Holding the Taliban Accountable Through the Media

Harun Najafizada

Source LInk

In late September, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan started jamming the Afghanistan International TV news channel with newly acquired equipment obtained from Iran. Earlier, in May, they issued a stark ban on communications with the Afghanistan International network, paving the way for the current jamming. They explicitly threatened Afghan citizens against engaging with or even watching our channel.

These draconian measures stem from our steadfast commitment to delivering uncensored news and information to the Afghan populace, who are under the tight grip of the de facto authorities striving to impose their narrative through a heavily censored media landscape, a misappropriated remnant of the international community-backed Republic era in Afghanistan.

In the past, such an authoritarian edict and the desperate attempt to silence the voice of the Afghan people through new waves of jamming attacks on our channel might have signaled the demise of our 24/7 London-based channel, which serves a nation of 40 million people. However, the digital revolution and modern journalism ensure our continued operation, allowing us to cover Afghanistan during these critical times and holding the Taliban rulers accountable.

The Widening Schism across the Taiwan Strait

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Introduction

The dispute over Taiwan, a self-governing island that sits 160 km east of China, is a simmering flashpoint that could bring the nuclear armed, economic giants China and the U.S. directly into war. Such a conflict would upend global supply chains and trade.1 One estimate puts the potential cost at a staggering $10 trillion, about 10 per cent of global GDP. The cost of an all-out war between the U.S. and China that involved nuclear weapons is incalculable.

The cross-strait dispute concerns differences over the Republic of China’s (ROC), or Taiwan’s, sovereignty.2 The ROC and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have functioned as separate political entities since 1949, when the Chinese Nationalists lost to the Communists in the Chinese civil war. The Nationalists, or Kuomintang (KMT), retreated to Taiwan and the Communists established the PRC. But the PRC has since claimed Taiwan as one of its provinces and seeks to bring the island under its sovereign control - what Beijing calls unification. Taipei, for its part, maintains that it is a sovereign state known as the Republic of China and is not a part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

With CMMC 2.0, Cyber Security Tsunami Ahead for Thousands of Defense Firms

Rebecca Grant

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China’s cyber espionage is off the charts, and according to the FBI, Iran has been targeting the aerospace and defense industrial base, too. It’s not just top-secret programs; China, Russia, Iran and others are also going after vulnerable unclassified information and federal contract data. The threat is so severe that the government insists that Controlled Unclassified Information and Federal Contract Information meet higher standards.

That is why thousands of critical businesses face new cybersecurity standards for protecting unclassified information beginning in mid-2025. And many aren’t ready. In one recent survey, 96% of the 300 firms responding said they could not meet full compliance.

The standards known as Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification 2.0 were first announced in late 2021. Major programs like aircraft carriers and the B-21 bomber depend on thousands of supplier companies. Some suppliers are already wrapped into classified programs. However, there are also numerous firms producing just a few critical parts for the defense sector, often nestled inside thriving commercial businesses.

China’s Balancing Act With the ‘Axis of Upheaval’

François Godement

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Everyone remembers former U.S. President George W. Bush’s 2002 designation of an “axis of evil,” at the time comprising Ali Khamenei’s Iran, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and Kim Jong Il’s North Korea. Today, experts at the the Center for a New American Security refer to an “axis of the upheaval” and former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster to an “axis of the aggressors” in order to describe the dynamics between China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

Europe is also concerned by the ties between the Asian and European strategic theaters. China is in a state of quasi-alliance with Russia, which has invaded Ukraine, as demonstrated by Marcin Kaczmarski, in “strategic cooperation” with Iran, which entertains its own axis of disruption through the Middle East as evidenced by Pierre Pinhas. Meanwhile, Beijing in 2021 renewed a mutual defense treaty with North Korea – the only such formal alliance that China entertains, as Adam Cathcart explains.

The Choice America Now Faces in Iran

Eliot A. Cohen

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For the second time in less than half a year, Iran has hurled hundreds of missiles at Israel. Although Iran technically launched more weapons at Israel in April, only 120 of those were ballistic missiles—a smaller salvo than the more than 180 ballistic missiles used this time. The drones and cruise missiles used in April were more easily intercepted and shot down by Israeli, American, and European air defenses, working in cooperation with some of Israel’s Arab partners.

