Els talibans admeten el possible retorn d'amputacions, lapidacions i execucions: "Depèn de les lleis islàmiques"

 

L' organització ha admès que les amputacions, lapidacions i execucions de delinqüents podrien tornar a l' Afganistan després de la presa dels talibans .

Mentre els seus combatents es preparaven per assumir el poder a Kabul , el grup islamista militant va insistir que protegiria els drets de les dones, els mitjans de comunicació i els diplomàtics.

Però, preguntat sobre els càstigs violents als delinqüents - un segell distintiu del govern brutal dels talibans a la dècada de 1990 -, un portaveu va dir: "Això depèn dels seguidors religiosos i dels tribunals. Ells decidiran sobre el càstig ".

Preguntat específicament sobre la picada de mans i peus, lapidacions i assassinats estatals, Suhail Shaheen va dir a la BBC: "No puc dir ara mateix. Correspon als tribunals, als jutges i a les lleis ".

Els comentaris van arribar fins i tot quan Shaheen intentava calmar els temors sobre el retorn del grup al poder, inclòs que el seu lideratge no pot controlar a molts dels seus combatents.

"Assegurem a la gent, especialment a la ciutat de Kabul, que les seves propietats i la seva vida són segures", va dir el portaveu a l'entrevista.

“El nostre lideratge havia donat instruccions a les nostres forces per romandre a les portes de Kabul, no entrar a la ciutat. Estem esperant una transferència pacífica de poder ”, afegint que els talibans esperaven que això passés ben aviat.

El govern dels talibans es va fer famós per càstigs, incloses les execucions públiques per a assassins condemnats i les amputacions de persones declarades culpables de robatori.

Les dones van quedar gairebé completament excloses de la vida pública, com l’ocupació i l’educació, i les noies de 10 anys o més es van desanimar per anar a l’escola.

El grup militant també va prohibir la televisió, la música i el cinema i va destruir relíquies no islàmiques, com ara el 2001 les famoses estàtues de Buda Bamiyan al centre de l'Afganistan.

Les històries de terror ja han sorgit de zones que han caigut en mans dels insurgents talibans els darrers dies.

El mes passat, combatents del grup van entrar a les oficines del banc Azizi a la ciutat del sud de Kandahar i van ordenar que marxessin nou dones que hi treballaven, de manera que els parents masculins podrien ocupar el seu lloc.

Però, parlant en directe per un telèfon mòbil a la BBC, Shaheen va dir que les dones "tindran accés a l'educació i al treball" i podran sortir de casa sense acompanyament masculí.

"Respectarem els drets de les dones: la nostra política és que les dones tinguin accés a l'educació i al treball per portar el hijab", va dir.

Els talibans creien que "ningú hauria d'abandonar el país" perquè "necessitem tots els talents i la capacitat, necessitem que tots quedem al país i participem".

Es creu que Dominic Raab , el secretari d’exteriors sotmès al foc, torna d’unes vacances, a mesura que la crisi s’aprofundeix.

Va tuitejar que havia "compartit les meves profundes preocupacions" amb el ministre d'Afers Exteriors afganès, i va afegir: "Crític que la comunitat internacional estigui unida en dir als talibans que la violència ha d'acabar i els drets humans han de ser protegits".

Taliban says its 'type of rule' will become clear soon after president flees to 'avoid bloodshed'

 A senior Taliban official has declared victory in Afghanistan, praising the "unrivalled feat" of taking the capital Kabul and ousting the president

 Taliban fighters are pictured inside Kabul's presidential palace

Mullah Baradar said in a video statement on Sunday that the militants' road to power was unexpectedly fast, but the "war in Afghanistan is over now".

He told Al Jazeera the "type of regime" the Taliban plans to introduce "will become clear soon", but they will guarantee the safety of all citizens and officials.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told the Associated Press that they are holding talks to form an "open, inclusive Islamic government".

It comes after the group captured the presidential palace and 11 districts of Kabul, causing President Ashraf Ghani to flee "bloodshed".

British troops arrived in the city to help evacuate UK nationals over the weekend, as the Pentagon ordered a further 1,000 US personnel and countries across the globe scrambled to get their diplomats out of the country safely.

