Latest news with #F16s
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
We Know How To Fix Government - Will We?
The Department of Government Efficiency noticed a snag: the sign-in button on the IRS homepage wasnt where it ought to be. Instead of the upper right-hand corner where we, the people, have been trained to look for logins, it was stacked with other buttons in the middle of the page. It was not too hard to find, but its unusual placement disrupted the interface between taxpayers and tax collectors. It was a simple fix. Yet an IRS engineer reportedly estimated that it would take at least 103 days to move the button. Thankfully, Elon Musks team posted last month on X, "This engineer worked with the DOGE team to delete the red tape and accomplished the task in 71 minutes." If DOGE has revealed anything in its first 100 days, it is the depth of government dysfunction. While Musks detractors are reveling in his most obvious shortcoming - to date, it has cut an estimated $160 billion in government spending instead of the promised $2 trillion - the urgent need for reform is clear. The difficulty smart and dedicated cost-cutters are encountering in paring the mounds of federal waste is the canary crying in the coal mine. To take a favorite word of progressives, the issues we face with government inefficiency are systemic. Fraud and abuseare real problems, but, as the IRS button example shows, the deeper issues involve what passes for standard operating procedure. We have built a leviathan that is strangling us with process. Fred Kaplan provides a telling example in his New York Review of Books piece on Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoffs new book, "Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War." As a U.S. Air Force captain, Shah was flying missions over Iraq in 2006, Kaplan writes, when he noticed that his F16s display screen did not "indicate his location in relation to coordinates on the ground." Back in his barracks, Shah loaded a pocket PC he had for playing video games "with digital maps and strapped it to his knee while he flew. The software in that $300 gadget let him see where he was - basic information that the gadgetry on his $30 million plane could not provide." A decade later, Shah was tapped to lead a small Pentagon start-up, the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx), that sought to apply Silicon Valley innovations like the pocket PC to the military. An early challenge was coordinating the refueling of planes in midair. Kaplan wrote that this is a "very complicated task … Yet to plan these operations, they were moving magnetic pucks around on a whiteboard, just as their forebears had done during World War II." He continued: "Northrop Grumman had won a contract to overhaul this system; by the time Shah saw the whiteboard, the company had spent $745 million - twice the original estimate - over ten years with nothing to show for it, and the Air Force was now asking Congress for more. " Kaplan reports that Shah connected with "a small Silicon Valley firm" that developed "a working product … in four months, at a cost of $1.5 million." Needless to say, "they faced intense resistance from the Air Force officer managing the Northrop Grumman program and from staffers on the House subcommittee overseeing the defense budget." Happily, an advocate in the Pentagon brass helped them "break through the blockage." No one knows how many $745 million problems can be solved with a $1.5 million solution, but it seems safe to assume that the answer is plenty. As much as DOGE has drawn attention for firing federal workers and closing a few government programs, its most significant contribution has been exposing the jaw-dropping patterns of waste and inefficiency that bloat the size and cost of government. One more example: On March 21, DOGE reported that "the IRS has the transaction volume of a mid-sized bank, running similar infrastructure. Those banks typically have an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) budget of ''.ord('~').';'$20M/yr. The IRS has a ''.ord('~').';'$3.5B O&M budget (which doesnt include an additional $3.7B modernization budget)." Keep that in mind when you read the next scaremongering headline about job cuts at the IRS. Error is inevitable in human action. DOGE has certainly made mistakes. But a bigger blunder is pretending that every government worker and government contract is essential. That is the implicit argument of Musks detractors. Even if that risible claim were correct, our current spending trajectory is unsustainable. Something has to give. Still, there is reason for hope. Instead of just celebrating those who found a way to move a homepage button in 71 minutes, lets identify and eliminate the layers of bureaucracy that would have turned it into a 103-day ordeal. If software engineers can solve Pentagon problems on the cheap, lets compile and void a list of stupidly expensive contracts - before increasing its annual budget north of $1 trillion. It can be done. This effort might even be bipartisan. As the Trump administration has proposed funding cuts to scientific research, his opponents have argued this will kneecap one of Americas greatest strengths: our unrivalled ingenuity and know-how. Why dont we all agree to use that dynamism to create a government as smart and effective as our nation? J. Peder Zane is an editor for RealClearInvestigations and a columnist for RealClearPolitics. Follow him on X @jpederzane.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia's glide bombs were unstoppable – but Ukraine has made them useless
