Ulrike Franke

@rikefranke.bsky.social

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Senior Fellow at European Council on Foreign Relations. #Drone politics PhD UniofOxford, previously Sciences Po. Writes about all things #Germany #Defence. Diskutiert/ discutes bei SicherheitsPod & LeCollimateur

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Ulrike Franke

Highly recommended “Net Assessment” episode, especially for those Europeans who somehow still believe the US will always be there: lots of disagreements in this show but clear agreement that *Europe will need to do more*. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/n...

‎Net Assessment: Watching the Watchers: Assessing the Defense Strategy Commission on Apple Podcastspodcasts.apple.com ‎Show Net Assessment, Ep Watching the Watchers: Assessing the Defense Strategy Commission - 15 Aug 2024

Delivery by #drone remains challenging, it seems. Walmart is ending DroneUp deliveries in three states - The Verge www.theverge.com/2024/8/16/24...

Walmart is ending DroneUp deliveries in three stateswww.theverge.com The closure means some DroneUp employees will be laid off.

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Ulrike Franke

Honoured to be named by Security Table as one of the top think tankers working on German security policy. 🙏 table.media/security/hea...

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Ulrike Franke

If Elon Musk buys this place I give up...

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Ulrike Franke

Oh hello Britain 😳 That blue line is activity in the UK spiking past all of the other countries on Bluesky right now. Welcome, and invite a friend to join us! bsky.app/download

Tip to not-yet-well-established experts/academics etc: I discovered a few years ago that if you happen to be free in summer (young and childless for example), this *really* is your moment. Journalists and outlets will *love you* if you can talk to/write for them.

if YOU love: sending emails and not getting responses from anyone, WHY NOT! try being a reporter in the month of August

I mean… I kinda would have been surprised if they hadn’t. Russian navy trained to target sites inside Europe with nuclear-capable missiles on.ft.com/3WM0QTg

Russian navy trained to target sites inside Europe with nuclear-capable missileson.ft.com Secret presentation for officers reveals plans for overwhelming strikes in early stages of potential war against Nato

Looks like Switzerland wants to enter the armed & kamikaze #drone market. Treffen hinter den Kulissen: Schweizer Armee will tödliche Kamikaze-Drohnen bauen | blue News www.bluewin.ch/de/news/inte...

Schweizer Armee will tödliche Kamikaze-Drohnen bauenwww.bluewin.ch Steigt die Schweiz bald gross ins Geschäft mit Kamikaze-Drohnen ein? Hinter den Kulissen treffen sich offenbar schon Behördenmitglieder.

On the difficulty of finding good pictures to portray and illustrate debates about #AI in warfare. Visuals of AI in the Military Domain: Beyond ‘Killer Robots’ and towards Better Images? Visuals of AI in the Military Domain blog.betterimagesofai.org/visuals-of-a...

Visuals of AI in the Military Domain: Beyond ‘Killer Robots’ and towards Better Images? Visuals of AI in the Military Domainblog.betterimagesofai.org Anna Nadibaidze explores the main themes found across common visuals of AI in the military domain. Inspired by the work and mission of Better Images of AI, she argues for the need to discuss and find ...

Interesting reporting from the NYT on the difficulties of replicating TSMC in Arizona. Kinda sounds like workers in Taiwan just… work harder? www.nytimes.com/2024/08/08/b... via @nytimes.com

What Works in Taiwan Doesn’t Always in Arizona, a Chipmaking Giant Learnswww.nytimes.com TSMC modeled its facility in Phoenix on one at home. But bringing the company’s complex manufacturing process to America has been a bigger challenge than it expected.

“The United States overtook China as Germany's biggest trading partner in the first half of 2024, according to preliminary German statistics office data, as Berlin's drive to reduce dependency on Beijing takes shape amid a resilient U.S. economy.” money.usnews.com/investing/ne...

money.usnews.com

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Ulrike Franke

This is a pretty clever approach: US Army is teaching its soldiers how to *build* #drones to make them better at understanding, countering, and fixing drones. www.stripes.com/branches/arm...

‘Sky’s the limit’: Fort Stewart soldiers prepare for the modern battlefield by building small drones from scratchwww.stripes.com The small, hand-held hexacopter drone is far different from the RQ-7B Shadow drones that Sgt. Nicholas Murphy has flown for the Army for nearly a decade. The biggest difference: Murphy built this one ...

Gotta say, posted the exact same thing here and on the other place and the responses there were mainly “you’re wrong because of this BS reason that has nothing to do with your original argument” and here I got genuinely helpful literature recommendations, so ❤️ for being here.

