417102819563%7Ctwgr%5Ed44905400f2313f718b599f8da5aad064843db00%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.twz.com%2Fnews-features%2Fautomated-terminal-attack-capability-appears-to-be-making-its-way-into-ukraines-fpv-drones

Now, video from Ukraine’s 60th and 63rd Mechanized Brigades appears to show an FPV drone still hitting its target long after the video feed dropped out. This indicates that the drone was guided to its final destination with the help of artificial intelligence, taking the human out of the loop.

While much of the rest of the world is still debating how drones and AI should be used in warfare, Ukraine and Russia are creating policy on the fly in real time.

The Ukraine war is the first major armed conflict in Europe in 25 years. Since the war broke out, the use of drones developed dramatically fast. Aerial drones now deal more damage for Ukraine than traditional artillery. Unmanned ground vehicles went from simple munitions mules and mine layers to full-on attack platforms and Ukraine’s Sea Baby drones forced Russia’s Black Sea fleet to flee the Black Sea.

None of this is going unnoticed. The United States and plenty of other militaries are adapting their own techniques and future weapons acquisitions based on the lessons learned in Ukraine.

A robotic future: US Army considering a platoon of steel to save lives
Israel withdraws troops from Gaza’s largest hospital after two-week operation

April 1, 2024
Israel withdraws its troops from Gaza’s largest hospital after a two-week military operation. And AT&T has a warning for millions of current and past customers after data was found on the dark web. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Monday, April 1, 2024.

Israel withdraws troops from Gaza’s largest hospital

After 14 days, the Israel Defense Forces said its troops had withdrawn Monday, April 1, from the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, ending its second military operation at the territory’s largest medical facility. Video from the scene showed buildings destroyed in the area.

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The IDF said it had exited the hospital after completing “precise operation activity in the area” and has exited the hospital.”

“The troops killed terrorists in close-quarters encounters, located numerous weapons and intelligence documents throughout the hospital, while preventing harm to civilians, patients and medical teams,” the IDF statement read.

The destruction of Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital — in pictures https://t.co/rDUAVmOwan pic.twitter.com/DPoMZuH6Ue
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 1, 2024

A Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson told CNN the facility has been “completely destroyed and burned down,” adding “injured and burned bodies fill the hospital grounds.”

The withdrawal comes after Israel targeted the area outside another medical facility, Al-Aqsa in central Gaza, on Sunday, with hospital officials there saying two people were killed by the drone strike. Israeli officials said it struck terrorists that were operating from that hospital’s courtyard.

🔴An IAF aircraft struck an operational Islamic Jihad command center and terrorists positioned in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Hospital in the area of Deir al Balah.

Following the precise strike, the Al-Aqsa Hospital building was not damaged and its function was not affected.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 31, 2024

In Israel, anti-government protesters took to the streets on Sunday, demonstrating outside the country’s parliament in Jerusalem. They called for the release of hostages and the removal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu underwent surgery for a hernia on Sunday. Hospital officials said the surgery was successful.

Pope calls for end of conflicts in Easter message

In his Easter message on Sunday, Pope Francis hoped for an end to conflicts across the world, appealing for peace in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine.

Francis spoke in front of tens of thousands of worshipers at the Vatican, calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and the release of all hostages and prisoners of war.

#Easter pic.twitter.com/pEJK7OpNg2
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) March 31, 2024

Following Sunday’s mass, the pontiff toured St. Peter’s Square in his vehicle before delivering his annual Easter message.

The Vatican has said the 87-year-old pope has been battling the flu all winter leading him to skip the Way of the Cross procession on Good Friday to “preserve his health.”

Work continues to remove wreckage after bridge collapse

The Captain of the Port of Baltimore is preparing to establish a temporary alternate channel to allow commercially essential vessels to travel around the area of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Over the weekend crews removed a 200-ton piece of the bridge that plunged into the water after being struck by a cargo ship last week.

However, that’s just the start of the cleanup operation.

Work at the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore is entering a new phase with a massive salvage operation underway. @nbcaaron reports on the latest details. pic.twitter.com/1boj1hzsK6
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 1, 2024

Maryland Governor Wes Moore said tons of the wreckage of the Key Bridge still needs to be cleared, as this will allow crews to continue searching for the missing four victims and to continue work to reopen the port.

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg told ABC News on Sunday there is no timeline for reopening the main channel or rebuilding the bridge.

“The Army Corps of Engineers and the Navy are working on it. They have not wanted to speculate yet on a timeline because the operation is so complex. It’s not that you just have to remove the wreckage, it’s that you have to do it in a way that doesn’t cause portions of the bridge that are there across the water to shift,” Buttigieg said. “They’ve been under a lot of compression, tension; they could behave almost like a spring if they are not expertly managed.”