According to early reports, miraculously enough, no Israelis were killed in this latest barrage, although falling debris killed a Palestinian in Jenin, on the West Bank. But some of the missiles seem to have gotten through Israel’s three layers of anti-missile defenses, inflicting an unknown amount of damage. An attack yesterday by two terrorists in Tel Aviv was far more lethal, killing at least seven civilians; its relationship to the Iranian attack is unclear.

The war between Iran and Israel has gone on for a long time, although mostly in the shadows. Iran has armed Hezbollah as a proxy force to attack Israel, and so it has over the years, with roadside bombs, ambushes, and rockets; Iran has also equipped Yemen’s Houthis with long-range weapons to attack the Jewish state, and so they have, as well. Israel has bombed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps headquarters in Damascus, sabotaged the Iranian nuclear program, and conducted assassinations and raids (including the lifting of an entire Iranian nuclear archive) in Iran itself. A war on the high seas, in which ships on both sides have been sabotaged or attacked, has drawn less coverage but been no less intense.

Iran's Great Ballistic Missile Attack Gamble

Seth J. Frantzman

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On October 1, Iran launched 181 ballistic missiles at Israel. Israel was prepared for the escalation, having learned of it earlier in the day from the United States. Israel’s Home Front Command warned the country’s almost ten million people to prepare to go to their local bomb shelters. Shortly after the warning, Iran’s ballistic missiles streaked across the sky, targeting several locations in the Negev and in central Israel. Iran knew it was gambling with this attack, and it has tried to deter an Israeli response by claiming that it will attack with “an even more crushing and stronger response” next time.

Israel has vowed a harsher response to this attack than the previous one in April when Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel. Iran has been gambling and testing Israel over the past year. Over the past decade, the Islamic Republic has increased its capabilities to strike at Israel. It has expanded its ballistic missile arsenal and improved its range and precision. It has also invested heavily in kamikaze drones. It has exported both its missile and drone technology to proxies in the region, such as the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon. It has also moved drones and ballistic missiles to aligned militias in Iraq. This has had deadly results. Kataib Hezbollah, one of the militias backed by Iran in Iraq, killed three U.S. soldiers in a January drone attack in Jordan.

Iran-Russia Defense Cooperation: Current Realities and Future Horizons

Hanna Notte and Jim Lamson

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Introduction 

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the country’s defense relationship with Iran has deepened and widened considerably. Since the summer of 2022, Tehran’s support has been critical for Moscow’s military campaign. As of May 2024, the Russian armed forces had launched at least 4,000 Iranian-designed Shahed drones against Ukraine1 while also benefiting from Iranian ammunition and support for Russia’s domestic drone production. Russia’s military campaign may benefit from Iranian ballistic missiles, though there is no clear evidence of transfers or their use against Ukraine yet. Finally, Iran has promised to share with Russia insights gained during its own experience in trying to circumvent and overcome the effects of Western sanctions. 

In return, Russia has stepped up its provision of sensitive military technology and assistance to Iran: In August 2022, Russia launched the Khayyam (Kanopus-V) imaging satellite for Iran, 2 and it has generally stepped up its cooperation on space. In September 2023, it delivered two Yak-130 trainer aircraft to the Iranian Regular Air Force. According to the CIA, Russian technicians have been detected working on Iran’s space launch vehicle (SLV) program and other aspects of Iran’s missile programs. 3 Commenting on this type of support, U.S. officials have raised the alarm over what they believe is an evolution to “a full-fledged defense partnership.”4 Yet, highly coveted items on Iran’s wish list—such as advanced fighter aircraft (Sukhoi Su-35) or advanced air defense systems (S-400)—have not yet been delivered by Russia. Potential reasons for the withholding of such assistance include a Russian caution not to antagonize its Gulf Arab partners, an inability of the Russian defense industry to produce sufficient quantities of high-end technologies for export because of the effects of sanctions, and a desire to retain some leverage amid its growing dependence on Iran.

The Root of Western Haplessness with Israel

Riccardo Alcaro

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As Israel intensifies its bombing of Lebanon and the spectre of a generalised conflict that may involve Iran and the United States hovers ominously over the region, Western governments seem passive viewers of a decade-long drama for which they actually bear great responsibility.

