@hanse_mina Until autonomous loitering UAVs and dirigibles become commonplace I'd like to see manned twin-turboprops carrying compact radars, Link16-type comms and APKWS-type low-cost rockets patrolling hostile borders.
#EuropeanDefence
@eff @newyorktimes Opportunity missed? #Palantir and #PeterThiel are at the very heart of the #NetworkState project (also see #Project2025) intent on ending liberal democracy and indeed USA as a republic.
It also strikes me as insane to have Palantir involved in #EuropeanDefence projects. In fact most of the new military startups in the USA are intimately linked to the fascist-leaning #techbros... π¬
@thejapantimes Designing and building a small number of expensive snowflakes (like #GCAP and #FCAS) was never a recipe for great success.
Now the MAGA regime means the USA can't be trusted while the #CCP China has 5th gen designs and the industrial base and intent to outmanufacture all democracies. And when "the time is right" they will sell their advanced military gear to their despot allies, including putin.
Perhaps democracies should consider rationalizing their plans and settle for a unified airframe design that can be mass-produced and equipped with mass-produced electronics and armament. The time isn't ideal for profiteering and IP masturbation.
I've previously suggested using the *existing* Korean #KF21 as a starting platform because we might not have *years* let alone decades to start building actual deterrence... π¬
So russia is beginning to intensify its attacks for a more massive summer offensive, having used its fake "ceasefires" to reorganize and redeploy the orc forces in preparation.
The orcs now also have new priority in targetting the drone operators of the Ukranian defence, with new toys to triangulate locations and more wire guided drones to get at them.
The obvious counter-defence is for the defenders to run a cable from the drone controller unit to the radio unit reasonable distance away.
In addition they should have 'killer drones' clearing their skies of russian surveillance drones (preventative effect), and if possible, set the radio unit somewhere that can be protected with discreet netting hung between trees which can snare careless quadcopter types.
Besides the orc losses and regrettable losses among the defenders there's parallel attrition warfare happening to exhaust enemy resources and finance.
You don't want to expend a 40k euro Stinger missile on a 1k enemy drone repeteatedly unless you absolutely have to.
There's over 2000km of front line that must be manned and protected...
Final punchline: βUkraine and its partners must strip the Kremlin of its illusions.β
π―
European Consortium Secures EDF Funding to Develop Multipurpose Unmanned Ground Systems
#EDF #iMUGS2 #UGS #UnmannedSystems #EuropeanDefence #MilremRobotics #MilitaryTech #AutonomousSystems #DefenceInnovation #EuropeSecurity #MilitaryDevelopment
@hanse_mina Here's an idea: Starting May 1st 2025,
#1 Anyone engaged in the invasion of a friendly democracy will receive a *lifetime* ban from *all democracies*.
#2 Anyone involved in the war effort will receive 25 year ban from *all democracies*. (applies to manufacturing, propaganda etc.)
Why? I don't want to see a single ruzzian invader unless its through the sights...
This might even deter recruitment... even if just a little bit.
Also the Chinese CCP subjects might have something to think about. (Also apply it to CCP's military that is currently occupying China's and *Tibet's* neighbours.
Perhaps this ban should be applied to all regime enforcers of dictatorships if only to make those 'jobs' less appealing...
#EuropeanDefence #AxisOfDemocracies #India #Bhutan #Philippines #SouthKorea #Japan #Tibet #EastTurkistan
It is more than mildly annoying that as a growing assortment of nasty 'strongmen' are re-energized trying to erase modern civilization across the globe, the self-acclaimed "greatest nation" and "home of the free" is demanding the spotlight while a bunch of deranged billionaires herding moronic maga hoards is hellbent on resetting the USA back to the 1800s feudal order under them.
Pro tip: Every respectable person, institution or country needs to stop pandering to #trump. It only fuels his insecure and incessantly vain ego.
The orange despot-wannabe nobody needs to be *universally vilified*. NOW.
World's democracies need to establish a "Group of XX" to coordinate their survival.
The United Nations was supposed to be that place; it had an admirable charter and all. Use its dead husk to organize a new cocoon and a seed bank...
#murica #project2025 #UnitedNations #EuropeanDefence #Democracy
@hanse_mina Europe doesn't need or especially want uberpowerul military corporations. German gov't or the EU should place competitive orders for designs and then distribute manufacturing across partners in Europe.
They should keep the crucial software, IP and circuits manufactured under separate high security arrangements of course.
The original developers would still get licensing fees, but right now volume is the key. Supposing we're watching Ukraine getting relentlessly hit every day and learning from their suffering.
World's democracies condemned the crackdown in Hong Kong, but did nothing to impose costs on the CCP dictatorship. Instead business (read: Chinese exports) only grew and grew. Gotta empower them despots! Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
Hong Kong's pro-democracy struggle presented an opportunity for democracies to stand up against dictatorship, but we failed miserably.
Giving the #CCP yet another free pass (after its repressive occupation of Tibet in 1950-1951 and the 1989 Tiananmen massacre) surely emboldened #putin to invade #Ukraine in 2022.
Repression of Tibetans, Uighurs, South-Mongolians, Hongkongers... or a billion+ voiceless Chinese brought no consequences, but at least the invasion of *European* Ukraine gave us Europeans a limited wakeup.
