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jiliko omniAb CEO Matthew Foehr sells $56,308 in stockHong Kong, December 24 (ANI): There are many reasons to be concerned at the relentless progress of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), China's party-controlled military. As well as modernising the armed forces with new and potent weapons, China is throwing its weight around in places like the South China Sea, and it is seeking to nefariously influence democracies around the world. In short, China's investment in its armed forces constitutes the single largest military build-up since the end of World War II. The question is, why? Also Read | Apple To Become World's Most Valuable Company Soon, Nears USD 4 Trillion Market Cap Amid AI Push and iPhone Supercycle: Reports. Consider this, China now has more than 600 operational nuclear warheads. Its approximately 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) can reach the US mainland. The PLA has the world's leading arsenal of hypersonic missiles. The PLA has 400 marines stationed in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. China possesses the world's largest military force, comprising 2.035 million active, 510,000 reserve, and 500,000 paramilitary troops. Also Read | Blast in Turkiye: Explosion at Turkish Ammunition Factory Kills 11 People (Watch Videos). Such facts make grim reading. Again, the question needs to be asked why China is prioritising its military growth even while its economy stumbles? All these details, and many more, were revealed in a new report issued by the US Department of Defence (DoD) on 18 December. The report, entitled "Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2024," is submitted annually to the US Congress, and this was the 24th edition. The report covers developments only through to the beginning of 2024, so it does not mention such activities as China's test flight of an ICBM across the South Pacific, which splashed down near New Caledonia. The DoD summarised: "In 2023 the PRC continued its efforts to form the PLA into an increasingly capable instrument of national power. Throughout the year, the PLA adopted more coercive actions in the Indo-Pacific region while accelerating its development of capabilities and concepts to strengthen the PRC's ability to 'fight and win wars' against a 'strong enemy,' counter an intervention by a third party in a conflict along the PRC's periphery, and project power globally." Of course, this is Chinese-speak for enhancing the PLA's ability to fight and defeat the US, the world's preeminent military power, and to dissuade or prevent an American intervention in Chinese operations against Taiwan. This is the ultimate reason why Chairman Xi Jinping continues to pour resources into the PLA. The Pentagon estimates that China's actual defence budget is USD 330-450 billion, which is considerably more than China admits to officially--USD 231 billion for 2024. Additional funds come from the fact that China is the world's fourth-largest arms supplier too. Missiles are one of the PLA's strengths, and nuclear weapons are managed by the PLA Rocket Force (PLARF). Last year's report tabulated 500 operational nuclear warheads, but that had increased to 600+ within a year. By 2030, the PLARF will have a predicted 1,000 nuclear warheads, with more to come after that. China is in the vanguard of technological advancements, with strategic hypersonic glide vehicles under development, plus a fractional orbital bombardment system was demonstrated in 2021. The report confirmed three new missile silo fields deep inside China that contain 320 silos for ICBMs, plus China is likely doubling DF-5 liquid-propellant ICBM numbers to 50 silos. The DoD expects the DF-41 ICBM (containing up to three warheads each) to be deployed in silos and on railways, in addition to known road-mobile launchers. China also test-launched two DF-31AG ICBMs from training silos last year. China is nowadays keeping some nuclear forces on heightened alert for an early-warning counterstrike posture, what Washington calls "launch on warning." Significantly, Russia is supporting China's rapid nuclear-arsenal expansion by providing highly enriched uranium nuclear fuel assemblies to China's two CFR-600 fast breeder reactors, one of which has already been commissioned. In fact, China has received from Moscow an amount of highly enriched uranium that exceeds the entire amount removed worldwide under US and International Atomic Energy Agency auspices in the last three decades. And China still accuses the USA of a Cold War mentality? All this demonstrates how Xi is strengthening military options on the escalatory ladder; indeed, deterring the USA is the ultimate goal. The report noted, "The expanding nuclear force will enable it to target more US cities, military