Hacker News with Generative AI: Weapons

Google removes pledge to not use AI for weapons, surveillance (cnbc.com)
Google drops pledge not to use AI for weapons, surveillance (aljazeera.com)
Google has dropped a pledge not to use artificial intelligence for weapons or surveillance in its updated ethics policy on the powerful technology.
Google erases promise not to use AI technology for weapons or surveillance (cnn.com)
Google Lifts a Ban on Using Its AI for Weapons and Surveillance (wired.com)
Google announced Tuesday that it is overhauling the principles governing how it uses artificial intelligence and other advanced technology.
Google removes pledge to not use AI for weapons from website (techcrunch.com)
Google removed a pledge to not build AI for weapons or surveillance from its website this week.
US Navy releases photo showing USS Preble firing HELIOS laser weapon (bulgarianmilitary.com)
The US Navy has released a new photo showing the USS Preble [DDG-88] firing its HELIOS laser weapon into the sea.
Ukraine Burning Through 155mm M777 Barrels So Fast the U.S. Army Can't Keep Up (twz.com)
The U.S. Army is moving to establish a second production source for barrels for 155mm M777 towed howitzers in response to what it calls “unprecedented demand” from Ukraine.
Welrod (wikipedia.org)
The Welrod is a British bolt-action, magazine-fed pistol with an integrated silencer which was devised for covert operations during the Second World War by Major Hugh Reeves at the Inter-Services Research Bureau (later Station IX).
Canada adds more than 300 assault-style firearms to list of banned weapons (cbc.ca)
How Russian hypersonic missiles work [pdf] (jp-petit.org)
An Iranian Ballistic Missile Hit Israel. We Got a Peek Inside Its 'Brain' (haaretz.com)
Printed circuit boards like those found in washing machines. Soldering done by hand. Limited production quality. What can we learn from the Iranian missile attacks – and how accurate are they?
First ICBM Launch in Combat? (ycombinator.com)
Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-is-intercontinental-ballistic-missile-ukraine-says-russia-fired-2024-11-21/
Electromagnetic coil gun seized in Japan (nhk.or.jp)
殺傷能力を備えた電磁石銃、いわゆる「コイルガン」を所持したとして、29歳の容疑者が銃刀法違反の疑いで逮捕されました。容疑者は製造する様子を写した動画を動画配信サイトで公開していたということで、警視庁が詳しい経緯を調べています。
North Korea's New ICBM May Have Biggest Transporter-Erector-Launcher (twz.com)
North Korea has tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that it claims is its longest-ranged so far — and which is carried on an absolutely enormous transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) vehicle.
The True Weight of Medieval Weapons – Fact and Fiction (wordpress.com)
Fantasy and medieval fiction often represent medieval weapons as being crude, heavy and unwieldy things.
Gerald Bull (wikipedia.org)
Gerald Vincent Bull (March 9, 1928 – March 22, 1990[1]) was a Canadian engineer who developed long-range artillery. He moved from project to project in his quest to economically launch a satellite using a huge artillery piece, to which end he designed the Project Babylon "supergun" for Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq.
Satellite images suggest test of Russian "super weapon" failed spectacularly (arstechnica.com)
Late last week, Russia's military planned to launch a Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on a test flight from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Imagery from commercial satellites captured over the weekend suggest the missile exploded before or during launch.
Against Prophecy Among the Machines (dreamofmachin.es)
“If not properly subject to human controls, future development in artificial intelligence may also have the potential to be used to create novel threats to public safety and security, including by enabling the creation and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, such as biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons, as well as weapons with cyber-offensive capabilities.” California SB1047 Sec 2.C
Russia using old ASML machines to make microchips for weapons (nltimes.nl)
Startup incubator Y Combinator backs its first weapons firm (ft.com)
USAF's Quicksink weapon tears a ship in half in seconds (newatlas.com)
Ares Industries – Building low-cost cruise missiles (ycombinator.com)
Sig Sauer guns hanging on soldiers' hips may be firing without trigger pull (npr.org)
Russia's stocks of Soviet-era weaponry are running out (economist.com)
Russia Claims Breakthrough With ATACMS (eurasiantimes.com)
Missiles of the World – Info on strike capabilities from around the globe (csis.org)
Spudguns: Potato Cannon Guide (spudguns.org)
Shahed-136 kamikaze drone servomotor [video] (youtube.com)
China built 10 missile cruisers in 48 months, packing 1,120 missiles (bulgarianmilitary.com)
US says Russia likely launched anti-satellite weapon (bbc.com)