Foreign
“Millions Of Drones” Needed For European Defense, Says EU
EU defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius says Europeans will require millions of drones to create an “army” and they need to start preparing now.
The European Union’s defence commissioner has warned Europe must be capable of building a drone army in case Russia attacks.
Military intelligence has suggested Russian forces could be ready to strike a NATO country within the next five years.
In order to defend themselves, Andrius Kubilius says Europeans will require millions of drones and need to start preparing now.
“Russia can have around five million drones, so we need to have capacities bigger than those in order to prevail,” he told Sky News, warning that if President Putin ordered an attack, the target would face a “battle-tested” Russian army with the ability to use “millions of drones”.
The 2022 invasion of Ukraine sparked a revolution in drone warfare.
Facing one of the world’s strongest militaries, the Ukrainians used the cheap, adaptable technology to their advantage.
It estimates its drone units are now responsible for 80% of Russian frontline losses.
Mr Kubilius has visited Ukraine to learn the lessons from the battlefield.
Along the 1,200km (745 mile) front line is an area nicknamed “Death Valley”.
“Nothing can move. Everything is controlled by drones. A traditional tank in that zone survives six minutes,” he explained.
This year, Ukraine’s expected to produce more than four million drones.
Contemplating how many units other countries would need, the commissioner used the example of his home country of Lithuania.
The former Soviet republic shares a border of around 900km (559 miles) with Russia and Belarus.
“If Ukrainians need four million for 1,200km, we need something like three million drones for one year if the war is starting, if ‘Day X’ is coming,” he said.
To try to stay ahead in the fight, both Russia and Ukraine are constantly updating their drone technology.
For this reason, the commissioner believes that rather than stockpiling drones now, which will go out of date, Europe should instead build up teams of pilots, engineers, and producers ready to scale up production should the time come.
“On the European continent, at the moment, there are only two armies battle-tested with the ability to use millions of drones: one is Russian, which is planning new aggressions; another one is Ukrainian,” said Mr Kubilius.
“We need to learn a lot from Ukraine… how to organise defences against millions of drones, and also how to make your defence industry innovative,” he added.
It’s a point many in the business agree with.
German start-up STARK has been testing loitering munitions or “attack drones” ready to supply to Kyiv.
“It’s all made for easy handling for soldiers, so you don’t have to use any tools on the front line, and you just plug in the rudders,” said STARK’s senior vice president, Josef Kranawetvogl, as he quickly clicked the unit’s tail together.
He spent 18 years in the German military before making the jump to weapons production.
He says staying ahead of the enemy requires tactics and technology to be frequently updated.
“Every day you have to adapt. You have such fast development cycles in Ukraine – two or three weeks, then there’s something new upcoming and you have to be prepared for this.”
Since the start of June, Russia has repeatedly used drone swarms to attack Ukraine.
It involves hundreds of drones hammering cities in one night.
I asked Josef whether he believes NATO’s European members are ready to defend against such an attack.
“I see quite a lot of European armies starting right now to develop or to purchase unmanned systems, and it’s a good development, but it’s all about time. How can we speed up?” he replied.
Close to the border with France, another German start-up, Alpine Eagle, is testing defence drone units for Ukraine.
“This is our interceptor drone,” explained the company’s CEO, Jan-Hendrik Boelens, holding up a prototype which looks a bit like a small black plane. The interceptor is carried underneath a large grey drone.
On-board radar means it can be fired at enemy drones up to 5km (3 miles) away.
Jan thinks that could be a game changer in an aerial battle as it means hostile units could be picked off before they get close.
And he believes NATO is unprepared if one of its countries was to be hit by a wave of drones like those in Ukraine.
“We are absolutely not ready in my view,” he said.
He explained that Ukraine produced around 1.3 million drones a year last year.
“I would be surprised if NATO even bought a thousand drones last year. I think Germany procured, I don’t know, 100, maybe 200. So now you do the math on what that means and how quickly you run out of drones.
“If Ukraine consumed 1.3 million drones per year, that’s 3,000 a day. So, if you have 100 in your inventory, that would not last an hour.”