A Taliban spokesman said the nature of its rule will 'become clear soon

Earlier on Sunday Reuters reported Mr Ghani's departure Tajikistan, citing a senior interior ministry official.

But in a later Facebook post, the president said he was faced with a "hard choice" between the "armed Taliban" or "leaving the dear country that I dedicated my life to protecting the past 20 years".

"If left unchecked, countless patriots would be martyred and the city of Kabul would be devastated, resulting in a major humanitarian catastrophe in the six-million-strong city," he said.

"The Taliban had made it clear that they were ready to carry out a bloody attack on all of Kabul and the people of Kabul to oust me. In order to prevent a flood of bloodshed, I decided to leave."

Taliban fighters are pictured in Ghazni, southeastern Afghanistan as they raise their flag

He added that the militants had "won victory in a judgment of sword and gun" and they "have a responsibility to protect the honour, prosperity and self-respect of our compatriots".

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is pictured speaking inside parliament in Kabul

It came amid reports of several explosions in city, despite the Taliban saying that they wanted a "peaceful transition of power".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired a COBRA meeting on the Afghan crisis this evening after requesting to recall parliament from its summer break on Wednesday.

He said the UK and its international partners should work to ensure "Afghanistan does not become a breeding ground for terror" once again.

Mr Johnson added that the "situation remains difficult" and the world is facing a "change of regime in Kabul".

As British troops from the 16 Air Assault Brigade landed on Sunday, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic ordered its pilots to stay away from Afghan airspace over security concerns.

Women on the streets of Kabul over the weekend

Mr Johnson said the government is trying to get as many British nationals out of the country as it can "in the next few days".

A Foreign Office spokesperson added that the UK had "reduced" its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, "but our ambassador remains in Kabul and UK government staff continue to work to provide assistance to British nationals and to our Afghan staff".

According to The Sunday Telegraph, Britain's ambassador to Afghanistan Sir Laurie Bristow is going to be flown out of the country by tonight.

The Taliban has made rapid gains over the past week, with Western countries urgently deploying troops to assist with the evacuation of diplomatic staff.

Meanwhile, crowds of people were seen at the border gate to Pakistan in an attempt to leave the country over the weekend, as militants drove through the streets of Kabul.

The Islamists have said there will be no fighting in the city and anyone who wants to leave should be able to do so peacefully, with women told to head for protected areas.

But President Ghani's comments on Sunday painted a very different picture, with international observers fearing the worst.

The UN Security Council said it would hold an emergency meeting on Monday morning, with secretary-general Antonio Guterres urging the Taliban to "exercise utmost restraint in order to protect lives".

Afghans walk towards the border with Pakistan in a bid to escape the crisis

US President Joe Biden announced he was sending 6,000 troops to Kabul to help remove personnel - and the evacuation of the American embassy has now begun.

US diplomats have been urgently destroying sensitive documents, with helicopters seen flying over the US embassy.

The Biden administration has warned Taliban officials any actions that put American personnel at risk "will be met with a swift and strong US military response".

The president has defended his decision to withdraw US troops from the country in the coming weeks, and said the task of fighting back against Taliban insurgents must fall to Afghan forces.

He warned that an indefinite American military presence in Afghanistan is not an option, and has vowed not to pass on the war to a fifth US president.

But the handling of the crisis has attracted criticism from some American politicians, with his predecessor Donald Trump claiming that Mr Biden "gets it wrong every time on foreign policy" and it "will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history".

In a strongly worded statement, Mr Trump said: "After I took out ISIS, I established a credible deterrent. That deterrent is now gone. The Taliban no longer has fear or respect for America, or America's power

Who Invented Television

 Multiple inventors deserve credit for the technology, which had its origins in the 19th century.

The way people watch television has changed dramatically since the medium first burst onto the scene in the 1940s and ‘50s and forever transformed American life. Decade after decade, TV technology has steadily advanced: Color arrived in the 1960s, followed by cable in the ‘70s, VCRs in the ‘80s and high-definition in the late ‘90s. In the 21st century, viewers are just as likely to watch shows on cell phones, laptops and tablets as on a TV set. Amazingly, however, all these technological changes were essentially just improvements on a basic system that has worked since the late 1930s—with roots reaching even further back than that.

