America’s adversaries are, in some areas, exceeding America in new and dangerous military technology.
Since the end of the Second World War, it has been generally believed that the Pentagon had a commanding lead in advanced weaponry that was sufficient to deter even opponents that had larger forces. That is no longer accurate. In fact, China Russia have erased that advantage.
In fact, China Russia have erased that advantage in crucial areas such as hypersonic technology.
Through a combination of a devotion to internal research and development, as well as effective intelligence programs aimed at stealing western tech, Beijing and Moscow boast world-leading military advances.
In a November 8 release, the House Select Committee on China’s chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) stated that: “the Chinese Communist Party is co-opting American AI to fuel its military agenda. By weaponizing our open-access technology, the CCP is using U.S. innovation to tip the global balance of power, undermining our security and the principles of open collaboration.”
Moolenaar was commenting on Jamestown Foundation research that exposed an “…urgent threat, demanding a critical reassessment of how we protect our technological edge from exploitation.”
The report noted that “Researchers in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have optimized Meta’s Llama model for specialized military and security purposes. ChatBIT, an adapted Llama model, appears to be successful in demonstrations in which it was used in military contexts such as intelligence, situational analysis, and mission support, outperforming other comparable models. Open-source models like Llama are valuable for innovation, but their deployment to enhance the capabilities of foreign militaries raises concerns about dual-use applications. The customization of Llama by defense researchers in the PRC highlights gaps in enforcement for open-source usage restrictions, underscoring the need for stronger oversight to prevent strategic misuse.”
Even beyond appropriating western advances, Russia and China and moved diligently to establish militaries equipped with advanced, in some cases ground-breaking, tech.
The Eurasia Times and the South China Morning Post, reports that AI’s application in weaponry is already widely recognized, and now, Chinese technology has further enhanced its capabilities. According to the South China Morning Post, scientists in China’s defense sector have developed a generative AI designed to enhance electronic warfare drone capabilities.
Some of the tech resembles that seen in science fiction movies. The New York Post recently found that the Chinese military has developed a high-powered microwave weapon, somewhat similar to the primary weapon in Star War’s Death Star.
The prestigious Chatham House organization recently described Russia’s intent to lead the field in high tech.
“New weapons systems, dubbed Putin’s superoruzhie (‘super weapons’) and first unveiled in 2018, signal Russia’s intent to innovate in the defence-industrial field to counter the perceived conventional military superiority of great power competitors such as the US and its NATO allies. Russia is pursuing the incremental integration of asymmetric force-multiplier technologies into its established and legacy weapons systems. Meanwhile, the defence industry is developing new systems and capabilities in military robotics and has successfully integrated unmanned vehicles, particularly aerial drones, into its military operations. In the space sector, Russia is pursuing the development of capabilities able to potentially counter and disrupt an adversary’s satellite operations. Finally, AI technologies are being developed with a view to the disruption of Western command and control systems and communication facilities, as well as the establishment of information superiority.”
The Institute for Science and International Security warns that “A dangerous new weapons technology partnership between Iran and Russia is emerging with deadly consequences for the United States, Israel, and their allies. This axis, helped importantly by China, exchanges finished military hardware and the technology to replicate and produce it. With the advent of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the transfer of weapons technology from Iran to Russia has developed on a large scale. The Ukraine war has led Russia to seek goods from Iran, including prominently a $1.75 billion purchase of Shahed 136 kamikaze drones and their production know-how. As it produces the Shahed drones, known in Russia as the Geran 2 drone, Russia has improved it. Based on the extensive interactions in Iran and in Russia between Iranian experts and the drone manufacturer, JSC Alabuga, there are grounds to believe that Russian improvements in the drone’s design and production have filtered back to Iran. Additionally, Iran is interested more generally in Russian military technologies.”
Illustration: Pixabay