A spokesperson from the German Defence Ministry said the numbers stated “do not closely reflect reality”.
“Drones are now part of everyday life for soldiers, they are omnipresent and are used extensively in service operations and training,” they added.
Drones are a key part of NATO’s defence plan.
The alliance’s leadership has repeatedly said producing, procuring, and protecting against drones is a priority.
At the NATO summit, members agreed to boost defence spending to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035.
In addition to increasing training and development, NATO Chief Mark Rutte has said he wants more investment in drone technology as well as boosting air defences fivefold.
“We see Russia’s deadly terror from the skies over Ukraine every day, and we must be able to defend ourselves from such attacks,” he told an audience at the summit.
Lessons from Ukraine have prompted members to embrace unmanned technology in various ways.
Britain is one of the countries pledging to put drones front and centre of its new defence plan.
Earlier this month, the UK government’s Strategic Defence Review outlined a new way forward for British Army warfighting based around a drone-centric 20-40-40 strategy in which uncrewed systems are deployed for first wave attacks, before tanks, attack helicopters and other manned platforms arrive on the battlefield.
In essence, the new weapons mix would be 20% traditional heavy platforms (like tanks), 40% single-use expendable drones and munitions, and the remaining 40% reusable, high-end drones.
It’s been confirmed that an extra £2bn will be spent on army drones this parliament.
Defence Secretary John Healey said Britain’s adversaries were working more in alliance and technology was changing how war was fought.
“Drones now kill more people than traditional artillery in the war in Ukraine and whoever gets new technology into the hands of their armed forces the quickest will win,” he said.
This week, the prime minister announced a deal with Ukraine to co-produce drones.
Germany and Denmark have made similar agreements with the German Ministry of Defence, telling Sky News that drones are a top priority.
In a drone showroom in central Berlin, we meet Sven Weizenegger, head of the German military’s cyber innovation hub.
He said they have noticed a boom in pitches from potential suppliers.
Every day, his department receives up to 20 enquiries from companies asking how their products could be used by the military.
He believes things need to move more quickly so soldiers get weapons faster.
“We are very advanced in the innovation process. That means we have a lot of ideas and many companies that are ready to deliver,” he explained. “Unfortunately, what we are not good at right now, due to our current processes, is getting these things into real operations, into frontline use. We need to fix that.”
Germany has promised to turbo-charge defence spending, with the Chancellor pledging to create the “strongest conventional army in Europe”.
Plans announced this week include boosting unmanned systems and air defences.
The German Ministry of Defence said it couldn’t reveal stock levels due to security, but a spokesperson confirmed the country is investing in a range of different units, including signing two contracts for attack drones.
“We are procuring not just a few but quite large quantities and testing them directly with the troops,” the spokesperson added.
However, they agreed with the EU defence commissioner that rather than stockpiling tech which would go out of date, it was better to have a system in place to allow for large quantities to be made quickly in the event of war.
In May, the EU approved a €150bn (£125bn) loan scheme to boost defence production across the bloc.
News.sky.com
The Leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, has warned that the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, may be stoned.
In a statement signed by his media aide, Osho Oluwatosin, Primate Ayodele noted that the president will face attacks in an Arab country and that some nations will gang up to cause chaos in America.
“Donald Trump may be attacked and stoned in an Arab country; he needs to be very careful, and I also see some nations coming together to cause chaos in the USA The president must be watchful about this.”
He made it known that the policies of the president will destroy America and that if he continues, things will not go well in the USA.
“The USA will not be the same again because of Trump’s policies. His administration needs to be careful to avoid things going otherwise in the country.
“Trump needs to do better to make the world a better place; otherwise, America will pay for the damages even after his administration”
Primate Ayodele urged Trump to do better before it’s too late, as he foresees some problems befalling the nation very soon
“Trump needs to adjust so many things before it’s too late. A problem is coming, and something will happen which won’t favour the USA. Trump needs to reorganise and look into many things to avoid putting America into jeopardy; if not, they will regret voting for him.”