Early TV Technology: Mechanical Spinning Discs

No single inventor deserves credit for the television. The idea was floating around long before the technology existed to make it happen, and many scientists and engineers made contributions that built on each other to eventually produce what we know as TV today.

Television’s origins can be traced to the 1830s and ‘40s, when Samuel F.B. Morse developed the telegraph, the system of sending messages (translated into beeping sounds) along wires. Another important step forward came in 1876 in the form of Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, which allowed the human voice to travel through wires over long distances.

Both Bell and Thomas Edison speculated about the possibility of telephone-like devices that could transmit images as well as sounds. But it was a German researcher who took the next important step toward developing the technology that made television possible. In 1884, Paul Nipkow came up with a system of sending images through wires via spinning discs. He called it the electric telescope, but it was essentially an early form of mechanical television.

TV Goes Electronic With Cathode Ray Tubes

In the early 1900s, both Russian physicist Boris Rosing and Scottish engineer Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton worked independently to improve on Nipkow’s system by replacing the spinning discs with cathode ray tubes, a technology developed earlier by German physicist Karl Braun. Swinton’s system, which placed cathode ray tubes inside the camera that sent a picture, as well as inside the receiver, was essentially the earliest all-electronic television system.

Russian-born engineer Vladimir Zworykin had worked as Rosing’s assistant before both of them emigrated following the Russian Revolution. In 1923, Zworykin was employed at the Pittsburgh-based manufacturing company Westinghouse when he applied for his first television patent, for the “Iconoscope,” which used cathode ray tubes to transmit images.

In 1929, Zworykin demonstrated his all-electronic television system at a convention of radio engineers. In the audience was David Sarnoff, an executive at Radio Corporation of America (RCA), the nation’s biggest communications company at the time. Born into a poor Jewish family in Minsk, Russia, Sarnoff had come to New York City as a child and began his career as a telegraph operator. He was actually on duty on the night of the Titanic disaster; although he likely didn’t—as he later claimed—coordinate distress messages sent to nearby ships, he did help disseminate the names of the survivors.

Utah Inventor Battles Giant Corporation

April 30, 1939, New York City: This is the scene viewed on the television receivers in the metropolitan area, as the National Broadcasting Company inaugurated the first regular television service to the American public telecasting the ceremonies marking the opening of the New York World's Fair. Later, viewers heard and saw President Roosevelt proclaim the fair open.

Sarnoff was among the earliest to see that television, like radio, had enormous potential as a medium for entertainment as well as communication. Named president of RCA in 1930, he hired Zworykin to develop and improve television technology for the company. Meanwhile, an American inventor named Philo Farnsworth had been working on his own television system. Farnsworth, who grew up on a farm in Utah, reportedly came up with his big idea—a vacuum tube that could dissect images into lines, transmit those lines and turn them back into images—while still a teenager in chemistry class.

In 1927, at the age of 21, Farnsworth completed the prototype of the first working fully electronic TV system, based on this “image dissector.” He soon found himself embroiled in a long legal battle with RCA, which claimed Zworykin’s 1923 patent took priority over Farnsworth’s inventions. The U.S. Patent Office ruled in favor of Farnsworth in 1934 (helped in part by an old high school teacher, who had kept a key drawing by the young inventor), and Sarnoff was eventually forced to pay Farnsworth $1 million in licensing fees. Though viewed by many historians as the true father of television, Farnsworth never earned much more from his invention,and was dogged by patent appeal lawsuits from RCA. He later moved on to other fields of research, including nuclear fission, and died in debt in 1971.

Sarnoff, with his marketing might, introduced the public to television in a big way at the World’s Fair in New York City in 1939. Under the umbrella of RCA’s broadcasting division, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), Sarnoff broadcast the fair’s opening ceremonies, including a speech by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Expeditions that changed the course of history

North America, South America, Asia, Africa, Australia: these were all once lands untouched by Europeans. The day that men set off to explore the world changed everything for everyone.

The period between the 15th and 18th centuries, perhaps wrongly named the Age of Discovery despite the fact that many of the lands were already inhabited, saw Europeans spread across the globe. Even after these impactful explorations, humans have continued to adventure to faraway places, even to the sky and the Moon.

From Columbus to Armstrong, here are the most important expeditions that changed the world.

Mount Everest

They took 350 porters and 5 tons of baggage on the adventure! When they finished, Hillary's best friend was waiting at the bottom with hot soup for them. Rightly so!


