Poised along the Indian border, Chinese troops are there for the long haul

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The bloody combat operations occurring in Ukraine and Gaza, plus the tensions heating up in the South China Sea, dominate news headlines and make it easy to forget that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) - China's armed forces - continues to strengthen its position along China's southern border with India.

In the Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community, published earlier this year, border tensions between China and India merited only a single paragraph amidst all the other conflicts, threats and tensions that currently abound in the world.

Nonetheless, the report assessed that "The shared disputed border between India and China will remain a strain on their bilateral relationship."

It continued, "While the two sides have not engaged in significant cross-border clashes since 2020, they are maintaining large troop deployments, and sporadic encounters between opposing forces risk miscalculation and escalation into armed conflict."

India has large gap to bridge in quantum capabilities: Report

Amitabh Sinha

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India may have done the right thing by launching a Rs 6,000 crore-worth National Quantum Mission to develop some of the most sought-after technologies for the future, but it would have to overcome a significantly large gap that currently exists between its capabilities and those of other leading countries in these areas like the United States and China, a new assessment of India’s potential in quantum technologies has revealed.

The assessment by Itihaasa, a non-profit that studies the evolution of technology and business domains in the country, shows that India was just one among 17 countries to have a dedicated government programme to back research in quantum technologies, and one of the 12 to have committed separate investments for the purpose. But several countries were much ahead of India, not just in terms of committed funding for research and development but also in their current capabilities.

India’s Rs 6,000 crore translates to about USD 0.75 billion over five years. China, on the other hand, was estimated to be spending USD 15 billion for developing quantum technologies. The United Kingdom (USD 4.3 billion), the United States (USD 3.75 billion), Germany (USD 3.3 billion) and South Korea (USD 2.35 billion).

Northeast India’s Battle Against Drugs

Sajal Nag

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When deadly ethnic clashes erupted in Manipur in India’s northeastern frontier with Myanmar in May 2023, it was attributed to one group’s demands for recognition as a constitutionally-mandated Scheduled Tribe. Soon, large swathes of the state were engulfed in the violence. Almost a year after the first killings last summer, the total death count stood at about 220. More than 1,100 people were injured while about 60,000 were displaced.

The cultivation of poppy and cross-border drug trafficking from Myanmar to India has been a frequent theme of reporting by journalists and confirmed by Home Ministry reports from time to time. The government acknowledges that while drug consumption in Northeast India is a “serious problem,” some new trends, such as drug syndicates and narcotic smugglers’ “collusion” with Nigerian cartels, have added a new dimension to the problem that shows no signs of abating.

Hi-tech Surveillance

India’s northeastern states – the “Seven Sisters” as they are traditionally referred to – have historically been associated with the cross-border drug trade whose origins are linked to the “Golden Triangle” with Myanmar at the center of this international narcotics-fuelled economy. As a result, Indian police have been empowered to use government rules and legislations to hit hard against drug trafficking in the northeast.

Relocation Of Chinese Industries To Pakistan: Strategic Move For Economic Growth – OpEd

Sehr Rushmeen

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In a significant development reflecting the strengthening ties between Pakistan and China, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has approved the relocation of Chinese industries to Pakistan as part of joint ventures between companies from both nations. This decision marks a strategic effort to bolster Pakistan’s economy through enhanced foreign investment and industrial collaboration. The move is set to pave the way for increased economic activity, job creation, and technological transfer, positioning Pakistan as an attractive destination for global investors.

Chairing a meeting to discuss matters related to the Board of Investment (BoI), Prime Minister Sharif emphasized that promoting both local and foreign investment is a top priority for his government. He underscored the importance of creating a business-friendly environment to attract traders and investors. This initiative is seen as a step towards realizing the government’s commitment to fostering economic growth and stability.

The prime minister directed relevant authorities to submit a comprehensive report on the follow-up of memorandums of understanding (MoUs) signed between Pakistani and Chinese companies in Shenzhen during his recent visit to China. This directive highlights the government’s proactive approach in ensuring that agreements translate into tangible economic benefits.