In a single week in September 2024, Russia dropped more than 900 glide bombs along its 800-mile front line with Ukraine, according to Ukrainian estimates. Ukraine was almost powerless to stop the long-range weapons – and the consequences were devastating. Known as Russia's 'miracle weapon', glide bombs would routinely be used to wipe out key Ukrainian targets, from logistics bases to army headquarters. Fitted with wings and satellite-aided navigation, each weighed as much as three tons. However, 12 months later, Russia's glide bombs are effectively useless, owing to the sudden success of Ukrainian radio jammers. Fighterbomber, a Telegram channel run by an anonymous Russian pilot, said Ukrainian jammers had 'saturated the front line', blocking the glide bombs' internal navigation systems. 'All satellite-guided correction systems have left the chat,' the pilot said. Credit: Russian Ministry of Defence That does not mean Russia has stopped dropping glide bombs. But they are often turned into duds, landing in fields far from their intended targets, rather than smashing into Ukrainian reserve forces or an army division's headquarters. Jammers – which can take the form of individual decoys or form part of a jet's wider defence system, as with western-made F16s – block enemy systems by emitting interfering signals. According to Fighterbomber, it now often takes as many as 16 glide bombs to hit a single target. Just months ago, Kyiv appeared helpless to stop the bombs. Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's former foreign minister, told the Financial Times at the end of 2024 that 'you cannot jam [glide bombs], you cannot hide from them'. Mr Withington told The Telegraph the Russian glide bombs 'should have been designed and outfitted with a robust global navigation system, which receives an encrypted signal and should be resistant to jamming'. 'To put it bluntly, Russian glide bombs should not be getting jammed,' Tom Withington, a weapons expert at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, explained. This means that either the Russian glide bombs were so poorly designed that they are susceptible to jamming, or Ukraine has found ways to overcome protections built into the weapons. Given that Russia had been successfully using glide bombs for several months, it is more likely to be the latter. It is a significant development, given the devastation the bombs were causing as recently as November, helping Russian troops make their fastest advance since the war began. Their new ineffectiveness may have contributed towards the fact that Russian advances slowed for the third month in a row in February. The news will challenge Donald Trump and JD Vance's belief that Kyiv has no chance of pushing Russia back or maintaining its current positions. And the impact on the front line could be significant, degrading Russia's ability to attack Ukraine at its rear, which has been a key part of the Kremlin's strategy of attrition. Before sending in hordes of soldiers, Russian forces are known for launching intense bombardments to weaken Ukrainian positions, creating confusion and inflicting initial casualties along the front line. 'Now, Ukraine is preventing Russia from being able to hit targets reliably behind the front line. [Moscow] can't affect Ukrainian command and control, or disrupt logistics, meaning their forces can't move at pace and manoeuvre in a way they desire along the battlefield,' Mr Withington explained. There is concern that Ukraine's progress with jamming, and across the battlefield, may be undermined by Mr Trump's recent decision to pause all military aid and intelligence for Kyiv. Europe has vowed to fill the void where necessary but experts have said it will be difficult for Ukraine to carry on fighting effectively beyond this summer, without US support. But a source told The Telegraph that Ukraine's European allies have already engaged with electronic warfare companies about whether they might ensure Kyiv's jamming capabilities are maintained. The pause in US aid and intelligence came amid reports that Ukraine has recently found success along the eastern front, reclaiming key positions and inflicting 'unsustainable losses' on Russia. On March 1 alone, Russia is thought to have lost 1,340 soldiers to death or injury, according to Ukrainian military estimates. Ukrainian forces have advanced against Russian troops close to the major eastern cities of Pokrovsk and Toretsk, reclaiming some crucial positions, according to war bloggers. However, the jamming of glide bombs is not a silver bullet, nor is it necessarily the primary reason for Russia's slowing advances or Ukraine's increasing success. 'Any tactical advantage is a culmination of a number of factors… All technological advances like these are usually temporary,' Mr Withington said. And it is not only Ukraine that has had success with weapons-jamming. Ruslan Leviev, a military analyst at Conflict Intelligence Team, told The Telegraph that Russian jamming had forced Ukraine to stop using a number of weapons. Mr Leviev said: 'The impact of Russian jamming systems has been noted multiple times in this war. Because of them, the supply of high-precision Excalibur artillery shells was halted.' The Excalibur is a US-supplied GPS-guided artillery shell. Ukraine's increasing success in jamming, a form of electronic warfare (EW), is not limited to glide bombs but also applies to drones. Ukraine is increasingly able to intercept Shahed drones and turn them back into Russian or Belarusian airspace. Innovations in Ukraine's EW interference mean that the majority of Russian drones are intercepted, lost, or turned astray, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank. Some 38 Russian Shahed drones entered Belarusian airspace on Nov 25, forcing Minsk to scramble several fighter jets in response. Of the 110 Shahed drones and decoys launched at Ukraine on Dec 1 and Dec 2, 50 were lost due to EW interference and 52 more were shot down, according to Petro Chernyk, a Ukrainian military expert. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Russia's glide bombs were unstoppable – but Ukraine has made them useless