facilities, and leadership sites than ever before in a potential nuclear conflict." This can be the only explanation for Xi's dramatic buildup of nuclear weapons. The PLARF has now deployed its 5,000-8,000 km-range DF-27 intermediate-range ballistic missile, which presumably has a hypersonic glide vehicle payload option as well as conventional land-attack, anti-ship, and nuclear capabilities. The DF-27's potential targets include Guam, Alaska, and Hawaii. The Pentagon believes the PLARF has 1,300 medium-range ballistic missiles. With a range of at least 1,000 km, these missiles only make sense for hitting targets in neighbouring Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, and India, for instance. Turning to the PLA Navy (PLAN), it currently has more than 370 ships and submarines, including 140+ major surface combatants. The report anticipates the PLAN will have 395 major vessels by 2025 (including 65 submarines) and 435 vessels by 2030 (with 80 submarines), as its growth continues without letup. China now has five types of anti-ship ballistic missiles: the DF-21D, DF-26, DF-17, DF-27, and YJ-21, all designed to keep enemy ships and aircraft carriers at arm's length while it prosecutes operations against Taiwan. Three of four new Type 093B nuclear-powered attack submarines may be operational by next year, probably armed with land-attack cruise missiles. Type 094 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) are conducting near-continuous at-sea deterrence patrols armed with JL-3 missiles that can reach the continental USA from locations such as the South China Sea or Bohai Gulf. The PLAN has six Type 094s, but the DoD thinks more will appear. As for the introduction of the next-generation Type 096 SSBN, "The Type 096 will likely begin construction soon" and enter service in the late 2020s or early 2030s, reflecting Xi's desire to accelerate China's sea-based nuclear capability. As for the PLA Air Force (PLAAF), the service is estimated to now have 51 Y-20A heavy-lift transport aircraft, as well as 16 Y-20U tankers. Such platforms are extending the global reach of the PLA. The H-20 stealth bomber, able to strike regional and global targets, is mentioned, but "it may take more than a decade to develop this type of advanced bomber" after the program was announced in 2016. Notably, the PLAN transferred many shore-based units (e.g., radar, air defence), 300 fighters (including all JH-7 fighter-bombers), and all H-6J maritime strike bombers to the PLAAF. This was ostensibly to allow the PLAN to focus on carrier-borne aviation and for the PLAAF to improve command and control and air defence. Xi has been in charge of the PLA for twelve years, yet he has not rooted out corruption in the military. Indeed, corruption merited a special section in this year's report. It highlighted that no fewer than 15 high-ranking military officers and defence industry executives were removed from July to December 2023 alone. It pointed out many removals were due to fraud in weapons acquisitions, particularly concerning underground silos. Many of these cases are tied to Li Shangfu, who signed off on all PLA weapon acquisitions when he was head of the Equipment Development Department from 2017-22. The PLARF has presumably repaired these silos, thus increasing overall operational readiness. Because of the report's cutoff date, reverberations from the fall of Admiral Miao Hua, a member of the Central Military Commission, are not discussed. It predicted that removals of key personnel "may have disrupted" PLA progress toward their 2027 military modernisation goal. There is some confusion over the 2027 date that Xi refers to as the "centennial military building goal." By that time, Xi wants the PLA to possess a complete toolbox of military options available for use against Taiwan. However, this should not be construed as a planned date for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. US officials say an invasion is "neither imminent nor inevitable" in 2027. These ongoing corruption issues should perhaps be best regarded as a speedbump on the PLA's pathway to greater capability, rather than being a game-ending disability. Yes, dirty laundry is being aired, but Xi obviously feels confident overall in the direction he is taking the PLA. Xi is pursuing a world-class military, even while, closer to home, the PLA seeks to dominate and control Taiwan and everything within the so-called First Island Chain. Corruption remains rampant because it is sewn into the very fabric of society and military culture, but the dramatic growth in PLA capability continues unchecked. The Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) determination and unparalleled ability to marshal resources mean that the PLA's modernisation continues unabated. This is the background against which corruption must be