Buttigieg added crews are also working to prevent the 213-million-pound cargo ship from swinging into the channel.

AT&T alerts millions of customers of data breach

Millions of AT&T customers were alerted over the weekend of a breach that resulted in their data, including social security numbers and passcodes, being released on the “dark web.” AT&T said it reset passcodes belonging to the affected 7.6 million current customers.

Approximately 65.4 million former account holders were also impacted by this breach, the company said.

AT&T confirms data of 73 million customers leaked on dark web, investigation ongoing https://t.co/9qXVHn4pxk
— Android Authority (@AndroidAuth) April 1, 2024

AT&T released a notice on Saturday saying the compromised data appears to be from 2019 or earlier and does not contain any personal financial information. The company is investigating the breach with cybersecurity experts.

It is not yet known if the customer data originated from AT&T or one of its vendors.

$20 an hour minimum wage begins for Calif. fast-food workers

Starting Monday, April 1, half a million workers in California will see their pay increase as the state’s new minimum wage for fast-food employees takes effect.

Workers at places like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and Starbucks will start making a minimum wage of $20 an hour. That’s a 25-percent raise for many.

The nation’s highest minimum wage for fast-food workers takes effect in California on Monday. pic.twitter.com/OJVnUlQo1o
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) April 1, 2024

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the “Fast Act” back in September, which requires fast-food chains with 60 or more locations around the country to pay this new minimum wage.

Fast-food chains like Chipotle, McDonald’s, and Jack in the Box have warned prices could increase to offset these higher wages. Other changes fast-food restaurants are said to be taking include increasing automation and cutting workers’ hours.

Men’s NCAA Tournament Final Four is set

The Final Four four is set in the men’s NCAA tournament and it wouldn’t be March Madness without a few more shockers.

Eleventh-seeded North Carolina State continues its run to the national championship by upsetting No. 4-seeded Duke Sunday, March 31, 76-64, making it to the Final Four for the first time since 1983.

NC State will meet No.1 seed Purdue after the Boilermakers took down Tennessee 72-66 earlier in the day.

Another No. 1 seed UConn, looking for back-to-back championships, defeated Illinois 77-52 on Saturday — a win which included the Huskies scoring 30 unanswered points.

Alabama’s 89-82 victory over Clemson secured the Crimson Tide’s place in the Final Four for the first time in school history.

The women’s Final Four will be finalized after today’s games.
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Russia forming new armies, building railroads in Ukraine

March 27, 2024

Russia is still reeling from the attack at a concert that killed more than 130 people. ISIS-K, a wing of the Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the attack which also injured more than 180 people. However, Moscow is doing its best to tie Ukraine to the attacks and drum up more support for its war effort.

https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/1772972086648025277

Russian forces launched a massive volley of missiles and drones against Ukraine following the terrorist attack, seemingly in reprisal. U.S. intelligence agencies said they have proof confirming the ISIS-K claim, but it’s expected Putin and propagandists in Russian state media will still push the Ukraine narrative as a means to keep up recruiting numbers.

Ukraine started warning weeks ago that Russia was preparing for a large summer offensive. Two days before the attack at the concert hall, Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, announced the formation of two new armies this year.

https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1772210313892401479

The British Ministry of Defence said it’s not clear what type of units will make up the new armies, but they will likely include mechanized, armored, artillery and logistics brigades.

The U.K. said Russia’s recruiting efforts continue to be successful. So, the new armies shouldn’t have a staffing problem. But if recent history holds true, it’s likely the new armies will run into the same problems as the current armies. Specifically, the U.K.’s Defence Intelligence agency cites limited training, an over-reliance on what they’re politely calling legacy vehicles, and a wealth of infrastructure issues that are creating resource problems.

How credible is a Russian space-based nuclear threat?

Russian equipment losses just passed the 15,000 mark, meaning Russian forces are driving around decades-old tanks, trucks and armored vehicles. All of these don’t perform nearly as well as more modern models but can still be effective in large enough numbers.

While Ukraine’s preparations for the pending Russian offensive continue all along the front lines, in the air, Ukrainian drone crews are finding new success against Russian oil refineries. Since the start of the year, there were attacks on at least seven facilities.

The forced shutdowns amount to a nearly 7% drop in daily output. Despite international sanctions, oil continues to be a primary source of income for Moscow, which is why so many military analysts call the refineries legitimate targets.

Putin says Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if threatened

Russia said it would put Pantsir air defense systems around refineries to protect them, but that means fewer air defense systems elsewhere. Like shipyards, where Ukrainian long-range cruise missiles continue to add to the number of Russian ships at the bottom of the Black Sea.

