In war,
anything that is detected by sensors is destroyed by swarms of drones and
missiles. As the history of Hamas battles shows, defenders are surviving only in
tunnels, prepared to hide in.
This is a transformation of modern warfare. The era of
transparency on the battlefield is fundamentally changing survival strategies.
Here are some key points why “tunnel warfare” is becoming
the main form of asymmetric resistance:
Sensor ubiquity: Constant surveillance from satellites,
thermal imaging drones, and acoustic sensors means that any movement or heat
source on the surface becomes a target within minutes.
Swarm technology: Swarms of missiles and drones allow for
cheap and massive “overload” of even the most advanced air defense systems,
leaving the physical layer of the earth as the only reliable protection.
Underground fortification: As we can see from the example of
Gaza, tunnels are not just hiding places – they are complex logistical chains,
command posts and even factories that neutralize the technological advantage of
the enemy.
Psychological and tactical advantage: Tunnels allow
defenders to choose the time and place of the fight themselves, suddenly
appearing where they are not expected and disappearing underground again.
Let's urgently turn tanks, their training grounds and
aircraft into museum exhibits before someone destroys them. We have so few of
them that it will be difficult for future generations to explain the history of
20th century wars.
How the information is analyzed?
“The Pentagon’s artificial intelligence program Project
Maven forms the basis of the US military operation against Iran and is perhaps
one of the most significant innovations in modern warfare.
What is it?
“Project Maven” is the Pentagon’s most important artificial
intelligence program, launched in 2017. as a low-profile experiment designed to
help military analysts navigate the torrent of drone footage streaming from a
conflict zone.
Cameramen wade through the sea of images, frame by frame,
searching for interesting objects that might appear for a moment and then
disappear. Maven was designed to help find a needle in a haystack.
Eight years later, the program has evolved into a much
broader project: an artificial intelligence-driven targeting and battlefield
management system that has dramatically accelerated what in warfare is known as
the “kill chain”—the process from target identification to destruction.
How does it work?
Maven is a combat air traffic control system and control
console rolled into one.
Aalok Mehta, director of the Wadhwani AI Center at the
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), described the system as
“essentially an additional layer” that combines sensor data, enemy
intelligence, satellite imagery, and force deployment information.
In practice, this means that the system quickly scans
satellite imagery to detect troop movements or target locations, as well as
“capture a theater of operations” to decide how best to strike a specific
target.
In a recent demonstration video posted online, a Pentagon
official explained how Maven, once it detects a threat, magically begins the
targeting process, assessing available resources and presenting the commander
with possible solutions.
The ChatGPT platform has taken another step forward, helping
to expand the technology’s reach to a much wider range of users, who can now
interact with Maven in natural language.
Currently, this functionality is provided by Anthropic’s
Claude tool, although this collaboration is unlikely to last long, as the
Pentagon was unhappy when the AI lab demanded that its model not be used for
fully automated strikes or for tracking US citizens.
Why did Google refuse to participate in the project?
The ethical issue has been a major factor since the
beginning of the Maven program, when Google was the first contractor to develop
AI solutions for the program.
In 2018, more than 3,000 employees signed an open letter
protesting the company’s participation in the project, claiming that the
contract crossed a line. Several engineers even resigned.
After the contract expired, Google refused to renew it and
later published AI principles that explicitly ruled out involvement in weapons systems.
The episode exposed a rift between Silicon Valley engineers,
who saw autonomous target detection as an ethical red line, and defense
officials who saw the feature as a necessity.
Google has recently loosened its policy restrictions on
artificial intelligence and said it intends to become more involved in national
security. The Pentagon has said that Google, along with xAI and OpenAI, is
among the candidates to replace Claude system currently used by Maven.
What is Palantir’s role?
In 2024, Google was replaced by Palantir, a company founded
in part with CIA funding and focused on government intelligence from the start.
The company has reportedly become the primary technology
contractor for the Maven program, and its AI solutions are now the backbone of
the program.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp is clear about what is at stake.
“This is a have-it-or-have-not world,” he said at a recent
Palantir event, arguing that it is important for the West to acquire
capabilities that the rest of the world does not have.
A system that helps shorten the kill chain from hours to
seconds renders the enemy worthless, he said.
How is the project going?
The Pentagon and Palantir declined to comment on the results
of the Maven program in the current war with Iran.
The US strikes are ongoing, and it can be assumed that the
main role here was played by the Maven program’s ability to speed up the process
of detecting targets and executing strikes.
According to CSIS, after three weeks, the US strike campaign
has stabilized and is now destroying between 300 and 500 targets daily.
According to various media sources, in the first 24 hours of
the start of Operation Epic Fury, US forces struck more than a thousand
targets.”
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