East China Sea: Around 35% Of Global Petroleum And Petroleum Product Shipments Transit Region – Analysis

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The East China Sea is a semi-closed sea bordered by the Yellow Sea to the north, the South China Sea and Taiwan to the south, Japan’s Ryukyu and Kyushu islands to the east, and the Chinese mainland to the west. It has a total area of approximately 290,000 square miles, consisting of mostly shallow waters; three-fourths of the sea is less than 500 feet deep. In the Okinawa Trough, the depths exceed 6,500 feet.1

Along the southern edge of the East China Sea and northeast of Taiwan are the disputed Senkaku islands. Although barren, the islands are important for strategic and political reasons because sovereignty over land is the basis for claims to the surrounding sea and its resources under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. China, Taiwan, and Japan all claim sovereignty over the islands, which are under Japanese administration, preventing wide-scale exploration and development of oil and natural gas in the East China Sea.2

Approximately 35% of global petroleum and petroleum product shipments traveled through the East China Sea in 2023. Over 95% of those shipments were destined for the Asia Pacific region, and the top three destinations were China, South Korea, and Japan.3

In 2023, China was the top importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and oil in the world.4China was the world’s top energy producer and consumer in 2022. We expect China’s oil and natural gas consumption to continue growing through 2035.5

2031, The Middle Kingdom Strikes Back

Gary Anderson

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As Chinese Admiral Peng viewed the results of the thermobaric strike on Scarborough Shoal, His Aide Lieutenant Liu asked, "Sir how many of their marines survived the bombing?"

"Six" answered the admiral, "but one died on the way to the hospital ship".

"What were they trying to achieve? asked Liu.

"That is a good question, Liu" the admiral answered. "Back in 2019, their marine corps commandant developed a concept that he called expeditionary advance base operations (EABO), and planned to put small groups of troops called Stand-In Forces on tiny islets in the first island chain armed with anti-ship missiles to deter or block our Navy from breaking out of the South China Sea."

"But we never intended to do that," said Liu incredulously.

The admiral shook his head. "That is what makes it so bizarre. The most likely war scenario was us invading Taiwan. Their concept would not contribute to that fight in any substantial way. Going on Napoleon's advice to let an enemy alone if he is doing something stupid, we ignored the whole concept except to tell the countries in the region not to participate by letting their disputed islets and shoals be used. Only the Philippines signed on to the concept. That lowered the American choice of options for bases. 

Close the Open-Source Door to China

Eric Miller

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In the history of warfare, technological advantage is typically decisive.

Today, worsening relations between the U.S. and China have put military readiness squarely into the spotlight. From integrated systems to cyberwarfare, the conflicts of the future will turn significantly on relative strengths in digital technologies.

In 2022, the Pentagon released its National Defense Science and Technology Strategy, which identified 14 critical technology areas that the United States must master to maintain its military superiority. At least half of these are dependent on advanced chip technologies.

The United States is spending billions to rebuild its own semiconductor manufacturing sector. It is also using export controls and sanctions to try to block the sale of advanced technologies – and the tools for making them – to China. This has included working with allies: For example, last year Japan and the Netherlands joined the U.S. in blocking the export of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China.

Despite all these efforts, there is a fatal flaw in the U.S. approach – a failure to address open-source technologies.

China's Growing Risk Tolerance in Space

Howard Wang, Gregory Graff, Alexis Dale-Huang

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Introduction

Chinese leaders see themselves in competition with the United States to build military power in space. The ongoing development of capabilities and doctrine for space operations in both countries might reveal a growing risk of unintended military escalation in space. Central to this risk is each country’s threat perception of the other, or how it assesses the other’s intentions and its capabilities to act on those intentions. Additionally, guidance from each country’s defense enterprise on how to respond to crises and control escalation will shape escalation dynamics in the event of a crisis or conflict. In other words, the risk of unintended military escalation in space between the United States and China turns on whether each country views the other as a threat in space and how it will respond to that threat. 

This report surveys open-source literature across the Chinese defense enterprise to present a composite image of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) perspectives and key factors for U.S.-China crisis stability in space.1 It draws on authoritative materials, including leader speeches reported in official media, defense white papers, and official professional military education (PME), which collectively reflect political leader guidance or PLA strategy and doctrine. Although PLA PME through 2020 is publicly available, the PLA’s most authoritative materials on space are more than a decade old. 

What Is Hezbollah?

Kali Robinson

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Introduction

Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim political party and militant group based in Lebanon, where its extensive security apparatus, political organization, and social services network have fostered its reputation as “a state within a state.” Founded in the chaos of the fifteen-year Lebanese Civil War, the Iran-backed group is driven by its opposition to Israel and its resistance to Western influence in the Middle East.

Due to its history of carrying out terrorist attacks internationally, Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and many other countries, though some just apply this label to its armed wing. Hezbollah’s deep-rooted alliances with Iran and Syria have transformed it into an increasingly effective military force, creating a formidable opponent for its longtime enemy Israel. Escalating border clashes between the two adversaries now threaten to open a new battlefront in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which would come at great cost to economically devastated Lebanon.

