Goodbye, Government. Hello, Mafia.

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed deficiencies among governments around in the world. In the United States and Britain, inadequate testing and mixed messaging from leaders have led to declining public confidence in decisions made by lawmakers. In the developing world, many governments lack the capacity to track and isolate coronavirus cases—much less to provide significant economic stimulus as businesses suffer from the effects of lockdowns and restrictions. And multilateral institutions have struggled to take swift and decisive action, particularly as they become battlegrounds for rivalry between countries such as the United States and China.

Other actors, from charitable organizations to criminal gangs, are filling the gap.

SKYBORG PROTOTYPING, EXPERIMENTATION & AUTONOMY DEVELOPMENT (SPEAD)

The intent of Skyborg is to integrate an autonomy mission system core and suite of services (developed under a separate Skyborg System Design Agent (SDA) program) with multiple low-cost air vehicle systems, each designed to perform one or more mission types.

Rafael’s Urban Warfare System Ordered by IDF

Firefly features a dual seeker, target tracker, homing algorithms, computer vision, Safe & Arm fusing mechanisms, and a rugged tablet-based HMI (Human Machine Interface).

According to the company’s announcement, the operation of FireFly is very intuitive, with no special skills required.

Gangs and the Military Note 3: The Role of the West Coast in the Development of Military-Trained Gang Members

This note reviews the current state of military-trained gang members (MTGMs) in the United States military. MTGMs, whether from Street Gangs, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs), or Domestic Terrorist Extremist (DTE) groups, have endangered U.S. communities since before the birth of the country.

Farming Drone Goes From Plowshares To Grenade Launcher

Dubbed “Vero,” the quadcopter can be outfitted with a launcher firing 38mm or 40mm grenades. Paired with the drone’s 30-40 minute flight time while armed, Vero can give more reach and direction to an attack beyond conventional trajectories. It’s easy to see how the same design that facilitated industrial inspections can be turned into a tool of urban warfare.

California Police Used Military Surveillance Tech at Grad Student Strike

The California National Guard provided military surveillance equipment to the University of California at Santa Cruz’s Police Department in order to surveil and police the UC Santa Cruz graduate student wildcat strike earlier this year, documents acquired through the California Public Records Act show.