China's GDF-600 Hypersonic Glide Platform - A Groundbreaking Development in Modern Warfare

China has recently unveiled its latest foray into the world of high tech weaponry.  At the Zhuhai Air Show 2024, China revealed its GDF-600 hypersonic boost glide concept vehicle that will have a wide range of capabilities as you will see in this posting.

 

The GDF-600 will be designed to have an operational range of between 500 and 1000 kilometres which could theoretically be extended to 6000 kilometres at speeds of between Mach 7 and Mach 10 (5369 mph to 7673 mph) at a maximum altitude of 40 kilometres.  Its design allows it to penetrate modern air defences and can be used for both anti-ship and land-attack purposes.  It has a launch mass of 5000 kilograms and a payload capacity of 1200 kilograms.  One of the key aspects of the GDF-600 is its sub-munition separation system which will give it the capability to release different payload types while in-flight.  These sub-payloads include:

 

1.) supersonic missiles with ranges of between 100 to 500 kilometres at speeds of between 2400 and 6000 kmph

 

2.) subsonic missiles with ranges of between 50 to 100 kilometres at speeds of between 730 and 1030 kmph

 

3.) cruise missiles with a ranges of between 10 and 80 kilometres at speeds of between 300 and 600 kmph

 

4.) aerial bombs with a range of 70 kilometres

 

5.) drones with an operating range of between 2 and 15 kilometres

 

These wide-ranging munitions will allow the GDF-600 to be used for multiple purposes including direct kinetic strikes against specific targets, reconnaissance missions and electronic warfare.  The fact that these munitions can be released at various points along the GDF-600s trajectory allow it to make simultaneous strikes on several targets at the same time which will complicate the defense response of its adversaries.

  

Here is a photo of the mockup GDF-600 showing its multiple payload capabilities:

 

 

Here is a video providing additional information about the GDF-600:

 

 

This very significant advancement in China's hypersonic weapons capabilities stands in sharp contrast to the United States troubled experience with hypersonic weaponry.  For example, the Air Force's AGM-183A ARRW which, as you can see here, is not operational at this point in time:

 

 

Additionally, the United States Army's Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon aka Dark Eagle is also not ready for deployment as shown here:

 

 

The addition of the GDF-600 to China's growing arsenal of high tech weapons will make any intervention against the nation in its ongoing tiff with Taiwan and its territorial claims in the South China Sea more complicated particularly given that the weapon will have a wide range of anti-ship capabilities.  As well, its ability to conduct electronic warfare could disrupt communications and radar which would significantly compromise the ability of the United States and its proxies to defend against the GDF-600.

Russia's Military Recruitment Efforts - Bringing Religion into the Special Military Operation in Ukraine

Here is a newly released video from the Russian Ministry of Defense:

The 90 second video shows a battle apparently between Russian and Ukrainian forces with an appeal to Russia's wide-ranging religious groups:

 

1.) Orthodox Christianity - an icon of St. George, an important saint in the Orthodox religion, who represents the trump of God and goodness over evil and the Devil.  In this part of the video, the soldier is shown making the sign of the cross as he is under artillery fire.

 

2.) Islam - a tank crew member is shown reciting a Muslim prayer.

 

3.) Buddhism - a sniper reads a Buddhist matra while holding his prayer beads.

 

4.) Orthodox Christianity - a Russian infantryman is shown wearing and kissing a silver cross around his neck with a Russian armoured column coming wot his rescue with a caption reading "We are [ ]. God is with us."  The blank space is filled with the names of two dozen major ethnic groups that populate Russia, including Ukrainians at the end of the video, stating that "We are Russians" (Мы русские) at the very end.

 

5.) Islam - a tank driver is shown praying to Allah.

 

It's interesting to see how Russia is invoking religious beliefs to attract Russian citizens to the special operations in Ukraine.

Let's look at some statistics.  According to the Ministry of Defense's 2023 Activity Results we find the following:

 

1.) 650,000 Russian military personnel have gained combat experience during the special military operation.

 

2.) Over 1,500 people apply for military service every day.

 

3.) 490,000 contract military personnel and volunteers joined the Russian Armed Forces in 2023.

