Nepal y varios socios de los EE. UU. comparten la cruda realidad sobre las operaciones de gran altitud Redacción THE WATCH uando las puertas finalmente se abrieron después de una misión aérea de dos horas y media, 128 paracaidistas se prepararon para efectuar el salto de su vida. El salto se hacía desde una altitud de casi 400 metros en la tierra de nadie en el Ártico —en un lugar llamado Deadhorse en Alaska— y traían consigo más de 90 kilogramos en equipo que incluía calzado especial para la nieve, armas y abastecimientos. “Cuando saltan los paracaidistas, la temperatura es…
The Watch
Las Fuerzas Conjuntas consideran la batalla multidominio como la clave para el éxito en el futuro Redacción THE WATCH La proliferación mundial de tecnología militar avanzada ha deteriorado hasta cierto punto la ventaja que los EE. UU. y sus socios militares han tenido durante décadas, facilitando que los adversarios amenacen el uso del aire, el mar, la tierra, el espacio y el ciberespacio. Sin embargo, los Comandantes de los EE. UU., sus aliados y socios se imaginan un campo de batalla diferente. Es un campo de batalla donde las armadas protegen a las fuerzas terrestres y los ejércitos hunden…
Una conferencia regional y agentes cibernéticos amigos del Pentágono ayudan a mejorar la seguridad Redacción THE WATCH La protección contra ataques cibernéticos es crucial para la defensa de cualquier nación. La innovación es clave a medida que evolucionan las tácticas enemigas y los avances tecnológicos revelan nuevas vulnerabilidades. Por este motivo, el Departamento de Defensa de los Estados Unidos (DOD) lanzó el programa “Hackea información al Pentágono”, una audaz iniciativa para reforzar las defensas cibernéticas. El programa, lanzado en 2016, fue el primero en su tipo para el gobierno federal. Permite a los individuos buscar errores y vulnerabilidades en los sitios…
How small satellites are revolutionizing space Erica Sullivan, Los Alamos National Laboratory On a clear morning in Sriharikota, India, in mid-February 2017, a rocket launched carrying a record-breaking 104 satellites, including 101 CubeSats. CubeSats are nothing new. A type of small satellite comprising units measuring 10 centimeters by 10 centimeters by 10 centimeters, they were first developed at Cal Poly and Stanford universities in the late 1990s as a training tool for aerospace engineering students. (“SmallSats” are lighter than 500 kilograms; so all CubeSats are SmallSats, but not all SmallSats are CubeSats.) It wasn’t long before governments began to look…
Deployment to Norway fortifies NATO alliance THE WATCH Staff When more than 300 U.S. Marines arrived on the snowy slopes of central Norway in January 2017, it marked the first time since NATO was founded in 1949 that foreign troops have been stationed in the Arctic country. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies announced that cold-weather training was their priority, although Norway’s decision to invite U.S. troops to stay for up to a year on a rotational basis comes while many Nordic countries are fortifying homeland defenses because of Russia’s actions near their borders. Norway joined NATO in 1949…
New estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF have found that 12.9 million infants, or nearly 1 in 10 around the world, didn’t receive any vaccinations in 2016. Consequently, these infants missed the first dose of the combined vaccine against diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) and the vaccine to prevent measles, mumps and rubella (MMR). Preventable Diseases Measles, mumps and rubella are all viral infections. Measles can cause a rash, cough, runny nose, eye irritation and fever. It can lead to ear infection, pneumonia, seizures, brain damage and death. Of these diseases, measles is the one still common in many parts…
Long-range missile defense system reaches new high THE WATCH Staff The Pentagon’s successful test of its ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) anti-missile system on May 30, 2017, could not have come at a more opportune time. Despite global condemnation, North Korea had been accelerating its long-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) testing with the stated goal of building a nuclear-tipped weapon capable of striking the United States. Recent test-firings have demonstrated North Korea’s ability to attain its goal sooner than many experts had believed, adding a renewed urgency to developing an effective GMD system. The missile defense system is part of an…
The Associated Press For the first time in the United States, scientists have edited the genes of human embryos, a controversial step toward someday helping babies avoid inherited diseases. MIT Technology Review reported in July 2017 that the experiment was just a scientific exercise: The embryos were not allowed to develop for more than a few days and were never intended to be implanted into a womb. Officials at Oregon Health & Science University confirmed the work took place there and said results eventually would be published in a journal. The scientists used a technique called CRISPR/Cas9, which allows sections…
Agence France-Presse Norway plans to launch the first autonomous and fully electric cargo ship in 2018, a feat the project’s backers say will save 40,000 truck journeys per year. Fertilizer company Yara International teamed up with industrial group Kongsberg to build the Yara Birkeland, which will haul fertilizer to three ports in southern Norway. With a range of more than 120 kilometers, the ship will haul 100 containers at a speed of 12 to 15 knots. Initially, the ship will be manned, but remote operation is expected to begin in 2019 and fully autonomous operation in 2020. “Every day, more…
Reuters A new technique using artificial intelligence to predict where deforestation is likely to occur could help the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) preserve its shrinking rainforest and cut carbon emissions. The DRC’s rainforest, pictured, the world’s second-largest after the Amazon, is under pressure from farming, mining, logging and development. Protecting forests is widely seen as one of the cheapest and most effective ways to reduce the emissions driving global warming. Conservation efforts in the DRC, however, have suffered from a lack of precise data on which areas of the country’s vast territory are most at risk of losing…