viewed. Xi is unremitting in his desire to purify and tone the PLA into a force that can take on not only Taiwan but also the USA if necessary. The report highlighted that "in the last decade, the PRC has employed a more coercive approach to deal with disputes over maritime features, rights to potentially rich offshore oil and gas deposits, and border areas". For example, in the South China Sea, "The PLA has used lasing, aerobatics, acoustic devices, the discharge of objects and other activities that impinged on the ability of nearby aircraft and vessels to manoeuvre safely where high seas freedoms apply." China is not playing by international rules, and it is throwing its weight around. Perhaps the vehemence of the Chinese government's response to the Pentagon report is the greatest testament to its value and accuracy. On 21 December, China's Ministry of National Defense slammed the document's release, saying it "strongly deplores and firmly opposes" this content from a "war-addicted" US. Spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said the report "misinterpreted China's defense policies, speculated about China's military capacity development, flagrantly interfered in China's domestic affairs, desperately slandered the Chinese military and exaggerated the so-called military threat posed by China". Zhang added, "For over 20 years, the US has been publishing such deceptive and hypocritical reports year after year, only seeking excuses for the development of its own military capacity and misleading public opinion." He insisted that China "adheres to the path of peaceful development and a national defence policy that is defensive in nature". Rather than refute any inaccuracies in the report, China simply trotted out its usual epithets and accusations. Dr. Andrew Erickson, Professor of Strategy at the US Naval War College, noted, "PRC officials fulminate about the China Military Power Report but don't refute its facts because they can't. Instead, they repeat the same old polemic condemnations from previous years. They know it's true overall; they're just upset that it exists in the first place." He described Chinese criticisms as the "same old sound and fury". Erickson pointed out in a piece published by The War Zone website: "Despite all the drama and 'palace intrigue,' we must never lose sight of an important paradox: China has the world's largest bureaucracy to propagandise its greatest strengths while hiding (or at least dismissing) its greatest weaknesses. America, by contrast, ultimately bares all for all to see. It is an elementary analytical error to confuse the respective great powers' 'dirty laundry' with their 'designer clothes'." Graft has always been endemic in the PLA. Corruption is an enduring mark of communist systems, especially where the CCP is above the law that applies to everyone else. Power struggles, graft, pay-to-play, and influence peddling will always feature in China's military. Yet none of this has slowed down Xi's pursuit of modernisation and his drive to sharpen the PLA. Evidence of Xi's unrivalled authority was his dissolution of the Strategic Support Force on 19 April 2024, one that he himself formed in 2015! The Pentagon notes this restructuring was required to give China's military the best possible network and communication systems management to enable the successful prosecution of high-end warfare against the most capable opponents. Xi is a man on a mission, and he is dragging the PLA along with him. (ANI) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)

Looking Into Yum Brands's Recent Short Interest

It’s been over three years since I bothered to publish an article on the dead end but glitzy space of urban air mobility with their origami electric vertical take-off and landing passenger aircraft. Instead, I focused my aviation related assessments on how aviation will actually decarbonize over the next few decades, starting with regional air mobility where conventional fixed-wing aircraft take off from boring old airstrips, but running on electricity. Oh, and heavy lift drones for crop spraying, tree planting, and solar panel installation, among many other use cases of high merit. But recently there’s been enough news of very predictable — and predicted — failures that it’s worth returning to the space. Electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (EVTOLs) were heavy into the SPAC — special purpose acquisition company — pump and dump scam investment space that Wall Street bros foisted off on unwitting investors after IPOs, ICOs, and NFTs had made them their millions in bonuses, enabling them to stock up on Cristal and Ferraris. As a I wrote in 2021, the publicly listed EVTOL firms had already lost investors $16 billion of the peak capitalization of $28 billion, and the stock prices have just continued to