 

4.) over 4,000 Russian students have volunteariy taken an academic leave and are performing combat missions.

 

5.) 272 people have become Heroes of Russia/Gold Star, the highest honorary title of the Russian Federation bestowed on individuals that are connected to a heroic feat of valour, during the special military operation.

 

6.) over 320,000 people have received state honours during the special military operation.

 

7.) over 13,500 mercenary fighters have arrived in Ukraine with 8,500 from Europe, 1,700 from Asia and 2,700 from North and South America.

So, why would Russia feel that it is necessary to recruit more fighters into its military?  Here are just two of many reasons:

1.) NATO's eastward expansion to Russia's borderlands:

2.) The Eastern Aurora mission also on Russia's doorstep:

  

Russia, the beneficiary of Nazi Germany's incursion into its heartland that led to the deaths of tens of millions of Soviet citizens and soldiers feels threatened for some reason.

Here's a final quote from the ministry, encouraging Russians of all ethnicities and religious affiliations to come together to face a common enemy:

 

"We are Russians. God is with us. Prayer is not just words, it is a powerful force. Be with the strong, be with us, join your comrades."

Isn't it interesting how God is seemingly on both sides of a war no matter how just the cause may appear to be?

How Washington is Begging for War with China

In the monthly archive of the foreign military sales which appear on the Defense Security Cooperation Agency's website for the month of June 2024, we find the following announcements of sales to Taiwan:

 

1.) Sale of Switchblade 300 Anti-Personnel and Anti-Armour Loitering Missile Systems:

 

Here is some background on the Switchblade 300 Block 20:

 

2.) Sale of Altius 600M-V Unmanned Aerial Vehicles:

 

Here is some background on the Altius 600M:

 

3.) Sale of F-16 Non-Standard Spare and Repair Parts:

 

4.) Sale of F-16 Standard Spare and Repair Parts:

 

 

These four sales of materiel to Taiwan in the month of June 2024 total $660.2 million.

 

All four of these sales fall under the proclamation that "the proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region".  If that was the case, why approve the sales?  As well, I'm sure that China's leadership would wholeheartedly agree that this is not a direct threat to their plans for the region.

 

Of the sales, the sale of 291 Altius 600m-V Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and 720 Switchblade 300 drones follow this speech by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks' comments at a lunchtime speech in September 2023:

 

"Last week I gave a speech, you all may know, about our need to innovate with urgency in this enduring age of strategic competition with the PRC. And there I described, in some detail, much of what we have been doing to enable and unleash the potential of U.S. and partner innovators....

 

And we've been doing quite a lot: Mapping and debugging DoD's innovation ecosystem. Rapidly iterating and investing to be a data-driven and AI-empowered military now. Incentivizing more joint experimentation and concept development. Extending bridges and express lanes over the so-called valley of death; of course, there are many valleys of death. Accelerating software acquisition and procurement of innovative technologies. And so much more. 

 

Why the urgency? Because our main strategic competitor today, the PRC, has spent the last 20 years building a modern military carefully crafted to blunt the operational advantages we've enjoyed for decades....

 

Last week, I announced our Replicator initiative — the latest effort to overcome the production valley of death, beginning with accelerating the scaling of all-domain attritable autonomous systems.

 

First, let's be crystal clear: Replicator is not a new program of record. We're not creating a new bureaucracy. And we will not be asking for new money in FY24. Not all problems need new money; we are problem-solvers, and we intend to self-solve.

 

So, Replicator will use existing funding, existing programming lines, and existing authorities to accelerate production and delivery at scale — by exerting leadership focus and attention on a singular operational challenge and maturing solutions, because that's what ultimately delivers....

 

With Replicator, we're beginning with all-domain, attritable autonomy, or ADA2, to help us overcome the PRC's advantage in mass: more ships, more missiles, more forces....

 

Let me give you a window into the possibilities of all-domain, attritable autonomy.

 

Imagine distributed pods of self-propelled ADA2 systems afloat, powered by the sun and other virtually-limitless resources, packed with sensors aplenty, enough to give us new, reliable sources of information in near-real-time.