Edmund Hillary (1919-2008)

In 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first men to reach the top of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. Hillary is credited most with the achievement because he placed his foot on the summit first.

Roald Amundsen (1872-1928)

Amundsen was an incredible explorer of the coldest regions on Earth. In 1897, he set off to find the Northwest Passage, which is the route that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans to the Arctic Ocean. Explorers had been looking for it for years.

Discoveries

Roald Amundsen went further than just the Northwest Passage. He was the first man to reach the South Pole and to fly over the North Pole. Therefore, he was the first human to conquer the most uninhabited areas in the world.

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)

We all know of Columbus. He was supposedly the first man ever to cross from Europe to South America.

Where did he go?

In 1492, Columbus was looking for a quicker way to get to India. Accidentally, he ran into Latin America. In his life, he made three trips over the Atlantic Ocean for further exploration of the 'new' land. It is said that Columbus made the first connection that led Europe to colonize Latin America.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

The famous scientist was also an explorer in his own right. Darwin had been studying biology at Cambridge when he was asked to go on an exploration voyage on the HMS Beagle.
The Galapagos

Charles Darwin then spent five years traveling around South America recording species, habits, and environments. He focused his research on the Galapagos Islands. All of the research was used to create the controversial book 'On the Origin of Species' (1859).

David Livingstone (1813-1873)

In the 19th century, Africa was a pretty mysterious place for most outside the continent. David Livingstone set out to explore the continent and get to know its cultures. He arrived there in 1865.

Missing?

While Livingstone was trekking through Africa, he also sought to find a way to halt the slave trade because he could see the damage it caused. Originally, he was meant to return after two years, but instead he stayed until his death. The British, meanwhile, thought he had gone missing.

Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838)

Lewis and Clark's expedition was to survey and charter the West of the United States. It seemed like a simple job, but they had no idea how big the mission they had taken on would be.

The West

After an astonishing 8,000-mile (almost 13,000-km) trek, the Corps of Discovery reached what is now Oregon. Their way back was very difficult, as they encountered Native Americans who attacked them. On their return, they were hailed as heroes by President Thomas Jefferson and the people.

Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)

We need hardly tell you what happened here! On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong successfully undertook the mission to land on the Moon.

"One small step for man"

Armstrong's expedition made human’s dreams of space a reality. It was the first direct connection with another land in outer space, but was by no means the last.

Amelia Earhart (1897-1937)

In 1929, history was made when the first female aviator crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Incredibly, she was only the 16th woman in the world to have obtained a pilot's license.

More to it

Earhart was also the first person in history to ever fly over both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The aviator's life is shrouded in mystery, however, as she disappeared in 1937 and was never seen again.

Zheng He (1371-1433)

During the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He explored the world in totality. The Emperor bid him to show the greatness of the empire to other countries. With this aim, he went on seven expeditions!

Did Columbus do it?

By recording where they went, Zheng He was able to make a map of their expeditions. As you can see, there is an America. This map was created years before Christopher Columbus hit the seas. Contrary to our history books, it's very possible that the Chinese came across the Americas before the Europeans.

Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512)

Does that first name look familiar to you? America was named after Vespucci because of his exploratory success. In 1497, he sailed from Spain to South America, and was convinced he had discovered a new continent.

The rios

Even though he was wrong about the new continent as it had already been visited by a few others, his explorations put Rio de Janeiro and Río de la Plata on the map.

John Cabot (c. 1450–c. 1500)

In 1497, this burly man led a voyage across the North Atlantic Sea and stumbled across Canada. He originally thought that Canada was Asia, which is why he planted a British flag on it.

Disappearance

Born in Italy, Cabot dedicated his life to exploration and was set to return to Canada. In 1498, he set off again with a fleet. But John Cabot never returned. No one knows what happened to him and his ships.

Hernán Cortés (1485-1547)

Many will know of the Conquistador Cortés. He left Spain at the age of 19 to explore the world and decided to conquer the Aztec Empire in Mexico.

The Aztec Empire

Here you can see a depiction of Córtes talking to the Emperor of the Aztecs. But there was not that much talking done in reality. Brutally, Córtes and his men killed over 100,000 indigenous people, but many more died of illnesses that the Europeans brought over.