Israel claims to defend itself against enemies determined to destroy it, from Hamas in Palestine to Hezbollah in Lebanon to the Islamic Republic of Iran. These are undoubtedly implacable enemies. However, it is equally true that over the decades Israel has barely missed an opportunity to foment the radicalism of its adversaries, marginalising the more pragmatic voices, and that the United States and Europe have not put up any barriers.

The peace process that never was

In February 1994, a man named Baruch Goldstein fired on a group of Muslim worshippers gathered in prayer at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, killing 29 Palestinians and wounding 125.[1] Goldstein was a naturalised American-Israeli linked to the most extreme fringes of Zionism, which pushed for the annexation of Palestinian land occupied by Israel after the June 1967 six-day war – East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – and the forced removal of its inhabitants.[2]

How might Israel strike back against Iran?

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Israel has sworn it will retaliate for Iran's missile barrage on Tuesday, which involved more than 180 ballistic missiles and was largely thwarted by Israel's air defense systems.

Below are some ways Israel, backed by the United States, could strike back.

GO AFTER IRAN'S MILITARY INSTALLATIONS

Some analysts believe Israel is most likely to respond by targeting Iranian military installations, especially those that produce ballistic missiles like the ones used in Tuesday's attacks. It could also take out Iranian air defense systems and missile-launching facilities.

Washington has accused Tehran of supplying short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine. Both countries deny that allegation.

Analysts said that would be seen as the most in-kind response to Iran's attack.

Eisenhower Center for Space and DefenseSpace & Defense Journal, Spring 2024, v. 15, no. 1

Pushing Boundaries: Feminism, Female Leaders, and the Fate of Feminist Foreign iii Policy

American Sanctions on China’s Space Program: Effective Economic Statecraft?

Protecting the Cosmos: Defining Celestial Bodies in the Outer Space Treaty

Finding a North Star: Lessons in Space Law for the Nuclear Regime

The Unified Command Plan for a New Cold War

Operational Energy Solutions for a 21st Century Battlefield

Capability Gaps in Allied Space Deterrence

Revitalizing America’s Low-Yield Deterrent

Waging Peace on the Final Frontier

Jamestown FoundationChina Brief, September 20, 2024, v. 24, no. 18

Beijing’s Soft Power Push with African Nations

PRC Expands De Facto Jurisdiction in the Taiwan Strait

PRC Partnership Diplomacy in the New Era

PRC Seeking to Boost Ties with Bangladesh After Hasina’s Demise

An Assessment of the Audit of Volkswagen’s Controversial Factory in Xinjiang

‘Grand Strategy’ Misses the Point

Kevin Blachford

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As the United States prepares for the November presidential election, political commentators and security analysts are no doubt also preparing for what now seems like the obligatory ritual of providing grandiose plans, roadmaps, blueprints, navigational guides, frameworks, strategy outlines, policy wishlists, and designs for the future of American foreign policy. Of course, this almost ritualized behavior is part of the process by which every new U.S. administration begins its four years in office: by facing numerous calls for the U.S. to adopt a new “grand strategy.” Having a grand strategy is seen as the key to defining the future of American ambitions and the means to securing its national interests. Even before the actual presidential election, there have been several calls for such grand strategies.

Yet the proposed grand strategy revisions are also “wishful” strategies that overplay the unitary nature of the state and largely fail to account for the conflicting interests within U.S. politics. The making of American foreign policy is not led by a clear-sighted president and his strategizing national security advisor, but by a competitive policy marketplace. This ever-expanding marketplace includes the bureaucracy of planning staffs, research institutions, and lobbyists who seek not to secure the national interest, but the prestige and funding to expand organizational growth.

Zelensky and Western leaders aim at exhausting Russia. Is that going to work?

Konstantinos Bogdanos

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A war of attrition against Russia has never proved to be a good idea. From Napoleon’s France to Hitler’s Germany, many have attempted it, but no one has succeeded in finally killing the Bear. So why would Zelensky be the one to achieve it?

The president of Ukraine has recently been touring the United States, raising funds for his country’s war effort, but most of all trying to put forward his strategy on how Russia can be defeated.

Zelensky met with President Biden and Vice-President Harris, but also with former President Trump, to sell his “victory plan”. He returned home with an extra $8 billion, but no commitment on the use of US long-range weapons systems against Russia.