In a single week in September 2024, Russia dropped more than 900 glide bombs along its 800-mile front line with Ukraine, according to Ukrainian estimates. Ukraine was almost powerless to stop the long-range weapons – and the consequences were devastating. Known as Russia's 'miracle weapon', glide bombs would routinely be used to wipe out key Ukrainian targets, from logistics bases to army headquarters. Fitted with wings and satellite-aided navigation, each weighed as much as three tons. However, 12 months later, Russia's glide bombs are effectively useless, owing to the sudden success of Ukrainian radio jammers. Fighterbomber, a Telegram channel run by an anonymous Russian pilot, said Ukrainian jammers had 'saturated the front line', blocking the glide bombs' internal navigation systems. 'All satellite-guided correction systems have left the chat,' the pilot said. That does not mean Russia has stopped dropping glide bombs. But they are often turned into duds, landing in fields far from their intended targets, rather than smashing into Ukrainian reserve forces or an army division's headquarters. Jammers – which can take the form of individual decoys or form part of a jet's wider defence system, as with western-made F16s – block enemy systems by emitting interfering signals. According to Fighterbomber, it now often takes as many as 16 glide bombs to hit a single target. Just months ago, Kyiv appeared helpless to stop the bombs. Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's former foreign minister, told the Financial Times at the end of 2024 that 'you cannot jam [glide bombs], you cannot hide from them'. Mr Withington told The Telegraph the Russian glide bombs 'should have been designed and outfitted with a robust global navigation system, which receives an encrypted signal and should be resistant to jamming'. 'To put it bluntly, Russian glide bombs should not be getting jammed,' Tom Withington, a weapons expert at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, explained. This means that either the Russian glide bombs were so poorly designed that they are susceptible to jamming, or Ukraine has found ways to overcome protections built into the weapons. Given that Russia had been successfully using glide bombs for several months, it is more likely to be the latter. It is a significant development, given the devastation the bombs were causing as recently as November, helping Russian troops make their fastest advance since the war began. Their new ineffectiveness may have contributed towards the fact that Russian advances slowed for the third month in a row in February. The news will challenge Donald Trump and JD Vance's belief that Kyiv has no chance of pushing Russia back or maintaining its current positions. And the impact on the front line could be significant, degrading Russia's ability to attack Ukraine at its rear, which has been a key part of the Kremlin's strategy of attrition. Before sending in hordes of soldiers, Russian forces are known for launching intense bombardments to weaken Ukrainian positions, creating confusion and inflicting initial casualties along the front line. 'Now, Ukraine is preventing Russia from being able to hit targets reliably behind the front line. [Moscow] can't affect Ukrainian command and control, or disrupt logistics, meaning their forces can't move at pace and manoeuvre in a way they desire along the battlefield,' Mr Withington explained. There is concern that Ukraine's progress with jamming, and across the battlefield, may be undermined by Mr Trump's recent decision to pause all military aid and intelligence for Kyiv. Europe has vowed to fill the void where necessary but experts have said it will be difficult for Ukraine to carry on fighting effectively beyond this summer, without US support. But a source told The Telegraph that Ukraine's European allies have already engaged with electronic warfare companies about whether they might ensure Kyiv's jamming capabilities are maintained. The pause in US aid and intelligence came amid reports that Ukraine has recently found success along the eastern front, reclaiming key positions and inflicting 'unsustainable losses' on Russia. On March 1 alone, Russia is thought to have lost 1,340 soldiers to death or injury, according to Ukrainian military estimates. Ukrainian forces have advanced against Russian troops close to the major eastern cities of Pokrovsk and Toretsk, reclaiming some crucial positions, according to war bloggers. However, the jamming of glide bombs is not a silver bullet, nor is it necessarily the primary reason for Russia's slowing advances or Ukraine's increasing success. 'Any tactical advantage is a culmination of a number of factors… All technological advances like these are usually temporary,' Mr Withington said. And it is not only Ukraine that has had success with weapons-jamming. Ruslan Leviev, a military analyst at Conflict Intelligence Team, told The Telegraph that Russian jamming had forced Ukraine to stop using a number of weapons. Mr Leviev said: 'The impact of Russian jamming systems has been noted multiple times in this war. Because of them, the supply of high-precision Excalibur artillery shells was halted.' The Excalibur is a US-supplied GPS-guided artillery shell. Ukraine's increasing success in jamming, a form of electronic warfare (EW), is not limited to glide bombs but also applies to drones. Ukraine is increasingly able to intercept Shahed drones and turn them back into Russian or Belarusian airspace. Innovations in Ukraine's EW interference mean that the majority of Russian drones are intercepted, lost, or turned astray, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank. Some 38 Russian Shahed drones entered Belarusian airspace on Nov 25, forcing Minsk to scramble several fighter jets in response. Of the 110 Shahed drones and decoys launched at Ukraine on Dec 1 and Dec 2, 50 were lost due to EW interference and 52 more were shot down, according to Petro Chernyk, a Ukrainian military expert.