go down. That’s not a good look at all. Of the publicly listed firms, only one is ever so slightly up from its original valuation, about 10% over five years, so nothing at all to write home about. What company is that? Chinese firm eHang, with its customer Cuisinart knee-high blades. But that firm, having seen a major stock bump when the SPAC craze blew through the market, masks the depth of failure of the rest of the stocks. Let’s remove it. Now there’s a stock chart to make investors green in the gills from airsickness. It also makes the 2021 SPAC-fueled pump and dump spike very clear. Google Finance only allows five stocks, so I replaced eHang with Eve Mobility, the Embraer subsidiary. Many people seem to think that the continued existence of these companies is indicative that they have value and merit. That’s a misreading of the situation. The Wall Street SPAC bros did very well out of them, selling off and taking a lot of the raised capital before it dissolved into losses. That’s left the firms with insufficient funds to actually certify and manufacture their aircraft, but enough to keep going and for the founders and executives to keep taking big annual salaries to show up at air shows, hang around aviation types, and fail slowly. That time is coming to an end. Lilium is the first to reach the end of the runway and crash into the barriers at the end, declaring insolvency recently — equivalent to bankruptcy in North America — and entering administration in the UK and Australia. NASDAQ announced it was delisting the stock three weeks ago, but it takes a while for the process to complete, hence their existence on the charts. Of course, there are other failures to consider from firms that were never listed separately as a stock. Kitty Hawk Corporation, the Silicon Valley-based EVTOL pioneer backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, announced in September 2022 that it was ceasing operations. The company failed to achieve commercial viability with its Heaviside EVTOL though its joint venture with Boeing, Wisk Aero, continues to pursue autonomous air taxi solutions. That’s a dead end for Boeing, with Wisk being more of a sexy distraction from real airplanes’ doors falling off and planes plummeting out of the sky than an actual business venture. That said, the absurd degree of regulatory capture of the US Federal Aviation Authority by Boeing detailed in Flying Blind: The 737 MAX Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing means that Wisk might get through certification, something unlikely for all of the rest. (Note: eHang managed a limited certification which allows it to operate as a rural fairground ride, but that’s the extent of the certification good news in the space.) Rolls-Royce’s ambitions in the electric flying taxi space came to an end in September of 2024, as the British aerospace giant shut down its Advanced Air Mobility division. Despite years of research and investment, the company failed to attract buyers for its EVTOL technology, once again completely predictably. Vertical Aerospace, a prominent UK-based EVTOL company, entered advanced negotiations with creditors in November 2024 in a bid to secure its financial future. The firm, which had been developing the VX4 EVTOL aircraft, struggled to balance the high costs of certification and production with limited capital reserves. One of the reasons it’s struggling is that Rolls-Royce stopped backing it during its exit from the space. I expect Vertical to follow Lilium into administration in the coming weeks. Who would throw more money into this empty hole in the sky? Joby, borne of a group of people who failed — again predictably — in the field of airborne wind energy, continues to pretend it’s going to have aircraft certified and in the air real soon now. The company originally pretended that its first-of-a-kind aircraft with multiple novelties and a class history of falling out of the sky and killing people — there’s a reason only the military flies VTOLs — would be certified and available for sale in 2023. Now they are pretending it’s 2025. If they actually survive to mid-2025, I predict the launch will be changed to 2027 or 2028. For an example of SPAC proceeds, the reverse takeover raised $1.6 billion, but Joby only received $1.1 billion of it. At that, they are the best financed EVTOL firm in existence, so might be the last one standing. They are in bed with Toyota now, which doesn’t bode well, as that firm has a recent history of betting on the wrong technology. Beta Technologies is another US entrant in the stable of sway-backed nags pretending to be Arabian thoroughbreds. It’s stayed private, getting multiple series of investments from organizations that should know better — Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and Fidelity Management & Research Company — and funds I don’t expect much from — Qatar Investment Authority and TPG Rise Climate. It’s managed to raise $1 billion, which sounds like a lot. However, I’ve had multiple discussions with experts in aircraft certification in the past five years and reviewed certification requirements for both the FAA and EASA related to this class of decorative objects. We agree that getting one of these things certified is in the range of $1.5 billion, and that none of the volumes in the business cases, adjusted for reality, remotely support the expenditure. They would need to sell thousands per year when the market might be a few hundred in total, and they are pretending that they will be flying 12 hours a day with turnarounds like Formula One pitstops on the ground. I reviewed a lot of the business cases four years ago and none of them study up to the slightest scrutiny, lighter-than-air confections that pretended to be steak and potatoes. Eve Air Mobility, listed under Eve Holding Inc, a subsidiary of Embraer, is even more off the mark. It was another SPAC pump and dump, managing only a tiny $4.14 stock price bump before the dump in 2021. It picked up $400 million in capital and has added another $300 million or so to that, but recently it’s only been getting loans, which frankly is a bad sign for an aircraft that has raised half the money it needs just to certify. I assume Embraer has been keeping it alive because other major aircraft manufacturers have been playing the game for marketing dollars, and as they exit one by one, Embraer is just choosing when to do so. I give it a maximum of a year before the aerospace engineers and executives are asked to find other, more productive things to do with their time. Volocopter, a German sibling firm of already failed Lilium, is struggling as well. It’s only managed to raise about $700 million as well from investors like Daimler AG, Geely, Intel Capital, BlackRock, NEOM, and Micron Ventures. The ground transportation connection is stronger with the firm, but NEOM is a big red flag as that fund thinks an unlivable linear city through a desert is a great idea. Earlier this year it failed to launch at the Paris Olympics, one of a couple of embarrassing parts of an event that promised to be a real climate winner. It was supposed to be able to ferry one passenger at a time — without luggage except maybe a carry-on bag — from a barge in the Seine to the airport, but unsurprisingly failed to get certification for that. The only good things I have to say about Volocopter is that at least, like eHang, it has opted for simplicity with no origami shape-shifting, just rapidly spinning blades, but unlike eHang at least put them safely above passengers’ heads. I’m pretty sure it’s heading for insolvency, likely in early 2024. Requiring a card of its own to play, the biggest aircraft manufacturer in the world, Airbus, has its concept car... err... EVTOL to show off at airshows — the CityAirbus NextGen. It keeps how much it has spent on this marketing venture close to its chest, and unlike many of the other entrants on this list of avionic shame, doesn’t pretend that memorandums of understanding that would dissolve in a gentle misting of rain are orders, claiming none at all. With Rolls-Royce gone, the need to be able to play the card diminishes, so I expect the CityAirbus to vanish into the junk drawer of old renderings in a year or two at maximum. There are a couple of other EVTOL firms that no one has ever heard of, Skydrive out of Japan and ASML out of Australia, but like all the rest, they fly under all radar systems because they are never leaving the ground. They’ll dissolve into the aether soon enough, although the Japanese one might turn into the hydrogen fuel-celled car of the 2030s. Never count out the Japanese ability to persist in doing something for decades past the time when all rational reasons for doing so have disappeared. On that note, Japan’s latest energy plan is finally heavy on renewables, so the country can still learn. It’s unlikely I’ll bother to write another article about this space unless I do a retrospective of the hulking carcasses in the graveyards of aircraft at some point to point out how much money and engineering talent was wasted as an abject lesson in another hype bubble. They always arise, and it’s useful having a set of collateral that enables us to ask why the next hype bubble is different than the last one. For all those wishing for a Jetsons future — you know who you are — let it subside into wistful daydreaming instead of active hoping. CleanTechnica's Comment Policy LinkedIn WhatsApp Facebook X Email Mastodon RedditWilson Isidor denied as West Brom hold on for draw against SunderlandS.Sudan's Kiir holds urgent talks over shootout at ex-spy chief's home

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