Francis Drake (c. 1540–1596)

Francis Drake was a great friend of Queen Elizabeth (1533-1603). He is famous for sailing around the whole world and claiming California for the British Empire.

Virginia

The Queen liked him so much that she did not let him go off and explore the Americas more, but he found other ways to do so. Drake invested in an expedition that ended up claiming Virginia. Its name comes from Queen Elizabeth's nickname, the "Virgin Queen."

James Cook (1728-1779)

At the age of 29, Cook was already the master of a ship. In 1770, he endeavored to explore the Pacific and Australia.

New Zealand and Australia

On his voyage upon the HMS Endeavour, he gathered information on New Zealand, the Great Barrier Reef, and Australia. Importantly, he proved that Terra Australis, the hypothesized continent, did not exist.

Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521)

Magellan organized an expedition to explore the East Indies in 1519. However, more notable than the expedition is that he circumnavigated the Earth.

Around the world

The voyage was treacherous. Of the five ships that set off from Seville, Spain, only one returned. Magellan, along with 251 men on board, died before the expedition ended.

Before and after images show bomb-hit Westminster Abbey in WWII

 

Just over eighty years ago, on the night of May 10, 1941, Westminster Abbey suffered its worst bomb damage of the Second World War.

Clusters of incendiaries fell on the Abbey roof and in the church's precincts. 

Most were quickly put out by fire watchers but one on the lantern roof, in the centre of the church, could not easily be reached and sent flames shooting 40 feet into the sky above London. 

The Abbey - the site of the coronation of every British monarch since William the Conqueror in 1066 - could have burned to the ground.  

Thankfully, the burning timbers and molten lead fell to the floor below - where monarchs are enthroned at a coronation - and the fire was more easily extinguished.

On the same night, the Deanery was gutted by fire and three clergy houses in the cloisters were destroyed.

In pictures released by the church to mark the 80th anniversary of the bombing, you can see the damage and how the Abbey was later restored. 

Also seen are some of the fire watchers who heroically protected the Abbey and whose hard work and vigilance helped to ensure that even on the night of the worst bombing raid, the damage was limited.

The Abbey also benefited from precautions that had been taken at the outbreak of war in 1939. 

Many of its treasures, including gilt bronze and oak tomb effigies, manuscripts and tapestries were evacuated for safety to country houses. 

Some of the stained glass windows were boarded over but quite a lot of glass was blown out by the blast, especially in 1940. 

Around 60,000 sand bags were used to protect immoveable royal and medieval tombs. The Coronation Chair was sent for safety to Gloucester Cathedral.

Areas of the Abbey were also set aside as APR (Air Raid Precautions) headquarters, a dressing station and dispensary. 

An air raid shelter was available for the clergy in College Garden.

Services continued in the Abbey throughout the war, with the nave altar being used after the May raid. 

More than 700 tonnes of high explosives and 86,000 incendiaries were dropped across London on the night of May 10.  

As well as the damage inflicted on the Abbey, the nearby House of Commons was totally destroyed after being hit by a bomb. 

The Medieval roof timbers of Westminster Hall were also set alight by incendiaries. 

After the blaze at the Abbey, King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth visited to inspect the damage.    

The lantern roof was built after the war and the Abbey has since undergone major restoration, between 1995 and 1998.  

Boris Johnson under pressure as British voters back second independence referendum

 

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson is facing intense pressure to allow a second Scottish independence referendum if the SNP win a majority at Holyrood on Thursday, after a new poll for The Independent showed British voters think he would be wrong to deny a fresh ballot.

The UK government argues that now is not the time for another vote and that politicians should focus on rebuilding the economy in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

But Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP has said outright victory in this week’s Holyrood elections would be a mandate for a second referendum.

And a new BMG poll for The Independent suggests Britons agree.

The survey found that 41 per cent of those asked said Mr Johnson should allow another vote within four years if pro-independence parties win a majority in the Scottish Parliament this week, compared to just 33 per cent who opposed and 26 per cent who said they did not know.

Nicola Sturgeon

The poll also shows Mr Johnson would be under heavily expected to win another referendum.

Just 19 per cent said Scottish independence would be positive for the UK, while 41 per cent believe it would be negative.