 

Imagine fleets of ground-based ADA2 systems delivering novel logistics support, scouting ahead to keep troops safe, or securing DoD infrastructure.

 

Imagine constellations of ADA2 systems on orbit, flung into space scores at a time, numbering so many that it becomes impossible to eliminate or degrade them all. 

 

Imagine flocks of ADA2 systems, flying at all sorts of altitudes, doing a range of missions, building on what we've seen in Ukraine. They could be deployed by larger aircraft, launched by troops on land or sea, or take off themselves.

 

Bigger-picture, ADA2 systems let us think and act differently in doing things we've always done. Recall in Ukraine, a Patriot battery intercepted a Russian hypersonic missile; that's how traditional platforms do missile defense — and it's an incredible accomplishment, underscoring why we need them. 

 

Elsewhere, ADA2 systems might counter missiles differently — perhaps like active protection systems on a tank, or other types of countermeasures. 

 

And those are just a handful of the use cases for ADA2 systems."

 

She refers to it as "the small, smart and cheap" philosophy of warfare through the use of thousands of drones which will be used to overwhelm the Chinese advantage in "mass".

 

Washington has taken the first steps toward its new "Replicator Initiative" by arming Taiwan with Switchblade 300 Anti-Personnel and Anti-Armour Loitering Missile and Altius 600m-V drone systems.  How the nation's ruling class can think that China won't view these sales as anything but a provocation over its stated goal of reunifying Mainland China and Taiwan is beyond my comprehension.

NATO and the Long War with Russia

In a recent article that appeared on February 10, 2024 in Germany's Welt am Sonntag, NATO Secretary General and Chief Warmonger, Jens Stoltenberg weighed in on NATO's future with Russia:

 

"NATO is not looking for war with Russia. But we have to prepare ourselves for a confrontation that could last decades."

 

"If Putin wins in Ukraine, there is no guarantee that Russian aggression will not spread to other countries."

  

On the same day at a campaign rally in South Carolina, presumptive Republican presidential candidate and former President of the United States, Donald Trump recounted the following:  

 

“One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, ‘Well, sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?   “I said, ‘You didn’t pay. You’re delinquent.’ He said, ‘Yes, let’s say that happened.’ No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them (Russia)  to do whatever the hell they want.” 

 

In the February 12th edition of Welt, Stoltenberg responded to Trump as quoted here:

 

"After statements by US presidential candidate Donald Trump, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has warned against hints that allies could not fulfill their duty of assistance in the event of an attack. "Any hint that the allies will not defend each other undermines all our security, including that of the USA," Stoltenberg said on Sunday.

 

This means a higher risk for American and European soldiers. He expects the USA to remain a strong and committed NATO ally, regardless of who wins the presidential election. Trump wants to stand for the Republicans again in the vote in the November vote.

 

Stoltenberg stressed on Sunday that NATO was ready and able to defend all allies. "Every attack on NATO is countered with a united and energetic response."

 

To put these comments into perspective, here is a transcript of comments made by Stoltenberg from February 7th, 2024 meeting of all National Security Advisers from all NATO nations held in Brussels with my bolds throughout:

  

"In our meeting today, NATO Allies discussed our preparations for the Washington Summit in July including Ukraine; deterrence and defence; and the growing challenge posed by China.

 

Today, Allies reiterated their support for Ukraine.  This is not charity.  It is in our own security interest.  A Russian victory would weaken us, and embolden not just Moscow, but also China, Iran, and North Korea.  That matters for Europe’s security.  And it matters for America’s security.

 

By spending a fraction of our military budgets, we have helped Ukraine to destroy a substantial part of Russia’s combat capacity.  

 

Our support is also an example of true transatlantic burden sharing.  Where both Europe and North America are making critical contributions to preserve Ukraine’s freedom.  Last week in Washington, I heard strong support for Ukraine from Congressional leaders – both Republicans and Democrats.  The debate continues in Washington on funding for a number of important priorities.  It is vital that the United States Congress agrees on continued support for Ukraine in the near future.  And I count on all Allies to sustain their commitment.

 

Today, we also discussed further bolstering NATO’s deterrence and defence.