Upon return, the Ukrainian leader admitted that the situation on the ground is extremely challenging for his forces. “Reports on each of our frontline sectors, our capabilities, our future capabilities and our specific tasks: the situation is very, very difficult,” he said on a video address.

On the Pokrovsk Front, Ukrainian Forces Struggle To Hold Back the Russian Advance

Joseph Roche

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In a dusty sky, the last storks of Donbas fly off to other horizons for the winter. Their supple wings, in the evening light, glide over fields of dried sunflowers and disappear behind massive slag heaps that, from one valley to another, seem to rise out of nowhere.

Philippe, 30, a soldier of Ukraine’s 68th Jaeger Brigade, presses down on the accelerator, his face focused.

After crossing the bridge in Pokrovsk, destroyed a few weeks earlier by Russian forces, he heads south toward Selydove. This is where the fiercest fighting has taken place.

In the opposite direction, dozens of cars and trucks evacuate the last civilians from the city.

Sitting next to Philippe in the front seat, Oleksandr, 31, points to a dark cloud.

"That’s Selydove!" he yells to be heard over the engine noise.

Time to Move Beyond Cannons

L. Lance Boothe

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Yet in the US Army, a struggle with math is happening, particularly in the Field Artillery. For a combat arm which demands meeting the five requirements for accurate predicted fire (target location and size, firing unit location, weapon and ammunition information, meteorological data, and computational procedures) as essential to putting steel on target, one would think arithmetic near reverential. Calculus and geometry, simply being able to count to ten, and doing math in increments of 10s, 50s, or 100s applies to just about every one of the “five requirements” in some form or fashion. Yet some artillerymen cannot seem to do the simplest math of all – merely counting munitions and systems.

While “sight-to-crest,” standard and nonstandard factors, “met worksheets” for applying data from ballistic MET (meteorological) messages, the tabular firing table (TFT), graphical firing tables (GFT), “charts and darts,” muzzle velocity records for calculating muzzle velocity variations, and high burst mean point of impact worksheets for solving the gunnery problem (the practical application of the science of ballistics) would be a stimulating discussion, suffice it to say math is involved.[1] And that arithmetic goes a bit beyond balancing your checkbook, which the bank does for you now anyway. Perhaps this is the problem – computing power, which alleviates the individual from doing math. Recalling my days in a fire direction center (FDC) with a battery computer system (BCS), now the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS), we still laboriously and quickly checked the computer with our TFT, GFT, chart with “whiz-wheel,” range-deflection protractor, and calculations from MET data correction sheets along with a handheld computing device called the back-up computer system (BUCS) – a calculator to check another calculator. Dual independent checks make the gunnery world go ‘round. It is all about the math.

Escalation: A Tool to Be Considered, Not Dismissed

Charles Richard & Robert Peters

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In recent years, it has become nearly gospel that “escalation” during an acute crisis or conflict is inherently a bad thing. Indeed, “escalatory” has become a synonym for “bad” or “dangerous” or “undesirable.” As a result, many of our national security professionals and uniformed officers nearly reflexively dismiss taking actions or postures that could be considered “escalatory” or “provocative” in both real-world and simulated crisis or conflict.

These ideas and practice are flawed. Crises and conflicts, especially between great powers, are ultimately issues of stake and resolve, and become competitions in risk taking. In many cases, escalation, or the threat of escalation, is required or desirable to achieve the desired objectives. In fact, deterrence by cost imposition inherently requires the withheld threat of escalation and is not credible without a willingness to do so.

This paper is based upon our years of service within the Defense Department as (respectively) a senior military officer and a civilian. These views are offered with an eye towards re-examining the concept of escalation as a useful tool of statecraft.

Ukraine Military Situation: Russian Military Enters Vuhledar – Analysis

Can Kasapoğlu

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1. Battlefield Assessment

As previous editions of this report projected, the Ukrainian town of Vuhledar is on the brink of falling to Russian forces. The Russian military has secured a foothold in the city’s east, and the Kremlin continues to send reinforcements to the area. With the town almost fully encircled, Moscow’s 430th Motor Rifle Regiment and 5th Tank Brigade have also entered the western outskirts of Vuhledar.

Notably, Ukrainian military leaders have relieved the commander of Kyiv’s 72nd Mechanized Brigade, the main formation conducting defensive combat operations to hold Vuhledar, and appointed him to another post. Open-source intelligence suggests that the Ukrainian military is gradually withdrawing from the embattled city, though the Ukrainian high command denies this.