It's not enough. We could have aided developing democracies when the Soviet empire fell in 1989-1991 and *not aided* repressive regimes. Instead we doubled down on doing business without limits and empowered the likes of Chinese dictatorship.
There are things I love about Europe, and things I am deeply ashamed of. Talking about human rights while empowering despots belongs in the latter category.
Some foreign individuals did "Stand with Hong Kong" though. At least one here in Mastodon is, as always, still busy fighting authoritarian takeover. Now in her homeland of the USA.
βYour freedom and mine cannot be separated.β
β Nelson Mandela
#Hongkong #Tibet #Uighurs #ccp #china #EuropeanDefence #AxisOfDespots
@EUCommission A good way of boosting security is not empowering hostile regimes through trade and technology transfer in the first place.
Imagine if all developed democracies had decided to support developing *democracies* through aid and mutually beneficial trade since say 1990 onwards. We'd now have a large community of democracies instead of the revanchist imperial dictatorships like Russia and China which we built up in their place. Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
Denmark Joins Multinational Common Armoured Vehicle System Programme
#DefenceCooperation #CAVS #Patria6x6 #EuropeanDefence #NATO #MilitaryCollaboration #DefenceInnovation #SecuritySupply
Denmark Joins Multinational Common Armoured Vehicle System Programme
#DefenceCooperation #CAVS #Patria6x6 #EuropeanDefence #NATO #MilitaryCollaboration #DefenceInnovation #SecuritySupply
If Moscow manages to negotiate the lifting of sanctions in exchange for a ceasefire, its militarised economy will quickly regain strength
=
Only deterrence by denial β ensuring that any future attack would be impossible or overwhelmingly costly β can secure lasting peace in the region.
=
Deterrence must be pan-European, treating Ukraineβs security as an integral part of the broader European defence architecture
=
From: https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/consolidating-europes-eastern-frontiers-options-ukraine-and-continent
Netherlands Partners with VDL Groep to Accelerate Local Production of Combat Vehicles, Drones and Reduce Dependence on Non-European Suppliers
#Netherlands #Defence #VDLGroep #MilitaryProduction #SupplyChainSecurity #EuropeanDefence
Netherlands Partners with VDL Groep to Accelerate Local Production of Combat Vehicles, Drones and Reduce Dependence on Non-European Suppliers
#Netherlands #Defence #VDLGroep #MilitaryProduction #SupplyChainSecurity #EuropeanDefence
@AliceStollmeyer @anneapplebaum This might be the first time that I must politely disagree with @anneapplebaum. Pacifism in itself isn't the problem here, but the absolutist version of it advocating for total surrender.
I'm a (peacetime) pacifist who believes (believed?) not only in credible *deterrence* in military terms but also in holistic *avoidance*. π
I have advocated against empowering dictatorships through business, normalization and appeasement (without credible actions towards democracy and human rights) since the 1989 Tiananmen massacre. First over the bonkers and near instantaneous rehabilitation of the CCP-ruled China out of sheer greed, and in the 2000's the revisionist putin regime which noted how the CCP got away with murder without consequences because *business and greed dictated policy in democracies*.
Our democracies had a pacifist way forward after the Cold War: Support developing democracies with trade and aid while targeting repressive regimes with punitive tariffs (yes the could be used for good!) and technology embargoes.
Instead of a strong global alliance of democracies we now have military-expansionist and revanchist China and Russia using all their wealth, power and guile to subvert those still-struggling democracies to the dark side. And not only that, they're trying to disrupt and fragment our once-powerful developed democracies as well! (Hello russian influence on the trump regime!)
The era of potential pacifist deterrence ended in February 2022 and we're *still funding* those hostile regimes. π€―
(Anne's piece was posted on the fundamentally anti-democratic substack site so I steered clear π)
#pacifism #democracy #authoritarianism #Ukraine #russia #CCP #china #EuropeanDefence
Finnish veteran who fought in Afghanistan explains why comparing US and European defence spending isnβt necessarily compatible:
The US taxpayer ends up paying much more for the same capability. US bang-per-buck is much lower, up to 10x in some cases.
Inflated prices for defence procurement look good on paper, which may be what has been intended..
https://youtube.com/watch?v=BrzunwO_g1M
#defence #economics #budget #EuropeanDefence
@hanse_mina Spain again. π€―
It's either authoritarian Right or Authoritarian-friendly Left that is eager to collaborate with the (fake-Left) Chinese dictatorship... π€·π»ββοΈ
Is it the Southern climate thing, the catholic tradition or what...?
γWhile the F-35 might not have an explicit βkill switchβ feature, the program down to its very core, at least currently, creates significant and historically worrisome dependencies for the majority of Joint Strike Fighter operators. The aircraft requires constant support from a supply chain and just-in-time logistics concept that already has raised massive concerns. So many of its key features being tied to ALIS/ODIN only exacerbate these concerns. But really, the F-35 is just the proverbial canary in the geopolitical coal mine.
With the current trajectory of U.S. government policy toward Ukraine and NATO, real worries about future support for American-made systems are only likely to grow, and there is a real possibility that U.S. arms exports to Europe could shrink as a result. γ
https://www.twz.com/air/you-dont-need-a-kill-switch-to-hobble-exported-f-35s
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