 

At the Summit, we will demonstrate that we are delivering on our commitments.  Including by fully resourcing our new defence plans, investing in new capabilities and accelerating efforts to strengthen our transatlantic defence industrial base.

 

Since last July, NATO has agreed industry deals worth some 10 billion US dollars, including 5.5 billion dollars for 1,000 more Patriot air defence missiles just last month.  A deal that will build more production capacity in Europe for this vital capability.

 

The world has become more dangerous.  But NATO has become stronger.  With more forces, higher readiness and increased defence investment...

 

NATO is now holding Steadfast Defender - our biggest military exercise in decades.  Our exercise demonstrates that there should be no room for miscalculation in Moscow about NATO’s readiness and resolve to protect all Allies.

 

In our meetings today, we also addressed the growing challenge posed by China.  Our competitors are increasingly joining forces.  And Russia's increasing cooperation with China, Iran, and North Korea raises serious concerns.

 

So it is even more important that NATO is working more closely with partners like Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea."

 

One might almost think that NATO's chief warmonger is preparing us for an all-out, protracted war with Russia, isn't it?  

 

Given that Russia, China, North Korea and Iran have been driven into each other's arms by American-style bullying, it's very clear that the growing global divide being created as the world's secondary powers become more militarily powerful and more tightly linked and the United States and Europe/NATO fade as the world's most powerful ruling nations could well result in a war that has the potential to destroy humankind.

How the West Failed Ukraine and a Potential Solution to the Conflict

At the 2024 edition of the cluster*ck in Davos, former Czech President Václav Klaus had the opportunity to take centre stage and offer his views on the world, in particularly the Russian-Ukraine conflict.  In this posting, I'll look at some of his more interesting comments which fly directly in the face of what the Western media has been touting for the past two years.

  

He opens by noting that he was invited to say a few words on the "very risky topic of the Russia-Ukraine war from the perspective of a former Central European politician." and admits that he is not an expert on Ukraine but does have expertise on the transition from communism to parliamentary democracy and a market economy since he spent most of his life in a Communist nation under Soviet domination, two aspects of Ukraine which have not been successfully implemented and remain incomplete.

 

Here are some quotes with my bolds throughout:

 

"As compared to other ex-communist countries, Ukraine before the war couldn’t have been described as a Western-type democracy, a country with full-fledged market economy or a consolidated country as regards its territory and the composition of its inhabitants. To pretend that this was not the case and to discuss the current war on Ukrainian territory as if it were taking place in a vacuum is neither helpful nor productive."

  

If we want to see how unconsolidated Ukraine was prior to the war, here is a map showing the languages spoken in Ukraine:

 

Note that the eastern side of Ukraine including Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk which border Russia is primarily inhabited by Russian speakers.

 

Here, for context, is a map showing the current parts of Ukraine that are controlled by Russia:

 

 

While most media outlets pay very little attention to Russia's military penetration into Ukraine, in fact, it is clear that Russia has no intention of taking over regions of the nation that are not in its "sphere", remaining more-or-less stable in the area where Russian culture is pervasive.

 

With that background, let's go back to Václav Klaus' speech to the global ruling class at the World Economic Forum:

 

"With that in mind, let me make a few comments about this war:

 

1. The entire Ukraine war could and should have been avoided. We have to admit that we – the rest of the world – have failed. It becomes increasingly obvious that after this tragic historic event there will only be losers. There will be no winners. The war has changed the world and the fate of all of us.

 

2. The geopolitical debate about it, especially in Europe and in the US (and in my own country, in the Czech Republic, as well) is more superficial than it deserves to be. It has been avoiding important and relevant pieces of knowledge about Ukraine, the whole region and the overall geopolitical context. Especially the fact of the end of the monopolar world of the last decades.