A new rail line might make Russia’s Black Sea fleet unnecessary, at least in terms of resupply. Vladimir Putin recently said a new 60-kilometer stretch of railroad was just completed between Kolosky and Kamianka, in occupied Ukraine. That rail line is supposed to tie into existing rail lines that lead to Melitopol in southern Ukraine and another that leads to Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia.

Ukraine’s sea drones keeping Russia’s warships at bay

Rostov is the capital of Russia’s Southern Military District. It’s also the main hub for resupply for troops in southern Ukraine and occupied Crimea. According to Putin, this rail line will eventually extend down into Crimea to Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea fleet is stationed.

The new railroad is meant as a backup to the Kerch Bridge supply, which goes from Russia into occupied Crimea from the east. Like the Kerch bridge, the rail line will be a primary target for Ukraine’s armed forces.

Ukraine and Russia now strapping shrapnel mines to drones

During the Ukrainian counteroffensive in 2023, Ukraine’s primary goal was to cut off Russian troops in southern Ukraine, by pushing down from their territory to the Sea of Azov. Ukraine also heavily attacked the Kerch Bridge in an effort to trap the Russian forces that are in southern Ukraine and occupied Crimea.

Why do they want to do that? Well, for many military analysts, that’s the best way for Ukraine to win. If Ukraine can create and hold areas that would cut off resupply to large numbers or Russian troops and civilians in Crimea, then Ukraine has the best bargaining chip possible to force possibly a Russian withdrawal from occupied territories, and potentially the end of the war.

Russia wants tourists in Crimea to travel through Ukraine war zone

Reuters contributed to this report.
How credible is a Russian space-based nuclear threat?

March 20, 2024

Back in February, Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, caught the attention of the public when he indicated Russia was moving toward making a space-based nuclear weapon. Russia denied the claim, dismissing the statements as a ploy to pressure Russia into an arms deal with the West. The mere idea, though, caused some to wonder, “What if Russia actually made space nukes?”

For most people, the idea of deploying nuclear weapons from space or disabling entire satellite networks sounds like something out of a “James Bond” movie. Rest assured, experts in the field share these sentiments.

“It reminds me of ‘GoldenEye,’ right,” said Dr. Tyler White, an associate professor of practice and the director of the National Security Program at the University of Nebraska. “I think this is something that that other outlets just sort of picked up on where they can, they could use an EMP device or something like that to render the electronics, a lot of these satellites, which are oftentimes very fragile instruments in and of themselves, useless.”

The deployment of nuclear devices in space by Russia could take various forms, but nuclear-powered space lasers are not among them — at least not yet. While the concerns raised by these discussions are valid, experts urge caution, emphasizing the importance of basing conclusions on established facts.

“There’s talk, of course, of the Russians violating the Outer Space Treaty,” said Jack Beard, an associate professor of law and the director of the Space, Cyber, and National Security Program at the University of Nebraska. “That’s premature, not only have they not actually done this yet, but the Soviet Union designed a large part of the Outer Space Treaty.”

That is why Russia may choose not to engage in what Rep. Turner suggests it might be planning. Despite the unpredictability often associated with Vladimir Putin, he has a tendency to favor remnants of the Soviet Union’s policies and strategies.

“My sense is that, as a state, that is certainly not in Russia’s interest, and that a lot of their behaviors seem to still be interested in maintaining some of those alliances, particularly with China,” said Elsbeth Magilton, the executive director of Space, Cyber and Security Law at the University of Nebraska.

For most people, the thought of a Russian nuclear threat from space is extremely unsettling. While Magilton shares this concern, she also emphasizes the importance of perspective.

“When you start working in security and in defense, that notion that we were always so secure my whole life kind of goes away, and you realize how tenuous it always is and always has been,” Magilton said. “And somehow that makes you feel a little bit better because you realize that we’ve always been walking this line, and yes, that’s scary. But I’ve been safe up until now. And so maybe it’s not as bleak as it feels in these moments.”

While Turner’s statements captured attention, other developments in the realm of space and Russia, such as plans to collaborate with China on a nuclear power plant for lunar settlements, could have broader implications for U.S. interests, according to Beard.

“Well, competition on the moon for scarce resources is probably a more formidable threat near term,” Beard said. “I mean, we’re talking about putting people there and using the space resources.”

For White, the concerns in space are intertwined with broader geopolitical uncertainties.

“I worry about the future of NATO, which I think has been an unbelievably productive and [an] incredibly important thing in the history of humankind, right,” White said. “I mean, a defensive alliance like this, it’s lasted this long because the challenges posed by China, the challenges posed by Russia, those things become much easier to handle when you are in a reliable relationship with regional partners. And there’s more uncertainty around the future of those relationships, and most of its coming from the United States.”

While there are no easy or immediate answers to many, if not all, of these concerns, Magilton notes that the current cooperation between American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station is a positive sign.

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