How did Hezbollah originate?

Hezbollah emerged during Lebanon’s civil war, which broke out in 1975 when long-simmering discontent over the large, armed Palestinian presence in the country reached a boiling point. Various Lebanese sectarian communities held different positions on the nature of the Palestinian challenge.

Houthi Shipping Attacks Pose Complex Diplomatic Challenge To Next UK Government – Analysis

Ruaa Ameri

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Whichever political party forms the next UK government after this week’s general election will face major domestic and international challenges, including the crises in Gaza and the Red Sea.

Experts who spoke to Arab News emphasized the need for diplomatic solutions and support for Palestinian statehood to address these challenges, as disruption to Red Sea trade routes has increased shipping costs and delayed supplies, impacting UK businesses.

Escalating tensions in the region have already prompted British military action. How the next prime minister chooses to respond will shape international relations and have significant implications for domestic economic stability and public opinion.

While polling suggests a potential Labour majority, ending more than a decade of Conservative rule under five successive prime ministers, including incumbent Rishi Sunak, the political landscape remains complex.

US will provide $2.3 billion more in military aid to Ukraine

Tara Copp and Lolita C. Baldor

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that the U.S. will soon announce an additional $2.3 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, to include anti-tank weapons, interceptors and munitions for Patriot and other air defense systems.

Austin’s remarks came as Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov met with him at the Pentagon. And they mark a strong response to pleas from Kyiv for help in battling Russian forces in the Donetsk region.

Of that total, $150 million of the aid will come from presidential drawdown authority (PDA) and the remainder will be provided by Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). PDA allows the Pentagon to take the weapons from its stocks and send them more quickly to Ukraine; USAI puts weapons on longer-term contracts

“Make no mistake, Ukraine is not alone, and the United States will never waver in our support,” Austin said as he opened the meeting with Umerov. “Alongside some 50 allies and partners, we’ll continue to provide critical capabilities that Ukraine needs to push back Russian aggression today and to deter Russian aggression tomorrow.”

Has Russia Blown its 2024 Opportunity in Ukraine?

MICK RYAN

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Back in May, I explored the potential Russian objectives for its military operations in 2024, and how it was progressing towards those objectives.

Russia has built strategic momentum with its ground and aerial assaults on Ukraine over the past six months. Most analysts of the war agree that Russia still has the initiative in this war. But what does that really mean for Russia’s prospects in the war, and the possibility of it achieving its strategic objective of subjugating Ukraine and ensuring Ukraine cannot provide an alternative model of governance visible to the politically repressed Russian people?

To assess how Russia’s 2024 campaigns in Ukraine is going, and whether it has maximised its opportunities this year, it is necessary to briefly explore what Russia set out to achieve in Ukraine this year. Back in early April, I explored how the Russians might view success in 2024. You can read that article here.

The Return of Great Power Competition

Jerry Hendrix

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The citizens of the United States are unique in that their sense of national identity is derived from ideas rather than an ethnic or language base. To the extent that there is an American “culture,” it is tied to this sense, which can be briefly described, as Tocqueville did, as American individualism. This idea separates each person from their past and empowers them to pursue happiness as they see fit so long as their actions do not impinge upon the liberty and lives of their fellow citizens.

Rather than limiting itself to the domestic sphere, however, this public philosophy has foreign policy implications, or even complications. Within the international arena, Americans lack a deep sense of cultural history. They believe that they can make the world anew, and what’s more, they believe that they have been called to create an “empire of liberty,” a Jeffersonian concept that summons Americans to spread their sense of individual liberty and national self-determination across the world.

Lord Palmerston said that any nation’s interests are “eternal and perpetual,” but the philosophic edge to those of the United States means hers are often at odds with those of other states and cultures which don’t assign the same value to the individual and their human rights. This is the primary complication facing US foreign policy as we complete our transition from the post-Cold War unipolar moment to multipolar great power competition.

Russia's Reported Losses Rapidly Approaching Four Grim Milestones

Ellie Cook

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Russian casualties in Ukraine are nearing 550,000, according to figures published by Ukraine's military, with reported artillery, vehicles and other equipment losses closing in on new milestones.

Ukraine's armed forces said on Wednesday that Russia had sustained around 546,270 casualties in Ukraine since February 2022, including 1,180 fighters killed or injured in the past day. Publishing updated figures, Kyiv also said Russia had lost 57 artillery systems in the previous 24 hours, bringing Ukraine's tally of Russia's total artillery losses close to 15,000.

