Masao Dahlgren

Ukraine’s Drone Swarms Are Destroying Russian Nuclear Bombers. What Happens Now? Ukrainian drones have left Russian nuclear-capable bombers in flames. Will Ukraine’s June 1 drone attack, conducted thousands of miles inside Russian territory, change Russia’s nuclear posture? Could ...

#NEW CQ from Lachlan MacKenzie and @masao.bsky.social:

“Suppressing enemy air forces no longer assures that skies will be safe; there is now an “air littoral”—a domain of lower-altitude, lower-end drone threats—that must be secured.”

Read their full analysis here: www.csis.org/analysis/ukr...

Closing the Hypersonic Testing Loop | The Techno-Industrial Policy Playbook Analysis of hypersonic testing infrastructure challenges and proposed solutions to accelerate development

New from me:
www.rebuilding.tech/posts/closin...

Serious questions to be asking on how nuclear deterrence works in a post-print, post-Westphalian world

Now We're Talking Notes on McLuhan, Ong, and Oral Culture

"[In a preliterate culture], how could you ever call back to mind what you had so laboriously worked out? The only answer is: Think memorable thoughts...Your thought must come into being in heavily rhythmic, balanced patterns, in repetitions..."
Walter Ong, 1982

open.substack.com/pub/masaodah...

Someone trained a bouba/kiki bot

Embeddings changed my workflow more meaningfully than any chat model

the fujifilm discontinuation rumors are a shame. there's something magical about the provia look

ICYMI:

What the problem looks like. Explosions in space don't just have prompt effects—the radiation gets trapped in in LEO by Earth's magnetosphere.

The Pentagon’s next satellite launch is a test for missile defense’s future In this op-ed, Masao Dahlgren discusses the launch of a forthcoming missile-tracking satellite constellation and what can be learned from it.

Wrote a call to accelerate and diversify DoD satellite constellations shortly before the Russian space nuke story broke. Our analysis in December showed that LEO-only could be vulnerable to nuclear detonations in space, and proposes alternatives.

breakingdefense.com/2024/02/the-...

Getting on Track | CSIS The Department of Defense is racing to build a constellation of satellites for tracking elusive hypersonic missiles. As these first satellites enter orbit, how should policymakers measure success? In ...

I've retweeted it before but now I have had time to read it in full, and I recommend having a look at @masao.bsky.social 's (from CSIS) excellent report on the tradeoffs between various types of constellations to track hypersonic vehicles:
www.csis.org/analysis/get...

I’ve enjoyed your blog, esp. on French space capabilities. I think you’ll enjoy the forthcoming report.

Just a teaser for the major report my team's releasing on December 18. The launch events always draw a really interesting crowd, and we'll have time after to mingle. Re the image; IYKYK

Sometimes you find gems walking round dc

Thanks for putting this together—would love to be added.

Archival image of a Tomahawk missile on radar test stand, undated.

Still thinking about this listing

So nothing too different I suppose

It’s a chill vibe ig

oh god another Disordered Eating Rebrand

It looks so crinkly I want to crunch it

one of the coolest photos ever taken of a satellite tbh. SBIRS HEO-1

Doing my part to balance things out

the all american tradition of finding triple the enemy's military spending between the couch cushions

the point is dc needs more weird little shops

Details:
- the store was remarkably nice inside, cashiers chill, prices good. The "we only sold nonperishables" stuff was a lie. I swear I bought some limeade from there once
- after trademark suit, took the "p" off the sign ("irate joe's")
- after bans from seattle tjs, would shop wearing disguises

belated Canada Day post in remembrance of Pirate Joe's, the bootleg trader joe's I used to live by in Vancouver. feel like the tech industry used to have more of these types of guys

(Photos: me, Vancouver Sun)

the exploded diagrams from the manual are gorgeous btw

I had some trouble with disassembly though. The flathead screws used are a little skinny for my modern drivers and I really chowdered the edges. Idk if the gif loads of the shutter assembly firing since we can't upload video yet.

All this to say that I picked up a v nice vintage Canon IVSB in Japan. They used to make the best Leica clones in the biz; I patched some holes in the shutter. Unlike a barnack you could see the rf patch and scene in one window. Here's a test shot and a glamour shot