In Ukraine’s east, Pokrovsk and Toretsk remain flashpoints. Toretsk witnessed intense urban warfare this past week, while detachments from Russia’s 90th Tank Division pushed deeper into Pokrovsk. The Russian offensive has now made it as far as Zavitne. Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General stated that the Russian military executed 16 prisoners of war (POWs) in Donetsk Oblast, continuing Russia’s practice of extrajudicial killings.

Emerging and Disruptive Technologies Transform, but Do Not Lift, the Fog of War: Evidence from Russia’s War on Ukraine

Stephen Herzog

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Introduction

When we read the call for proposals for the Finnish National Defence University’s 2024 Russia Seminar, we were immediately struck with a question. During Russia’s war on Ukraine, have new emerging technologies helped the fog of war dissipate, or have they made it thicker? Focusing on Russia and emerging and disruptive technologies (EDTs) is essential for understanding today’s strategic context. 1 Russian President Vladimir Putin did, after all, indicate in 2017 his country’s ambition to rule the world through leading developments in artificial intelligence (AI).2 Likewise, in 2018, Putin announced “new exotic weapons” that suggest advances in military applications of AI and the use of autonomous platforms.3 Furthermore, the Kremlin’s investments in nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles were meant to provide capabilities to strike at extreme speeds and overcome existing missile defenses.4 Russia has indeed used several of these EDTs since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But despite Moscow’s interest and investment in disruptive technologies, Russia has not won the war. It continues on, and even Kremlin battlefield successes come with mass casualties among Russian soldiers.

Ideas about new technologies that should theoretically make battlefield outcomes clearer do not just apply to the Russian side. Ukraine has spent considerable resources on whole-of-society efforts to produce small drones that have become ubiquitous in the conflict. This has triggered scores of media and analyst claims about new drone technologies and ways of warfare that revolutionize battlefields, have game-changing effects, and even fundamentally alter the nature of war. However, Kyiv is also remarkably far away from achieving anything resembling meaningful victory in the conflict.

Ukraine War Map: Tracking the Frontlines

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This interactive map shows the shifting front lines in the Russo-Ukrainian war. Users can zoom in to conflict zones to view daily changes in troop movements and battlefield dynamics.

Data for this map is taken from the Ukrainian OSINT DeepState project, a live map of Russian and Ukrainian military operations maintained since April 2022. 

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, escalating a war that had begun eight years earlier when Moscow annexed Crimea and fomented conflict in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

Crisis Group’s research and advocacy efforts aim to help mitigate the war’s human costs and security implications and to identify a path to its sustainable end.

The Tragedy behind Israel’s Ostensible Triumph

Riccardo Alcaro

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The killing by Israel of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, the Islamist Shia militia that controls South Lebanon, may well go down in history as the harbinger of a seismic change in the balance of power in the Levant and arguably the whole Middle East.

Iran’s ensuing retaliatory missile strike makes war with Israel all but inevitable, though its magnitude remains uncertain. Part of it will be fought with missiles, rockets and drones flying across the sky between the two arch-enemies. Part of it will be fought across the region, possibly wherever Iran’s axis of resistance – the network of pro-Iran armed groups spanning Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen is based. Most of it will likely be fought in Lebanon, home to Hezbollah, whose demise – or even severe weakening – would result in Iran’s influence in the Levant being curtailed.

While Israel’s onslaught on Hezbollah has tilted the balance of power heavily in its favour, it is too early to make predictions – after all, the Middle East has disrupted expectations time and time again in the past. It is still possible though to make some considerations and discuss a few open questions.

Why Wind and Solar Need Natural Gas: A Realistic Approach to Variability

Robin Gaster

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Introduction

The share of U.S. electricity produced by wind and solar (“variable renewable energy” sources, or VRE) is growing very rapidly now. While it’s possible that firm clean power sources (e.g., nuclear, geothermal, or fusion) will expand dramatically, that seems unlikely barring important technological breakthroughs. VRE is expanding quickly, and will likely become dominant in coming decades.