 

3. We shouldn’t forget its historic context. This war started on 4 April 2008. On that day, at the NATO summit in Bucharest, the decision was made to admit Ukraine and Georgia to NATO. I was present at that event, I was sitting there and I knew already there that what happened was a tragic mistake. I tried to argue against it there. This decision was pushed through by the US and the UK (George Bush and Gordon Brown) against the stances of the majority of the participating member countries and in opposition to the positions of Germany and France. I must admit that I felt very depressed there. Many of the attending Presidents and Prime Ministers were irresponsibly silent during the very long evening. It is also well-known that the US ambassador in Moscow, W. Burns, warned the US government at the time that this meant crossing all the so-called “red lines” for Russia.[*]

 

4. All the evidence suggests that on February 24, 2022, the Russians did not intend to occupy Ukraine, but to change the regime in Kiev and to stop the prospect of Ukraine’s NATO membership. That is why they entered Ukraine with only very small military forces. It was and is evident that they were not going to risk an attempt to take over the whole Ukraine. The Russians knew perfectly well the results of the important presidential elections in 2010, a pro-Western candidate winning in the west, north and centre of Ukraine and a pro-Russian candidate in the east and south. It was a big mistake not to pay attention to this fundamental split of the country.

 

5. There has been already since 2014 (not February 2022) a civil war in eastern Ukraine with all its terrible casualties and human tragedies.

 

6. After almost two years of war, it appears that all sides in the conflict have miscalculated. Not only Russia and Ukraine, but also the US and the whole of Europe.

 

7. Looking at the military situation, the 1,200-kilometre front, leaving aside small shifts, is more or less frozen now. The end of the war is not in sight. It is “in the stars” as we say.

 

Klaus' analysis suggests that the basic cause of the conflict stems from a series of errors made by the United States, the United Kingdom and NATO which eventually led to this two year-old war which has cost the lives of at least 10,000 civilians and hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides.

  

Here are his recommendations:

 

"My modest advice is to start negotiating. Not only between Russia and Ukraine."

 

Wise words that the West would be prudent to follow but I'm guessing that particular advice is not what the global elite wanted to hear since at least some of them (Big Defense in specific) benefit from never-ending war.

The Climate Cost of Israel's War Against Gaza

With the global ruling class constantly invoking the spectre of boiling oceans, drowning coastlines and burning forests as they seek to create fear among the serf class, there is one aspect of the "toxic emissions that are supposedly the cause of global climate change that receives almost no coverage.

 

A recent paper entitled "A Multitemporal Snapshot of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Israel-Gaza Conflict" by Benjamin Neimark et al looks at the projected emissions from the first sixty days of the Israeli war against Gaza.  During the COP 28 meetings held in Dubai, the host nation prompted an examination of the links between conflict and climate change which were included on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change agenda for the first time in history.  Since the Israeli military has never publicly reported its own emissions data, the authors created a heuristic (defined as involving or serving as an aid to learning, discovery, or problem-solving by experimental and especially trial-and-error methods) to provide context to their analysis.  From data from the top five European defense spenders in 2019, the authors estimated that Israel's 2019 military budget of US$20.34 billion would result in total emissions of 6.99 megatonnes of CO2, substantially higher than the total 2019 emissions from all of Palestine which are estimated at 4.8 tonnes CO2 equivalent. 

 

The authors looked at emissions during the first 60 days of the conflict.  They first calculated the following across three time horizons:

 

a.) emissions from the first 60 days of the war:

 

1.) Scope 1 emissions - tailpipe emissions

 

2.) Scope 2 and 3 emissions - manufacturing of bombs and rockets used by Israel, tanks and other vehicles, cargo flights and patrol flights by other aircraft

 

3.) emissions from the Qassam rockets used by Hamas

 

b.) emissions from the construction of security-related concrete infrastructure in both Israel and Gaza over the 16 years since Hamas was elected in Gaza.  This includes Hamas' Gaza tunnels and Israel's Iron Wall which separates Gaza from Israel.

 

c.) emissions from the costs of future reconstruction in Gaza given the destruction related to Israel's bombardment.

