Gaza and Ukraine: A Test Bed For New Weapons Technologies

By Dave Webb

It is clear that Ukraine and Gaza are being used as test sites and as a shop window for new weapons technologies. The use of satellites, drones, cyberwarfare, artificial intelligence (AI) systems, global positioning systems (GPS), and electromagnetic fields (EMF) blocking and spoofing are among the most commonly used techniques employed by all sides. 

No war has seen both sides of a conflict use space and counter-space systems as much as in Ukraine. Satellites are deeply integrated into conventional warfare, and enable precision strikes, drone operations and missile warnings.

The primary military functions of satellites are Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR); Communication; and Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT). 

Commercial satellite providers

A new dimension has been the reliance on commercial satellite providers. For the first time information that previously was only available from government sources has been supplied by commercial companies. The U.S. intelligence community has provided Ukraine with commercial satellite imagery in “minutes of collection,” in the first two weeks of the war, Ukraine downloaded more than 40 million square kilometres worth of geospatial imagery.

New technologies used in Ukraine

Ukraine has obtained satellite imagery and communications services from US, Canadian, and European companies which have provided optical images, synthetic-aperture radar images that see through cloud cover and at night, and radio-frequency data for detecting electronic emissions like GPS jamming and to locate and track Russian forces.

Ukraine is also being helped to defend against cyberattacks by the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, and has used commercial satellite communications services such as Starlink which is free for the Ukrainian military. Starlink has been used to carry out drone strikes and other military operations and has served as the backbone of the command-and-control software that Ukraine uses to share data, coordinate military operations, and communicate with US and NATO advisers outside the country. 

However, Starlink satellite internet dishes use GPS which Russia has been able to successfully jam. Russia is also using Starlink terminals obtained from third parties, despite sanctions.

… and in Gaza

Starlink services are also being used in Gaza to assist Israel’s ongoing genocidal invasion. Some of the tactics and technologies used in Ukraine have also been seen and developed in Gaza, especially the use of drones.

The US and UK have flown surveillance flights over Gaza and information will undoubtedly have been passed on to the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). 

Similarly, spy satellites will be used to monitor electronic communications and downlinked to Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire from where they will be passed on to the Israeli forces. Menwith Hill intercepts military and commercial electronic communications. It is one of the most important overseas US bases, established in 1952 and controlled by the National Security Agency (NSA).

Intercepted information could then be used by AI-enabled decision-making systems in Gaza known as “Gospel”, “Lavender” and “Where’s Daddy?”. These systems are trained to recognise features that characterise people associated with the military arm of Hamas. Features such as membership of the same WhatsApp group of known supporters, changing cell phones or addresses frequently.

The US and UK work closely on military space developments and a number of UK launch sites (mainly in Scotland) are being prepared which will be used by the military. The US also wants to station huge radar sites in Texas, Australia and Pembrokeshire as part of the AUKUS deal, to enable them to track satellites, target them and control space.  Indications are that the UK will carry on helping them wherever and whenever possible.

Interested in learning more?

Drone Wars in conjunction with Leicester CND is holding a one-day conference “Stop Tech Wars” Saturday 22 February to “inform and build” “a campaigning to challenge these developments”. To find out how to attend follow this link.

Dave Webb, is a member of CND’s International Advisory Group and Convenor of The Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. Dave is Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies at Leeds Beckett University, and a former chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

NATO and the War in Ukraine with Andrew Murray: Now Available on YouTube

London CND’s meeting “NATO and the War in Ukraine” is now available to watch on Youtube

Donald Trump claimed he could end the war in Ukraine 'in 24 hours'. Was it anything other than an idle boast? What might a US-imposed political settlement look like? Will Britain still have a part to play? What would NATO's role be? And will we still face nuclear confrontation?

London CND joined Stop the War Deputy President Andrew Murray on 3 February to discuss.

The full video can be found below:

UK Public Opinion says Nuclear War is Biggest Threat of Extinction

By Christine Shawcroft, London CND Vice Chair 

The Doomsday Clock, set by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, has been moved on from 90 seconds to midnight last year to 89 seconds to midnight this year. Need we be worried about being a mere one second closer to catastrophe? Well, yes. 90 seconds was a warning of imminent disaster which should have spurred governments around the world to take drastic action. But they didn’t, so now we’re staring the destruction of human ‘civilisation’ (I use the term advisedly) in the face.

Apart from the real risks of nuclear war, the Bulletin scientists are very concerned about climate change, the potential misuse of biological science, and a variety of emerging technologies, such as AI weapons which could decide to kill and destroy without orders from a human. The world has never been so close to catastrophe, point out members of the Science and Security Board that set the Clock in consultation with the Bulletin’s Board of Sponsors, which includes nine winners of the Nobel prize.

The Bulletin itself was set up in 1945 by Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer and University of Chicago scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project during World War Two. The Doomsday Clock was set up two years later. Clearly, world leaders feel that they can safely ignore the musings of intellectual dullards such as Einstein. Maybe they think they know better?

The people of Britain aren’t so sure. A recent YouGov poll, carried out at the end of January, shows that two thirds of us feel that nuclear war is the threat most likely to cause human extinction, up from just over 50% in 2023. The polling is remarkably consistent, with groups scoring within a couple of percentage points of each other regardless of age, gender, social class, country and region. 

Concerns of nuclear war has risen since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine

• People aged 50 to 64 are slightly less likely to think nuclear war will see us off, but that’s because a large proportion of them are equally worried about climate change or another pandemic (respondents could choose up to three threats). 

• People in London are almost as worried by climate change as the threat of nuclear war, yet when the bombs begin to fall large cities will be the first targets. 

• Reform UK voters are very worried about nuclear war, but think an asteroid strike is more likely than climate change!

War and climate change are closely linked. The carbon bootprint of military action is immense. In a nuclear war the detonation of just 50 warheads (which would be a very limited nuclear war indeed: this country has over 240 warheads and wants to increase them to nearer 300. The USA and Russia have several thousand each) would lead to a nuclear winter in which the skies would darken, there would be freezing temperatures leading to the deaths of farm animals, and the destruction of food crops. The people lucky enough (or unlucky enough?) to escape the first bombs would starve to death.

We have to change the direction of government policies, or next year we will be to nuclear midnight than ever…

Image credit: YouGov