According to Ukraine's numbers, Moscow has lost a combined total of nearly 20,000 vehicles, including fuel tanks. This does not include tanks and armored personnel carriers or infantry fighting vehicles, which are counted separately. Russian troops have also lost close to 2,500 items of what Ukraine's armed forces dub "special equipment," the updated count from Kyiv's military indicates. A broad term, "special equipment" covers losses of assets such as electronic warfare systems, radars and maintenance vehicles.

Newsweek could not independently verify Ukraine's numbers and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email. Casualty counts and battlefield losses are murky during active conflicts, and experts urge caution when dealing with tallies offered up by either party in a war.

Former NSA chief revolves through OpenAI's door

STAVROULA PABST

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Prominent artificial intelligence research organization OpenAI recently appointed newly retired U.S. Army General and former National Security Agency (NSA) director Paul M. Nakasone to its board of directors.

Nakasone will join the Board’s newly announced Safety and Security Committee, slated to advise OpenAI’s Board on critical safety- and security-related matters and decisions.

Established following an exodus of OpenAI higher-ups concerned about the company’s perceived de-prioritization of safety-related matters, the new Safety and Security Committee is OpenAI’s apparent effort to reestablish a safety-forward reputation with an increasingly wary public.

AI safety concerns are of the utmost importance, but OpenAI should not use them to ram through an appointment that appears poised to normalize AI’s militarization while spinning theever-revolving door between defense and intelligence agencies and Big Tech.

Michelle Obama: The Ultimate Joe Biden Replacement?

Jacob Heilbrunn

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Hillary Clinton tried and failed. Now it’s up to another presidential spouse to try and crack the glass ceiling. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll suggests that only one Democratic candidate would decisively trounce former president Donald J. Trump in November—Michelle Obama.

Obama laps all of her potential competitors, including Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, and Gretchen Whitmer. 50 percent of voters said that they would vote for Obama while 39 percent indicated they prefer Trump. For Obama, who has viewed the Biden camp with suspicion and refused to campaign for it, claiming the nomination would represent a measure of revenge for its treatment of her friend Kathleen Buhle, the ex-wife of Hunter Biden. Barack Obama has attended fundraisers for Biden but never in the company of his wife who also shunned a state dinner for Kenya’s president William Ruto in May, the first for an African president in 16 years.

Democrats and a goodly number of independent voters clearly see Obama as a kind of Wonder Woman—a demi-goddess of wisdom and strength who could use a magic lasso the gerontocratic patriarchy surrounding Biden, reuniting the Democratic party. The Harvard historian Jill Lepore, in her book The Secret History of Wonder Woman, has argued that she forms a kind of missing link in the story of feminism over the past century. Perhaps a fresh Obama candidacy could play a similarly pivotal role for the current one, beleaguered as it is on a number of fronts, ranging from abortion to equal pay.

A View From the Trenchline

David Smith & Julian Spencer-Churchill

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Earlier this year, while funding for military aid to Ukraine was stalled in the U.S. Congress, critics of the Biden administration rightly pointed out that their country was now more than two years into bankrolling this war, yet their government still had no strategy for how that money was being spent. The critics’ argument was understandable. Because Kyiv had not translated previous aid packages into a clear battlefield victory, the time had come for President Joseph Biden and his advisors to produce a definite strategy for victory in Ukraine. Otherwise, there was no sense in sending even more aid to yet another losing forever war.

It is unfortunate that this legitimate criticism was drowned out by the overwhelming noise of U.S. populist isolationism, because it raises a very important issue, and not just an American problem. The West’s ambiguity in its war aims, and its apparent lack of a strategy, have resulted in ad hoc and piecemeal actions meant to virtue-signal political support for Ukraine rather than achieve any decisive results on the battlefield. Even the steps taken to arm the Ukrainian military have been gestures mostly driven by Western leaders’ need for political announceables, not any concrete plan to enable battlefield success. The West’s military approach to a political problem is directly responsible for Ukraine’s failure to achieve any decisive political victories.

This problem is not new nor unique to the war in Ukraine. There is, among those who study war, a long and venerable tradition of theorizing about the difficult relationship between military necessity and political reality. According to Karl von Clausewitz, author of Vom Krieg (1832), “war is politics by other means,” therefore, military strategy, or the use of the instrument of force, must be subordinated to the precepts of grand strategy, which is focused on the political aim. One cannot overstate the importance of a well-understood political objective to the success of military operations. The description of such an “end state,” which is basic to all NATO battle procedures and operational planning, is vital to directing combat efforts and committing scarce resources.

