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☆ South Korea to mass produce lasers that can take out drones at $1.50 a hit
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-11 | by ( Yoonjung Seo | Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Seoul, South Korea CNN —South Korea is beginning the mass production of a low-cost laser weapon that has successfully shot down small drones during testing, the country’s key arms agency said Thursday. The release did not give a cost for the weapon, but said each shot fired would only cost about $1.50. In Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere, small drones - some available off the shelf - have shown the ability to disable or destroy multimillion-dollar pieces of military hardware, including tanks. The agency said South Korea is the first country to publicly acknowledge it will deploy a mass-produced laser weapon. In 2022, the US Navy successfully tested a high-energy laser system against a target representing a cruise missile.

Persons: DAPA, ” James Black, ” Organizations: South Korea CNN, Korea’s, Administration, RAND, Korea Institute for Defense, Hanwha Aerospace, US Navy Locations: Seoul, South Korea, Ukraine, RAND Europe, Britain

☆ A European rival to HIMARS takes shape
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-07 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Europe is building a multiple rocket launcher that resembles America's HIMARS, the ground-fired weapon that took on the precision strike missions that Ukraine's battered air force couldn't. Many, such as France's LRU and Germany's MARS 2, are based on the U.S. M270, a tracked mobile rocket launcher, and its Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System rockets. One HIMARS launcher can carry six GMLRS rockets or one longer-range ATACMS ballistic missile. HIMARS rockets destroyed Russian ammunition depots and headquarters, disrupting logistics and command and control, and spurring Russian forces to move vital facilities deeper behind their lines. Collectively, such trends are prompting some militaries to consider possible alternatives to the US HIMARS system, though certainly that remains a major player in this competition for contracts."

Persons: HIMARS, KNDS, EuroPULS, hasn't, Emely Gonzalez, What's, Elbit, Lockheed Martin, that's, Elbit's PULS, James Black, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Franco, Systems, Israel Defense Forces, High, Artillery, U.S ., US Marine Corps, HIMARS, Lockheed, Munitions, MARS, US Defense Department, RAND, Defense, Foreign Policy, Rutgers Univ, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Ukraine, HIMARS, Germany, Europe, Netherlands, Denmark, RAND Europe, Forbes

☆ Ukraine's strikes on Crimean air defenses could end its role as a Russian military staging ground: experts
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-14 | by ( Thibault Spirlet | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewUkraine's sustained attacks against Russia's air defenses could make occupied Crimea untenable as a military staging ground, war analysts said. Ukraine has repeatedly hit Russia's air defenses in Crimea over the last few months, with attacks intensifying this week. AdvertisementAccording to reports, one Russian S-400 "Triumf" and two S-300 air-defense missile systems were targeted overnight on Sunday into Monday, with suggestions that Ukraine used US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMS. AdvertisementForbes reached a similar conclusion on Wednesday, saying Russia's S-400 missile systems can't defend nearby Russian troops or even themselves. AdvertisementBut despite Ukraine's recent successes, its campaign of long-range air strikes won't be the silver bullet that ends Russia's occupation of Crimea, military experts told BI.

Persons: —, Ukraine's, Forbes, Russia's, Kyrylo Budanov, Keir Giles, Giles, they're, Matthew Savill, James Black, Putin Organizations: Service, Institute for, Business, Army Tactical Missile Systems, Staff of, Armed Forces, Chatham House's, Eurasia Programme, Royal United Services Institute, RAND Europe, Kremlin Locations: Crimea, Russia, Ukraine, Russian, Chatham House's Russia, Eurasia, Ukrainian

☆ Fintech has hit a bottom after plunge in valuations and squeeze on funding, execs and VCs say
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Executives and investors at the Money20/20 event in Amsterdam last week told CNBC that valuations have corrected from unsustainable highs from the industry's heyday in 2020 and 2021. Iana Dimitrova, CEO of embedded finance startup OpenPayd, told CNBC in an interview at the firm's booth that the market has "recalibrated." "Value is now ascribed to businesses that manage to prove there is a solid use case, solid business model," Dimitrova told CNBC. In 2021, global fintech funding reached an all-time peak of $238.9 billion, according to KPMG. Nanu added that the trend mimics the "craziness" fintech saw in terms of frothy valuations in 2020 and 2021.

