Eliot Higgins, il fondatore di Bellingcat, ha pubblicato una lettera ricevuta da Planet Labs: l’azienda scrive che l’amministrazione USA ha chiesto a tutti i fornitori di implementare “volontariamente” fino al termine del conflitto un embargo sulle immagini dell’Area of Interest (che da quel che leggo in altri messaggi dovrebbe comprendere, oltre all’Iran, almeno anche Libano e Gaza). Fino a oggi le foto venivano pubblicate con un ritardo di 14 giorni.
Secondo un articolo pubblicato ieri dal Washington Post, alcune aziende cinesi avrebbero utilizzato immagini commerciali e AI per seguire i movimenti delle truppe statunitensi.
Chinese firms market Iran war intelligence ‘exposing’ U.S. forces (via archive)
Satellite photos posted by MizarVision appear to include some commercially available imagery from U.S. and European providers, including Vantor and Airbus. Chinese state media has also previously reported that the firm has used imagery from Planet Labs. It remains unclear whether any U.S. companies are knowingly supplying data directly to the firm; most major providers maintain policies that restrict or prohibit such end uses. […]
One person in China working in the private defense industry, who is familiar with the company’s platform and operations, said the firm uses AI to analyze publicly available Western satellite imagery but does not have real-time access to U.S. imaging sources.
Un articolo di Breaking Defense sul ruolo della Space Force all’inizio delle operazioni.
“A note about the Space Force. Our space superiority has been a critical enabler to this fight. Unseen by the world, the Space Force is doing two things. First, they’re degrading Iranian capability and second, they’re helping to protect American forces, and I’ll have to leave it right there,” Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), said Wednesday in a short video address on X.
Cooper’s remarks followed those in a similar vein made by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine regarding the important role of US Space and Cyber Commands in the early hours of the war. “The first movers were US CYBERCOM and US SPACECOM layering non-kinetic effects, disrupting and degrading and blinding Iran’s ability to see, communicate and respond,” he told reporters on March 2. […]
While officials remain tightlipped, a bevy of experts including former Pentagon and military officials, told Breaking Defense that Cooper and Caine were almost certainly referring to the jamming of Iranian satellite communications along with other electronic warfare activities, as well as more traditional support activities such as missile warning. They’re missions for which the Space Force and SPACECOM have been preparing publicly for years.