As a result, variability in electricity supply is becoming a formidable challenge. Some variability is short term—the sun doesn’t shine at night. Some is seasonal—solar generates much less power in winter. And some is unpredictable across a longer timescale: Some weeks, months, or years are just much less windy, for example. These problems are not yet acute, but they will quickly become so, depending on the level and speed of VRE adoption.1

The current focus of both industry and government is on short-duration storage, which helps shift energy within the day and also helps solve a number of technical challenges to the grid. But short-duration storage technologies alone won’t work for much longer duration needs.

Zelenskyy’s Victory Plan Attempts to Redefine Victory and Defeat

Vladimir Socor

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Inadequate Western military support is compelling Ukraine to accept negotiating with Russia from a posture of weakness. While the battlefield situation seems sustainable for the time being, despite local reverses, Russia’s relentless air strikes on Ukrainian energy supply systems at the onset of winter add an element of urgency to domestic political challenges. In Washington and other capitals, meanwhile, proposals are multiplying for negotiations to “end the war” whereby Russia would retain the Ukrainian territories it has seized. Some of Ukraine’s Western partners hope to see Russia join a peace summit before the end of this year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has responded by launching his own plan for a negotiated outcome, dubbed the Victory Plan. It is designed, in part, to preempt outright defeatist proposals from being tabled by other parties. Zelenskyy presented this plan to US President Joe Biden, presidential candidates Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, and the G7+ leaders during his recent visit to the United States (Ukrinform, September 28).

Israel’s Paradox of Defeat

Aluf Benn

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Last October 7, Hamas surprised Israel’s famed military and intelligence agencies. Both had known, for years, about the Palestinian armed group’s preparations to invade Israel and kill and kidnap its soldiers and citizens. But they failed to believe that it would dare or succeed to execute such an unprecedented operation. The Israeli military and intelligence services; Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu; and the wider Israeli public all believed that their country’s fortified southern border was so impenetrable, and the balance of power so favorable to Israel, that Hamas would never challenge the status quo.

But Hamas did challenge it. In the days and weeks after it launched its devastating attack, a common refrain among Israelis was that “everything has changed.” And for a time, it appeared that everything had: the assault shattered Israelis’ fundamental self-confidence, upending long-held beliefs about the country’s security, politics, and societal norms. The leadership of the Israel Defense Forces lost its prestige almost overnight as details emerged about how it failed to prevent the attack and then arrived too late to save border communities, military outposts, and defenseless attendees at a music festival.

Big Tech manipulating research into its harm to society - Opinion

Timothy Graham

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For almost a decade, researchers have been gathering evidence that the social media platform Facebook disproportionately amplifies low-quality content and misinformation.

So it was something of a surprise when in 2023 the journal Science published a study that found Facebook’s algorithms were not major drivers of misinformation during the 2020 United States election.

This study was funded by Facebook’s parent company, Meta. Several Meta employees were also part of the authorship team. It attracted extensive media coverage. It was also celebrated by Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, who said it showed the company’s algorithms have “no detectable impact on polarisation, political attitudes or beliefs.”

But the findings have recently been thrown into doubt by a team of researchers led by Chhandak Bagch from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In an eLetter also published in Science, they argue the results were likely due to Facebook tinkering with the algorithm while the study was being conducted.

Army’s future helicopters could be more autonomous and launch their own drones

Hope Seck

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As battlefields become increasingly hostile to conventional combat platforms, the Army is pushing forward with its two-decade effort to develop a new family of helicopters and rotorcraft through its Future Vertical Lift program while incorporating lessons from the war in Ukraine.

The Army recently concluded a major experimental event focused on its Future Vertical Lift program at its Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. Five unidentified companies were selected to participate out of 36 applicants. The event, known as Experimental Demonstration Gateway Event (EDGE) 24 ultimately included one robot, seven ground technologies, three aerial platforms, and 28 launched-effect surrogates – “launched effects” refers to uncrewed vehicles that can be fired from another platform. Earlier this year, Breaking Defense reported that an Army UH-60 Black Hawk would be used as a test platform for autonomy and launched effects, with flights set to start early next year.

It’s the first EDGE event since the Army canceled its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program earlier this year which hit a dead end after investing $2 billion in research and development. That change, as Army Chief of Staff Randy George explained at the time, was also informed by the war in Ukraine. “Aerial reconnaissance has fundamentally changed” in light of the ability of inexpensive unmanned flying systems to traverse combat zones in depth and inflict damage at minimal risk, he said.