Persons: Long, Dimitrova, Horacio Villalobos, Revolut, Prajit Nanu, fintech, Nanu, OpenPayd's Dimitrova, OpenPayd, Crypto, Andrea Pirlo, Fintech execs, they're, James Black, IVP, We've, Black, Charles McManus, Chris Ratcliffe Organizations: Bloomberg, Getty, AMSTERDAM, CNBC, RAI, KPMG, Companies, U.S ., ClearBank, Global Summit Locations: Amsterdam, Lisbon, Portugal, fintech, Italian, stablecoins

☆ Air defense for $13 a shot? How lasers could revolutionize the way militaries counter enemy missiles and drones
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

And it is claimed it also take out its targets for a tiny fraction of what current air defense missiles cost. In contrast, the Standard Missile-2 used by the United States Navy for air defense costs more than $2 million per shot. The DragonFire laser weapon is tested in January on a British firing range. UK Defense Ministry“It has the potential to be a long-term low-cost alternative to certain tasks missiles currently carry out,” a January statement from the UK Defense Ministry said. Meanwhile expensive air defense systems from Western allies have been crucial to Ukraine’s ability to defend itself from attacks by Russian missiles and drones.

Persons: “, ”, Houthi, Leon Neal, ” James Black, DragonFire, Black, Grant Shapp, Iain Boyd, Boyd, Fred Pyle, ” Shimon Fhima Organizations: CNN, United Kingdom’s Defense Ministry, Defense Ministry, UK Defense Ministry, The Defense Ministry, United States Navy, ExCel, Getty, RAND, ”, Center for National Security, University of Colorado, Navy, Warfare, Breaking Defense, US Navy, Office, DOD Locations: Britain, Scotland, Ukraine, Gulf of Aden, Russian, London, England, RAND Europe, Ponce, Persian, USS Portland

☆ With OpenAI's future in limbo, its startup customers are looking to jump ship to other AI models offered by rivals Anthropic and Meta
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

With Sam Altman's potential return to OpenAI still in question, one group is also left with a lot of uncertainty: OpenAI's startup customers. Those apprehensions were further worsened Monday, when over 700 of OpenAI's employees threatened to resign if he wasn't reinstated. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Several startup founders told Business Insider that they were considering switching to an open source model like Meta's Llama 2, or Anthropic's Claude. Still, several customers like Takeoff AI founder McKay Wrigley are switching to Microsoft's Azure service, which sells copies of OpenAI's models and other models.

Persons: Sam Altman's, OpenAI, Altman, wasn't, Claude, James Blackwell, McKay Wrigley, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Morgan Stanley, Wrigley, Charlie Dolan, he's, Anthropic, Guillermo Rauch, Matt McIlwain, We've, McIlwain, Alistair Barr Organizations: Business, Google, Services, Microsoft, OpenAI, Bank Locations: Anthropic

☆ In the college sports pay era, female athletes are emerging as big winners
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Kaitlin Balasaygun | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

At a time of increased scrutiny about the pay gap between male and female athletes, the Nike deals show that female collegiate and amateur athletes are emerging as winners in the early days of the NIL era. "I think most people knew that women athletes in particular were going to see great opportunities," Rishe said. "That's why it's exciting to see, but not surprising to see a lot of female college athletes solidify various and sometimes lucrative NIL deals." Women's social media presence influences dealsClark ranks as the tenth most profitable college women's basketball player and Jones comes in twelfth, according to On3's "College Women's Basketball NIL Rankings." Female athletes already are doing their part in spreading the message about the future of women in sports and as public figures.

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