Beijing now has the power to disrupt global communications after scientists revealed a device that can sever undersea cables.
The tool, which is able to cut lines at depths of up to 4,000 metres (13,123 feet) – twice the maximum operational range of existing subsea communication infrastructure – has been designed specifically for integration with China’s advanced crewed and uncrewed submersibles like the Fendouzhe, or Striver, and the Haidou series.
That seems less concerning to me after reading the article.
Russia and the US are also known to conduct proximity operations to their own and other satellites, she added.
[…]
Referring to China’s operations as “dogfighting” in space is “not helpful” because it “automatically ascribes hostile intentions to activities that frankly the US also undertakes,” Samson added.
It’s concerning that they are developing the capability (which can be used in multiple ways) in the same way that any geopolitical rival developing capacity that competes is concerning, but “dogfighting” evokes the idea that China is planning to fly around and blow stuff up, in an irresponsible, Kessler syndrome-inducing way.
I disagree. China is a scary place with face recognition and all that shit. I wouldn’t ever travel there. If my job sent me there, I would rather quit than travel to china.
Fuck china. Also Chinese culture in general is pretty unappealing to me, who is used to a free life without all these stupid and arbitrary „rules“ like having to be married or else you’re worthless and all that crap.
Also their factories have grids in front of windows so workers can’t kill themselves by jumping out. Tells me all I need to know.
I hate the whole thing, not just the government.
But please note that I do not blanket hate all Chinese people though.
Lmao, what hyperbolic bullshit. It's just a cable cutter. Most nations have shit like this, but thanks for letting us know in the title this is just Chinese propaganda.
No shit, lol. Those cunts have been cutting cables for almost a year now. This is why countries tend to hide the exact locations of cables. Shit is expensive.
Working on the thing we've had for half a century? Improving sure but thaad and kenetic kill devices have been around forever like South Korea just showed video of their testing which means it's almost certainly last gen and the new Gen is deployed.
I sincerely hope they’re smart enough not to trigger that.
Someone posted an article elsewhere on the thread about China practicing “dogfighting” in space - which, after you remove the fear-mongering, is just them figuring out how to do satellite-satellite maneuvering. Still immense opportunity for runaway collisions, but it seems like the military applicability is more toward sabotage than blowing things up. I could definitely see a scenario where high value satellites have had small boosters affixed to them, their electronics tampered, or some other way of commandeering or de-orbiting them to deprive their owners of them. A microwave + laser could disable smaller sats from above, then ablate some of their exterior to sap momentum so gravity drops them in short order. (Maybe. That’s idle speculation, but generating the power and dissipating the heat in space could make that idea impossible.)
If only cables can be designed to pull down ships that try to cut or anchor drag them. Maybe defensive cable around the main cable.
Or some kind bigger of casing/shell around actual cable.
Operational depth is essentially the same as the claimed operational depth that oceangate sub that popped the other year. I have a lot more confidence that these things will actually work when China does it instead of some incompetent millionaire/billionaire.
This feels really dumb from China. This is not a weapon against military. This is a weapon against civilian insfrastructure. You don't get minds and hearts of people by attacking something they love