 

Here are their calculations:

 

1.) Immediate emissions from Israel:

 

a.) aircraft missions - total of 16,000 flight hours consuming 57.8 million litres of JP8 fuel - 121,000 tonnes CO2e

b.) United States supply flights from the United States - 4400 flight hours consuming 49.5 million litres of fuel -133,650 tonnes CO2e

c.) Israeli artillery - 8000 tonnes of steel and explosives uses - 13,600 tonnes CO2e

d.) Israeli bombs - 2300 tonnes used - 6689 tonnes CO2e

e.) Israeli tanks and vehicles - 1.85 million litres of fuel - 5663 tonnes C02e

 

Total Israeli immediate emissions – 280,602 tonnes CO2e

 

2.) Immediate emissions from Gaza:

 

a.) Hamas rockets - 475 tonnes of rockets - 713 tonnes CO2e

 

The total immediate emissions for 60 days of war is 281,315 tonnes CO2e or the equivalent of 75 coal-fired plants operating for a year.  This is greater than the annual emissions of 20 individual nations and territories combined.  It is also interesting to note that Hamas is responsible for only 0.25 percent of Israel’s total immediate emissions.

 

3.) Intermediate emissions from Israel:

 

a.) Israel Iron Wall - 65 kilometres in length - 140,000 tonnes of steel and iron above ground, 234,000 tonnes of concrete, 9750 tonnes of steel below ground - 274,232 tonnes CO2e

 

4.) Intermediate emissions from Gaza:

 

a.) Gaza tunnel system - 500 km tunnels - 176,000 tonnes CO2e

 

Total intermediate emissions from the building of war infrastructure are 450,232 tonnes CO2e which is greater than the total annual emissions of 30 individual nations and territories combined.

 

5.) Long Term emissions:

 

a.) Reconstruction of at least 100,000 destroyed buildings in Gaza - 30,000,000 tonnes CO2e

 

The total long-term emissions from reconstruction of Gaza is roughly equivalent to the annual emissions from the entire nation of New Zealand and is greater than the annual emissions of 130 individual nations and territories combined.

 

Keeping in mind that the war in Gaza has continued for nearly 2 months since the authors of this paper completed their calculations, we can see that the carbon cost of war is extremely high.  That said, the rulers would still prefer us to eat bugs and live in our 15 minute cities all in the name of saving the planet for them.  As an additional benefit, those of the global aristocracy who benefit from war will not experience any financial discomfort from peace in the Middle East.

The United States - A Nation Built on a Foundation of Conflict

While Washington loves to point the finger at Russia for its current military operations in Ukraine, the United States itself is on the sending end of munitions to a wide variety of nations around the world.  Let's look at America's military activities around the world since its inception followed by a list of American-led wars since World War II followed by atally of bombs that it has dropped since military activities began in Afghanistan in 2001 at the beginning of the endless and unresolved War on Terror.

 

Here is a complete list of United States military and clandestine operations in foreign countries from 1798 to 2004 as compiled by Global Policy:

 

 

In an April 2021 paper entitled "Severe Humanitarian Disasters Caused by US Aggressive Wars against Foreign Countries", the China Society for Human Rights provides a list of wars that have been waged by the United States after World War II.  Here is a list of all wars and interventions in foreign nations (often touted as being humanitarian interventions or operations necessary to protect local civilians from brutal regimes) waged by the United States since the end of World War II:

Here is a complete list of the major wars and the cost in human terms:

 

Now, let's look at some detailed information from the conflicts since 2007 in the early stages of the War on Terror.  Thanks to the U.S. Air Force's Central more-or-less monthly Airpower Summary data releases, the latest of which looks like this:

 

...we have a complete count of how many bombs the United States military and its allies have dropped as shown on this table from Progressive with other nations including Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Palestine and Somalia:

 

 

Over the period between 2001 and 2021, a total of 377,055 bombs and missiles have been dropped for an average of 46 strikes per day.  Note that this count does not include drones which have killed thousands of civilians under strikes authorized by George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

  

The United States has increasingly become a warrior nation since the end of World War II as Washington fought what it determined was an existential conventional war against the spread of Soviet-style communism followed by a war against a foe, a decentralized and diverse group of what the American ruling class determined were terrorists, that didn't play the war game using traditional rules of combat.  With the current threat of a multipolar world and the unceasing efforts to convince us all that everything that Russia or China does is a threat to "our way of life" and the influence of the American military-intelligence-industrial complex on the government, it looks like the United States will continue to build on its foundation of conflict for the foreseeable future.