Visiting Israel, June 2024

Elliott Abrams

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I’ve visited Israel three times since October 7, but this visit was the most sobering—even somber.

Of course, the sense of shock and dislocation from normality was greatest in my visit last November. The most commonplace experiences—from crowded hotel lobbies to traffic jams—were absent. The country was still quite visibly shaken.

But the most recent visit, in June, was equally striking in a different way. In too many conversations, what I found was a deep uncertainty about the country’s future. In many cases these feelings were blamed on the country’s political leadership, which is to say on Prime Minister Netanyahu. The accusations were many: corruption, narcissism, incompetence, unwillingness to accept any blame for October 7, and failure to push back against extremists in his coalition. No surprise here, I suppose: if things are thought to be going wrong, the man who has been prime minister for most of the last decade is of course going to be blamed. Ten years in power seems to be about the limit for maintaining popularity in many democracies: John Howard (11), Margaret Thatcher (11) Tony Blair (10)-- and now Emmanuel Macron (7) has been defeated in the parliamentary election in France last weekend. In the U.S. we avoid this by presidential term limits of eight years; in France it’s ten, and the recent election suggests the French now think that’s too long. Netanyahu has served (discontinuously) for 16 years, longer than anyone in Israel’s history.

The Unmanned Maritime Threat: Implementing Lessons From the Aerial Theater

Yuval Eylon & Liran Antebi

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Considering the increased success that Hezbollah has enjoyed in recent weeks in deploying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to attack Israel, and the IDF’s limited success in intercepting them, we must ask whether and to what extent Israel is prepared to deal with similar unmanned threats that could be unleashed in the maritime domain. Unmanned systems are operated at sea and from sea, both unmanned surface vessels (USVs), which float on the surface of the water, and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). While developed countries have been building and using these systems for several years, the past decade has also seen terrorist organizations like Hamas and the Houthis add them to their arsenals. This has created a genuine challenge not only for the State of Israel but also other countries, international bodies, commercial companies, and any other player that could be harmed by the threat to the freedom of navigation as well as offshore infrastructure or ports.

Unmanned Maritime Systems

Some of the capabilities of unmanned maritime systems were developed in the civilian market and later transferred to the military. Currently, these systems are a significant component in many military forces across the globe. USVs and UUVs are used to protect ports, conduct SSW (subsea warfare), locate mines, wage electronic warfare, misdirect, conduct routine security and, more recently, to collect and attack as noted especially in the war in Ukraine and the de-facto war between the Houthi terrorists in Yemen and the maritime coalition led by the US Navy.

Rough seas: A scorecard of the EU’s last institutional cycle

Carl Bildt

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It was a different world five years ago when the last round of EU personalities assumed office. It quickly turned into a rough ride. Within weeks the covid-19 pandemic turned everything upside down. And when it started to fade, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borell went to Moscow to try to reset that relationship, only to be publicly humiliated by his Russian counterpart.

Nothing could have prepared the continent for what followed.

Two wars raging in Europe’s neighbourhood, an escalating trade war between the United States and China, and serious calls for the European Union to finally expand its own borders. Indeed, it’s been a turbulent ride in a period of unpredictable challenges, mounting confrontations, and rising dangers. Up against this, the EU’s record of the last five years is unavoidably mixed. But these unstable times have forced major changes in European foreign policy. The immediate task for the new institutional cycle is to take stock of these successes and failures as the EU moves further into unchartered waters.

What NATO Means to the World

Jens Stoltenberg

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Next week, the leaders of NATO’s 32 countries will meet in Washington, D.C., for the alliance’s 75th-anniversary summit. They will celebrate 75 years of unity between Europe and North America—unity that has protected transatlantic peace, democracy, and prosperity. But more than just a celebration, the summit will be an opportunity to make decisions that matter for the future of one billion people across Europe and North America.

Today, their security is at stake. When Russian President Vladimir Putin sent tanks into Ukraine in February 2022, he began the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II, shattering peace on the continent and creating turmoil on the global stage. Day after day, he is further escalating this war. Not only are Russian missiles continuously targeting Ukraine’s citizens, cities, and critical infrastructure but the Kremlin is also engaging in a coordinated campaign of hostile acts against NATO countries—including sabotage, cyberattacks, and disinformation. All the while, Moscow continues to rattle its nuclear saber.

