Latest news with #militaryTechnology
CBS News
22-07-2025
- CBS News
Former engineer pleads guilty to stealing missile tracking blueprints from Southern California company
A former engineer at a Southern California company pleaded guilty to stealing the blueprints of missile tracking systems used by the U.S. military. In his agreement to plead guilty to one count of theft of trade secrets, Chenguang Gong admitted to transferring more than 3,600 files from the Los Angeles-area research and development company where he had briefly worked to his personal storage devices, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 29. The Justice Department said the files included blueprints for space-based systems designed to detect nuclear missile launches and to track ballistic and hypersonic missiles. The files also included blueprints for sensors designed to enable U.S military aircraft to detect incoming missiles. Federal prosecutors said the unnamed company hired Gong as a manager responsible for designing, developing and verifying the sensors in January 2023. He began transferring files from his work laptop to his three personal hard drives on March 30, 2023, and continued until he was fired nearly a month later, according to the DOJ. About 1,800 files were downloaded after he had accepted a job with one of the company's competitors, according to federal prosecutors. The files also included plans for sensors designed to detect "low observable targets," an industry term that includes stealth aircraft, drones and radar-evading cruise missiles. Investigators also claimed that between 2014 and 2022, Gong submitted numerous proposals to "Talent Programs" created by the Chinese government. The Justice Department stated that some of the plans he submitted to the Chinese government included designs from defense contractors that employed him.
South China Morning Post
07-07-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
China is making rapid gains in space tech. Here's how the military could use it
The new space race is heating up, with the United States warning that its major rival China is narrowing the gap as it makes rapid technology gains. While China says its ambitious plans remain peaceful and that it rejects the weaponisation of space , some of the technologies it has developed in recent years also have military uses. Here are some of them. BeiDou network The Chinese navigation satellite system provides positioning, navigation and timing services worldwide. Its network of 60 satellites has been in full global operation since 2020, with the final backup satellites launched in 2024. BeiDou – a symbol of China's growing tech self-sufficiency – aims to challenge the dominance of GPS, the global positioning system run by the US military, especially in Belt and Road Initiative countries. Besides its civilian applications, BeiDou provides navigation and positioning services to all branches of the Chinese military with even higher precision in the Asia-Pacific than GPS offers the US military. That enables independent guidance for Chinese missiles, bombs and other precision munitions, with high accuracy. The People's Liberation Army can also use BeiDou's short messaging function to communicate.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Military experts weigh in on China's new mosquito-like spy drone
Last month, China unveiled a mosquito-like spy drone designed for covert military operations. The drone's size and weight could limit its uses on the battlefield, military analysts told BI. It could still prove to be an effective new surveillance tool, experts say. Last month, China's National University of Defense Technology unveiled a new spy drone designed to look like a mosquito. Showcased on the state-run CCTV-7 military broadcaster, the micro-drone appeared to be roughly the size of a human fingernail and featured tiny, leaf-like wings and thin, wiry legs. While it may not look as impressive as some of the bigger unmanned systems coming out of Ukraine, its stick-thin body is said to be equipped for a range of covert surveillance and military operations. "As a drone to surveil buildings, especially on the inside, I can imagine it being quite useful for video feeds," Herb Lin, a senior research scholar at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation, told Business Insider. But its small size may limit its uses on the battlefield. "If it's real, and powered conventionally (with a battery), its longevity in the air will be limited by battery capacity," Lin said. "Also, it's very light, and therefore easily buffeted by winds. These factors suggest it isn't particularly useful for wide-area surveillance." Drones can be highly sensitive to weather, in particular strong winds, rain, snow, cold weather, and fog. And the smaller an aerial drone is, the more susceptible it is to such conditions, Samuel Bendett, an advisor with the Center for Naval Analyses and drone expert, said. "Even indoors, there can be conditions that could interfere with this drones' performance, such as even a slight breeze, an air flow from an AC, an open window, or other obstacles." Communications are another issue to consider, Bendett continued, as the drone's size means it's unlikely to be able to carry much advanced equipment. "While it is technically possible to build a tiny UAV like the one displayed by the Chinese developers, its actual performance is likely to greatly vary," he said. Others say that the new drone is a sign of China's continuing innovation in the sector. Michael Horowitz, a senior fellow for technology and innovation at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it showed "Chinese researchers in particular want to push forward technological innovation in drones." It remains unclear how real the capability is, how soon China could field the tech, or the type of missions it could use them for, he added. Read the original article on Business Insider
Wall Street Journal
28-06-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Taiwan Looks to New Sea-Drone Tech to Repel China
SUAO, Taiwan—Taiwan is accelerating efforts to develop a high-tech fleet of naval drones that military planners see as a potential game-changer in the island's ability to fend off a possible Chinese invasion. Drones are transforming warfare and spurring military strategists to rethink long-held assumptions about defense. Both Ukraine and Israel have used drones to devastating effect in recent weeks.
South China Morning Post
20-06-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
Chinese engineers bring artillery-launched drones from concept to life
After 12 years of technical hurdles and scepticism, China has successfully tested artillery-launched drones capable of surviving the crushing load in a 155mm (6 inches) cannon shell. Five live-fire trials at a western test base confirmed the drones endured launch forces exceeding 3,000 times their own weight – comparable to 35 adult African elephants on a person. The advance centres on a pyrotechnic ejection mechanism co-developed by the Shaanxi Applied Physics and Chemistry Research Institute, the Chinese air force, and defence contractor Norinco. This highly reliable but low-cost system orchestrates a sequence of precisely timed detonations to separate the drone from its artillery shell mid-flight while shielding it from aerodynamic damage – all without electronic controls. These drones can 'reach distances exceeding 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) in seconds, multiply flight range, significantly save power consumption and extend loiter time,' the team, led by senior engineer Huang Yunluan, wrote. A look inside at the artillery-launched drone system. Photo: Shaanxi Applied Physics and Chemistry Research Institute First proposed by Chinese military scientists in 2013, a cannon-launching design named Tianyan ('sky eye') gained attention in a new-concept aircraft competition, according to state-run China News Service.