Important contribution supporting a fact I don’t think ppl have sufficiently realised: THERE ARE NO AFFORDABLE SMALL DRONES AVAILABLE THAT ARE NOT CHINESE. This is already unfortunate for Ukraine. Now imagine a war in which China is more directly involved. www.noahpinion.blog/p/why-americ...

Why America fell behind in drones, and how to catch up againwww.noahpinion.blog A guest post by Cat Orman and Jason Lu

This is a pretty clever approach: US Army is teaching its soldiers how to *build* #drones to make them better at understanding, countering, and fixing drones. www.stripes.com/branches/arm...

Prepare to hear me repeat sth along those lines all the way until the US election (and after). Europe shouldn’t count on a Harris White House on.ft.com/3LWOOSg

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Ulrike Franke

Es ist völlig klar, dass es im Bundestag eine Debatte zur Stationierung der Mittelstreckenraketen geben wird. Darum müssen wir die Bundesregierung nicht bitten, sondern können es einfach machen. So viel Selbstbewusstsein sollte ein Parlament schon haben. www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deut...

Handelsblattwww.handelsblatt.com

No more US drone base in Niger: “The US military has now completed its withdrawal from air base 201 in Niger, after Niger's ruling junta ordered nearly 1,000 U.S. military personnel to leave following a coup last year.” www.usnews.com/news/world/a...

www.usnews.com

Germany is to permanently station a liaison officer in the US’ Indo-Pacific Command (nice job, as based in Hawaii) table.media/security/new...

Bundeswehr mit Verbindungsoffizier dauerhaft im Pazifik vertretentable.media Pistorius bemüht sich auf seiner Indopazifik-Reise, den Partnern ein nachhaltig hinterlegtes Engagement Deutschlands zu signalisieren.

Could the answer to #drones struggling with electronic warfare be… tethering them to 20km of fiber-optic cable? Not the most intuitive solution but here you go: www.forbes.com/sites/davidh...

Jam-Proof Fiber Optic Drone Testing In Ukrainewww.forbes.com The HCX drone communicates via a fiber-optic cable, making it immune to all electronic warfare. This makes it valuable in the densely-jammed airspace of Ukraine.

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Ulrike Franke

Highly insightful episode of ‘Politics Decanted’ on the airwar in Ukraine. Interesting points on #drones - but stay especially until the end to hear ⁦‪Justin Bronk‬⁩ discuss the problems of the “loyal wingman” which I found particularly spot on. geopolitics-decanted.simplecast.com/episodes/ukr...

geopolitics-decanted.simplecast.com

UK signs new defence pact with Germany

« European security will be this government’s first foreign and defence priority,” Healey said, unveiling a raft of commitments with Germany, the continent’s single biggest defence spender, which would be the “first step” in “greater industrial collaboration” on defence. » on.ft.com/4c6sMY0

UK signs new defence pact with Germanyon.ft.com New defence secretary John Healey promises to ‘reset’ the country’s relations with European allies

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Ulrike Franke

Before Biden dropped out, a columnist wrote, "Kamala Harris Would Be the Best Democratic Choice." After Biden dropped out, the same columnist wrote, "Kamala Harris Isn't the Change Democrats Need." This sort of cynicism is what's wrong with punditry. My latest: www.readtpa.com/p/when-pundi...

« The incident sheds light on the changing culture at OpenAI, where company leaders including CEO Altman have been accused of prioritizing commercial interests over public safety — a stark departure from the company’s roots as an altruistic nonprofit. » www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

OpenAI promised to make its AI safe. Employees say it ‘failed’ its first test.www.washingtonpost.com Employees said OpenAI rushed the release of its latest AI model, called GPT-4 Omni.

US military carries out tests of counter #drone systems, focussing on “repeated swarm attacks”. Swarm Wars: Pentagon holds toughest drone-defense demo to date - Breaking Defense breakingdefense.com/2024/07/swar...

Swarm Wars: Pentagon holds toughest drone-defense demo to datebreakingdefense.com Eight counter-UAS systems — wielding a mix of radars, machineguns, missiles, jammers, and more — were tested against swarms of up to 50 drones of different types attacking simultaneously from differen...

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Ulrike Franke

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Ulrike Franke

Also interesting points on resupply missions done by small logistics drones which I didn’t realise had become quite so prevalent! (Transport by drones has been a big discussion among experts over the last years because it never quite seemed to work.) www.defenseone.com/threats/2024...

US shouldn't learn the wrong lessons about Ukraine’s drones, expert sayswww.defenseone.com Unmanned strikes get the attention in reports and social media, but Ukrainian forces are increasingly using drones to sow mines and haul supplies.