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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightU.S. Military Doesn’t Know Where Chinese Space Debris Might Land
The U.S. military is tracking an enormous piece of Chinese space debris which is expected to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere sometime around May 8, according to a press release from U.S. Space Command. But as the Pentagon points out, no one knows quite where it will land yet. The space debris in question is formally … Continued
By Matt Novak -
ScienceSpace & SpaceflightSpace Force Personnel Will Be Called ‘Guardians’ Because Sure, Whatever
Outbound Vice President/gynophobe-in-chief Mike Pence announced at a press conference on Friday that enlisted personnel in the Space Force will be referred to as “Guardians.” I have a lot of questions here. Pence apparently means “guardians” in the sense that Army troops are called soldiers, Naval enlisted are called sailors, Air Force personnel are called … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsU.S. Military Releases New Video of What Trump Calls ‘Super Duper Missile’
The U.S. Army aired new video of its secretive hypersonic missile on Tuesday, a rare look at what President Donald Trump has previously described as America’s “super duper missile.” And while we still don’t know much about the missile’s specs, hypersonic missiles are almost certainly the future of military posturing during the New Cold War, … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsAOC Files Measure to Kill U.S. Military Twitch Streams as Battle Over Protester Bans Heats Up
U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez plans to file an amendment that would bar any part of the U.S. military from spending federal funds to operate accounts on any “video game, esports, or live-streaming platform,” Vice reported on Wednesday. At the same time, prominent civil rights groups have demanded service branches immediately reverse bans of users … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsDozens of U.S. Marines Test Positive For Covid-19 in Japan, Angering Local Authorities
At least 62 U.S. Marines have tested positive for coronavirus at American military bases in Japan, according to a new report from the Japan Times. It’s not yet clear whether the U.S. service members brought covid-19 with them from overseas or if they were infected while in Japan. But either way, authorities in Japan are … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsWhite House, Military Chiefs Sued for Unprovoked Assault on D.C. Activists
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has asked a federal court to impanel a jury to determine whether senior members of the Trump administration, including Attorney General Bill Barr, violated the constitutional rights of demonstrators when they used U.S. military soldiers to clear them away from a park near the White House nearly a half-hour … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsBonehead Mercenaries Behind Failed Coup in Venezuela Plagiarized Website
A U.S. private military contractor with a plagiarized website and unclear connections to Trump’s White House recently attempted to invade Venezuela and depose its authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro and replace him with a U.S.-backed puppet government this month—leading to predictably disastrous results. In the aftermath, the record of incompetence involved in this story has only … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsLeak Exposes U.S. Navy Sailor as Once-Prolific Recruiter for Neo-Nazi Group [Updated]
Hate forums and social media platforms have likely made it easier for atomized white supremacists and neo-Nazis to find like-minded individuals, laying the base for a resurgence in far-right organizing and violence. But that’s come with a price: a lengthy online trail that makes it difficult to stay anonymous. Leaks and loose tongues can let … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityCongress Warns U.S. Will Be Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks Without Major Reform
A major congressional study of U.S. preparedness in cyberspace released this week found that the U.S. needs to catch up, and fast—or run the risk of being caught off guard by an adversary. “The U.S. government is currently not designed to act with the speed and agility necessary to defend the country in cyberspace,” the final … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsReport: 51 Members of Congress and Their Spouses Collectively Own Millions in Defense Stocks
51 members of Congress or their spouses own between $2.8 million to $5.3 million worth of stock in the top 30 defense contractors worldwide, Sludge reported on Monday, thus placing them in a position to potentially profit from the U.S. military contracting process or wars waged with the firms’ equipment. According to Sludge, the data … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsU.S. Confirms Iranian Missile Strikes on Iraqi Bases Housing U.S. Troops
The Department of Defense said in a statement on Tuesday evening (EST) that the Iranian military retaliated against the Trump administration’s assassination of Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani last week, launching “more than a dozen ballistic missiles against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq” in the early hours of Wednesday morning local time. … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsU.S. Air Force Tests Unarmed Nuclear Missile Following North Korea’s Latest Missile Launch
The U.S. military launched an unarmed nuclear-capable missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 4:13 am ET/1:13am PT this morning, right on the heels of North Korea’s latest missile test overnight. U.S.-based missile tests are scheduled months, if not years, in advance, but the timing is one hell of a coincidence. The Air Force’s Minuteman … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsArmy to Test New Helluva Way to Die: Robotic Combat Vehicles
The U.S. Army—which has already been testing robotic squad vehicles like the Multi-Utility Tactical Transport (MUTT) and semi-autonomous targeting systems like the Advanced Targeting and Lethality Automated System (ATLAS)—says it will conduct live-fire testing of a new Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) built on M113 armored personnel carrier chassis next year. As first flagged by the … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsReport: US Carried Out Cyber Attacks on Iranian Assets Tied to Revolutionary Guard Corps
Donald Trump called off a military strike on undisclosed Iranian assets this week after reports Iran’s Revolutionary Guard shot down a RQ-4A Global Hawk surveillance drone, the incident itself following accusations of Iranian responsibility for attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. But U.S. Cyber Command launched a retaliatory cyber attack on “an … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsFAA Bans Flights Near Persian Gulf as President Trump Orders Military Strike Against Iran Then Calls It Off
The Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency order overnight barring U.S.-based airlines from flying over some airspace controlled by Iran. The FAA order came just as news broke that President Donald Trump had ordered a military strike against Iran on Thursday, but had called it off at the last minute. The FAA order bars U.S.-based … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsTrump Says He Doesn’t ‘Particularly’ Believe in UFOs and Come On, Would He Lie About Something?
Donald Trump mumbled his way through a response to a softball question on UFOs and extraterrestrial life in an interview with Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos in a clip released on Saturday. Trump told Stephanopoulos that he had attended a “very brief meeting” on the matter, but that he is not in fact all that … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsRaytheon, United Technologies to Merge, Forming One of World’s Biggest Defense and Aerospace Firms [Updated]
Update: 6/9/2019 at 10:10 p.m. ET: Per a Raytheon press release on Sunday, this merger is now official (and announced slightly sooner than expected). Gizmodo’s original coverage follows below. Sometimes, when two major military contractors love money very much, they get together and reverse-mitosis into one larger military contractor. Defense contractor Raytheon, manufacturer of everything from … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsThe U.S. Army Once Kept $1 Billion Worth of LSD in a Maryland Office for Some Reason
James Ketchum, an Army psychiatrist who conducted controversial drug experiments on members of the U.S. military, died last month, on May 27, at the age of 87. And while Ketchum’s legacy is filled with plenty of weird and horrifying tales, there’s one story that should get more attention in the wake of his death. Specifically, … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsCIA’s Solution to Killing Too Many Civilians: Knife Bomb
The CIA and the U.S. military have been using a new type of missile during some drone strikes in recent years, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. What makes this new missile unique? It doesn’t explode and instead deploys sharp blades, hitting targets “like a speeding anvil” from the sky. The new … Continued
By Matt Novak
