Japan is becoming its own hub in a hub and spoke model of quasi-alliances in the Asia-Pacific. It’s cooperating with many countries and selling needed weapons. Japan is the most trusted major power among ASEAN countries. Beating the EU, US, China, and India.
Ukraine long-range drone strikes defeat advanced Russian anti-air by flying low, limiting the coverage of radars and confusing them with ground structures, while also using AI to target vulnerable and important targets.
Because the US has proven itself an unreliable arms supplier over Ukraine, offering weapons and then suddenly taking them away, Germany has decided to replace the US as a major arms supplier to Europe. This will result in a loss of US sales and negotiating leverage over European countries.
Trump was offered Ukrainian anti-drone systems last year, and he turned it down. There would likely be less destroy American equipment and fewer dead Americans if the US had acquired these systems.
The A10 is an obsolete aircraft. It has found a role against weaker enemies, but in a peer-to-peer conflict, the aircraft is not survivable. At this point, it’s not worth the costs to keep it around. It shouldn’t be replaced with a one-to-one aircraft. It’s role of close-ground support where the craft flies just 200 feet above the ground is not survivable in modern combat against peer-to-peer competitors.
It may be worth keeping around while the US industrial base takes forever to build new aircraft. It can fight drones in the meantime and even launch long-range missiles from the air. In a fight against China, the US will need all the long-range air missile launchers it can get.
“It is already in the hands of deployed forces preparing for real-world missions.
At its core, SMASH is built around automated target tracking and real-time ballistic computation. When a shooter brings the optic onto a target, the system identifies and locks onto it using onboard visual processing. From there, it continuously analyzes movement, range estimation cues, and the shooter’s own weapon stability.
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The optic calculates when a projectile from the rifle will intersect the moving target’s path, accounting for variables such as target velocity, angle change, and shooter-induced sway. Rather than relying purely on instinct and reaction time, the system shifts the hardest part of the engagement into computation. It’s a game changer.
In operational terms, the trigger mechanism is also governed by this solution.
The weapon will not release a shot unless the calculated hit probability meets a defined threshold, though operators can override the system if required. This introduces a hybrid firing model: human intent still initiates engagement, but the system determines optimal timing.”
The US really needs to up their game when it comes to mass, cheap, attritable drones.
Many US methods are obsolete and America’s industrial base is not prepared to mass produce drones. Russia and China are already ahead of the US in drone warfare.
The US needs to work with Ukraine to learn from their experience.