Putin shows no intention of ending this war any time soon, and he is increasingly aligned with other authoritarian powers, including China, that wish to see the United States fail, Europe fracture, and NATO falter. This shows that in today’s world, security is not a regional matter but a global one. Europe’s security affects Asia, and Asia’s security affects Europe.

Britain’s Brewing Battle Over Data Centers

MORGAN MEAKER AND ISABEL FRASER

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AS MAYOR OF Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz has plenty of problems to reckon with. Her London borough is wrestling with entrenched poverty and the capital's highest rate of residents stuck in temporary housing. But midway through her second term, Fiaz has a new plan to turn things around. She believes that AI could provide a multimillion-pound boost to economic growth, and she’s campaigning for Newham to get a share. “We want to be able to seize the opportunities of the data economy,” she says, “and data centers are a core part of that.”

Fiaz’s support for the server farms reflects the enthusiasm of a new generation of Labour politicians expecting to be voted into power in the UK election later this week. After 14 years of center-right Conservative rule, polls predict that voters will endorse the center-left Labour Party’s pledges to kick-start economic growth and grasp the potential of AI—in part by making it easier to build more data centers across the country.

Israeli Generals, Low on Munitions, Want a Truce in Gaza

Ronen Bergman, Patrick Kingsley and Natan Odenheimer

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Israel’s top generals want to begin a cease-fire in Gaza even if it keeps Hamas in power for the time being, widening a rift between the military and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has opposed a truce that would allow Hamas to survive the war.

The generals think that a truce would be the best way of freeing the roughly 120 Israelis still held, both dead and alive, in Gaza, according to interviews with six current and former security officials.

Underequipped for further fighting after Israel’s longest war in decades, the generals also think their forces need time to recuperate in case a land war breaks out against Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia that has been locked in a low-level fight with Israel since October, multiple officials said.

A truce with Hamas could also make it easier to reach a deal with Hezbollah, according to the officials, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters. Hezbollah has said it will continue to strike northern Israel until Israel stops fighting in the Gaza Strip.

RIMPAC 2024: US Navy Draws Lessons On “UAV Warfare” From Ukraine To Counter China In Pacific

Ashish Dangwal

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The drone operation, held from June 19-24, was part of the world’s largest international maritime exercise that underscored the increasing significance of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in modern naval warfare, especially in light of the ongoing Ukraine war.

RIMPAC 2024 featured fleet experiment initiatives under the Trident Warrior 2024 umbrella, sponsored by the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command.

These initiatives aimed to incorporate real-world warfighter feedback early in the acquisition process by exposing the fleet to emerging capabilities. The emphasis on UAV experimentation played a crucial role in this endeavor, emphasizing the Navy’s dedication to swiftly advancing new technologies.

According to the US Navy, the USS Curtis Wilbur successfully launched and recovered six unmanned aerial systems (UAS) during the exercise.

Everything You Need to Know About USB Ports and Speeds

ERIC RAVENSCRAFT

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The very name, Universal Serial Bus (or USB) is an ambitious promise: One port to rule them all. The reality is unfortunately messier than that. While your phone, tablet, and laptop might all use the same USB-C port for charging and transferring data these days, they can all work differently.

What's USB4? What's Thunderbolt? Is it the same as USB-C? I'm here to help answer all of those questions, so you can get the best performance out of your devices.

Glossary of USB Terms

First, it's important to define a few terms upfront.

USB 2.X/USB 3.X/USB4

Every USB device is built to some version of the USB specification, managed by the USB Implementer's Forum (USB-IF). These versions are mainly characterized by how much data they can transfer and how much power they can deliver (at least, those are the main things you need to care about). While most of these devices are interoperable as long as they use the same type of port, the entire chain will conform to the slowest part of the chain. Say you plug a USB 3.2 solid-state drive into a USB 3.2 port on your computer, but use a USB 3.0 cable—data will only transfer at USB 3.0 speeds. Make sure every link in your chain is rated for the speed you need.

USB Power Delivery (or USB-PD)

Instead of carrying a charger for every single device you own, you might opt for a charging adapter that can juice up multiple devices via several USB-C Power Delivery (USB-C PD) ports. Power Delivery is a fast-charging method that supports up to 240 watts of power and allows gadgets to safely talk to chargers to sort out the correct power needs. You'll find these kinds of ports on USB hubs as well, sometimes referred to as “pass-through charging," though it's not an official term.