South Sudan has started holding a trial for First Vice President Riek Machar, who has been sacked by his decades-long rival, President Salva Kiir, and charged with murder, treason and crimes against humanity in relation to rebellion and an attack by a militia linked with ethnic tensions.
Machar and seven others who have been charged alongside him, including Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chol, were seen sitting inside a barred cage in the court on Monday during a live broadcast on national television.
Machar has been held in house arrest at his residence in the capital, Juba, for months following investigations by the government of his allies.
Earlier this month, a decree read on state radio said Kiir suspended the first vice president due to charges stemming from his alleged involvement in attacks by the White Army against federal forces in March.
The White Army, a loose band of armed youths, attacked a military base in Nasir, northeastern South Sudan, and killed more than 250 soldiers on Machar’s orders, according to the government.
Edmund Yakani, executive director of South Sudan activist group Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, told local media that the trial must be transparent and fair to build up trust in the judicial system.
He urged both leaders and their parties to “adhere to the principle of resolving political misunderstanding through dialogue” rather than violence, which would benefit no one.
Machar’s party, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-in Opposition (SPLM/IO), has called the charges “fabricated” and said its members were arrested illegally. Machar’s lawyer on Monday said “an incompetent court” that lacks jurisdiction is judging him.
Fears of a return to ruinous civil war
After the vice president’s arrest, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) called on all parties to exercise restraint and warned that they risked losing the “hard-won gains of the past seven years” and returning to a state of civil war.
In 2013, two years after the country gained independence from Sudan following decades of war, oil-producing South Sudan descended into a civil war.
The devastating conflict, which scarred the country and left some 400,000 people killed, pitted Kiir and his allies from the ethnic Dinka group against Machar, who is from the Nuer, the second-largest ethnic group in South Sudan.
More than four million people, or about one-third of the population, were displaced from their homes before a 2018 peace deal saw the pair form a “national unity” government.
But they never fully saw eye-to-eye, leaving the country in a state of limbo.
Both leaders held on to their armed factions that were never fully integrated and unified despite agreements, while reforms were delayed, and presidential elections were repeatedly postponed.
Armed clashes have erupted in several parts of the country over the past months, with both sides accusing each other of breaking ceasefire agreements.
Authorities in South Sudan are, in the meantime, plundering billions of dollars in public funds as the impoverished country also deals with a deepening food crisis, according to the UN.
“The country has been captured by a predatory elite that has institutionalised the systematic looting of the nation’s wealth for private gain,” the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said last week.
South Sudan’s First Vice President Machar faces charges of treason and other serious crimes, local justice authorities said, as fears grow that the east African country could edge toward a return to civil war.
The United Nations body for human rights in South Sudan has called the government’s charges of treason against opposition leader Riek Machar “reckless.”
South Sudan’s First Vice President Machar faces charges of treason and other serious crimes, local justice authorities said Thursday, as fears grow that the east African country could edge toward a return to civil war.
Machar has been under house arrest since March after the transitional government he is a part of accused him of subversive activities against President Salva Kiir, who said Thursday that he was suspending Machar as his deputy because of the criminal allegations.
Pro-government troops have been fighting militias and other armed groups that they say are loyal to Machar, who has served as his country’s No. 2 under the terms of a delicate peace deal signed in 2018.
That agreement has not been fully implemented, with presidential elections repeatedly postponed.
In addition to treason, Machar and seven others face charges of murder, conspiracy, terrorism, destruction of public property and military assets and crimes against humanity.
The charges stem from a violent incident in March when a militia known as the White Army overran a garrison of government troops, killing its commanding officer and others. The justice ministry said in a statement Thursday that the attack in Nasir, Upper Nile state was influenced by Machar and others via ”coordinated military and political structures.”
Bringing criminal charges against Machar is likely to further destabilize South Sudan, whose government faces pressure from regional leaders to reach a political agreement that prevents a return to full-blown war.
It was not immediately clear when Machar would be presented in a courtroom. His precise whereabouts in South Sudan are unknown, and his political supporters have long called for his freedom.
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Tell Trump This: Primate Ayodele Sends Warning To Donald Trump In New Prophecy