The only part of the UK where voters were more likely to back Mr Johnson’s position than oppose it was in Scotland.

There 41 per cent thought the prime minister should grant another referendum while 44 per cent thought he should not.

In response, Ms Sturgeon said: "What this poll shows is that Boris Johnson and the Tories can’t deny democracy forever.

“When the Scottish Parliament decides it is the right time for the people of Scotland to choose their future, it would be foolish for a Westminster Tory government to stand the way of the democratic will of the people of Scotland.”

But a UK government spokesperson said the SNP’s push for a “divisive referendum” was “irresponsible”.

The poll also shows that across Britain as a whole, only the over-65s believe Mr Johnson’s government has taken the right approach.

They back his position by 45 per cent to 35 per cent.

But no other age group agreed.

And young people were especially likely to believe the outcome of Thursday’s vote could lead to another independence poll.

Among 18-24 year olds, 48 per cent thought the government should allow another referendum, while just 15 per cent thought they should withhold permission.

As well as the SNP, the Scottish Greens also support independence, as do Alba, the new party formed by Ms Sturgeon’s rival and former ally Alex Salmond.

He is campaigning for voters to deliver a ‘super majority’ among pro-independence parties on Thursday.

UK ministers were spooked by a series of polls earlier this year which suggested support for independence had risen in Scotland.

However, polls in recent days suggest that backing may have waned during the course of this election campaign.

Some UK government insiders believe the chances of a pro-independence majority on Thursday are currently touch and go.

A UK government spokesperson said:  “Now more than ever, people in Scotland want to see the UK government and the devolved administrations working together to protect lives and livelihoods.

"The United Kingdom is the most successful political and economic union the world has ever seen, and this pandemic and our collective response, from the furlough scheme to vaccine procurement and the backing of our military personnel, has shown that we are at our strongest when we work together towards a common goal.

"The push for a divisive referendum is simply irresponsible. It is a distraction, when we need to focus on continuing to tackle the pandemic and rebuilding our economy."

Stratolaunch, the world’s largest plane, completes second test flight

 

The world's largest plane Stratolaunch performs test flight in Mojave, California

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The world's largest plane has completed its second test flight, marking a step forward for next-generation air launch technology.
With a wingspan stretching to 117 metres, wider than the length of a football pitch, the Stratolaunch plane rose to 14,000 feet and reached a top speed of 199mph test flight on Thursday.
"We are airborne,” the company tweeted at around 8.30am local time, as the plane's six-engines propelled it into the sky above the Southern California desert.
The plane's 28 wheels touched down just over three hours later.
Stratolaunch was started in 2011 by Burt Rutan and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who passed away before the plane's first test flight took place in April 2019.

 

As global lockdowns amid the coronavirus pandemic limited the extent to which we can travel and go about our daily lives, some companies and individuals have turned to tech to go where humans can't. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been used for everything from spraying disinfectant in cities to delivering essential items and enforcing lockdown rules during the coronavirus crisis. Yet drones had a whole host of surprising uses before the pandemic too – click or scroll through to see the amazing ways drones are going where humans can't.

Originally, the behemoth plane was designed to fly rockets to the edge of space so they could launch mid-air with the company saying it would make satellite deployment as "easy as booking an airline flight." 

But in 2020, Stratolaunch announced it would pivot to focus on launching hypersonic planes which fly five times faster than the speed of sound. 

The company is currently working towards launching its Talon-A prototype hypersonic plane.

Focusing on hypersonic aircraft is likely to mean Stratolaunch will work closely with the US department of defence. 

Military efforts to develop hypersonic weapons is growing increasingly competitive, especially between the US, China and Russia.

Last year, a Pentagon media briefing said development in the field was being driven by "our great power competitors and their attempts to challenge our domain dominance".

David Millman, Stratolaunch’s chief technology officer, told tech news outlet GeekWire: “That’s exactly one of the areas that we’re looking at: how can we help the Department of Defense in mitigating risks for all their extensive flight testing.”   

He added, the company plans to build three hypersonic vehicles and aims to conduct hypersonic tests at least once every 17 days.  

 

Armed forces using drones for surveillance

The German army uses drones created by aviation company EMT to carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations. The drones, named Aladin, are able to function during day and night and in all weather conditions, and can be dismantled in the field in just five minutes.