China has obtained software used by NATO for war room mapping, giving the country significant insight into how NATO powers conduct planning.
Local media has reported that Luciad, a defence contractor based in Leuven, Belgium, is selling the Chinese government high performance software used for situational awareness by the military commands of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, according to information from Chinese government contractors verified by the South China Morning Post.
The package includes LuciadLightspeed, a program that can process real-time data, including that from fast-moving objects, with speed and accuracy.
Situational awareness is the ability to know what is happening in a target environment and use that intelligence to defeat the enemy. In warfare, the situation is so fluid it can change in seconds.
According to American graphics technology company Nvidia:
“Planners use data from sources such as drone feeds, satellite imagery, radar, sensor plots, weather forecasts and platoon status. Traditional software can introduce errors as large as 500 metres (1,600 feet) in the positioning of moving targets from different datastreams.
Luciad’s software can analyse data and generate seamless visuals at a speed of 100 calculations a second, 75 times faster than its closest competitor, with accuracy to within 3cm (one inch) and on a global scale.”
It is understood that under Chinese law, a foreign vendor supplying software to the Chinese government must disclose every line of source code to authorities for a security check.
How exactly was that sale authorised?!
that will be eblgium blacklisted for ITAR then
Potentially. Trump with not be happy with this and he most certainly isn’t afraid to cut off those who don’t bat for our team alone. Pak has lost 1. Something billion a year from the US for ‘giving nothing back’ and that is absolutely fair enough. I hope the beligans nip this in the bud before any data is transferred but alas, it’s probably too late.
Unless….. There’s a back door in the code…
This Belgian company is owned by a American Holding…
https://www.hexagongeospatial.com/products/luciad-portfolio
most correct myself, Belgium
Lol, I thought It was an Anagram of Ebiygum. !
What a horrendous mistake, Heads should roll, a worthy case for Poirot me thinks.
Good god, between Spain and Belgium in NATO, who needs enemies?
I wonder if at some point the UK government will realize that we cannot rely entirely on some NATO countries coming to our aid at a time of crisis and boost our defense spending to compensate.
Unreal.
Belgium coming to OUR aid now there’s a novelty. Treaties to protect Belgium after the Napolionic War has been nothing but trouble and strife for this country and events like this has hardly makes one feel they are worth defence commitments.
With succesive governments clearly running UK’s defences into the ground, I don’t think we’re in a position to even rely on our own defences. Major threats maturing nicely yet we continue to cut warfighting & deterrent forces, deny essential kit to our forces(& have huge capability gaps other nations woudn’t ever accept), reduce numbers, get very poor value for money & deliver new kit well behind schedule.
Someone in Parliament needs to champion our armed forces before we get very badly caught out by events.
The PRC is hardly benign & selling her NATO systems is stupid.
I immediately thought that the PRC already had downloaded all this IP and were now only paying for it after being caught and to shut the Company up. The PRC has permeated every part of western society and many of us are either oblivious, don’t care or are financially benefiting from it.
How stupid can you get? How about letting china build your nuclear power stations???
They’re not actually Building It.
ok but still letting them design the systems is still a bad idea??
Probably not, I’d be surprised if the Govt. didn’t have all the source code for the systems analysed just like China has with this code.
That said, HMG can be completely incompetent at times…
Well, Yes but they supply the vast Majority of all the Crap we now Buy and good old British Craftsmanship, Knowledge and Knowhow has gone. Personally, I’d love to see all their Crap Banished from our Island but we live In a “Bargain” based Society that has been Brainwashed Into thinking that a Pile of Cheap Plastic Crap Is better than a Well Engineered, Well Designed and Built Traditional Product. You only have to see how many Dullards fall for the old “50% Off” trick/lie to see how Dumb this Country has become. “Made In China” Is nothing to Boast about.
Actually Britain is the 10 largest exporter on earth and we are building and manufacturing more than we have done in years and it’s growing. So we do build allot in the UK, far more than people think.
Cam, 10th Is Impressive I’ll grant you but We’re behind China, the EU as a block, USA, Germany, Japan, South Korea, France, Russia, Netherlands, Italy and Hong Kong. There’s still a long way to go.
@captain p wash. What phone do you own? Which headphones do you use? What car do you drive?
I am hazarding a guess that they are not British?
Lee1, Triumph Speed Triple ( Hinckley model ), don’t own a phone nor headphones.
I am not sure I can believe that you do not own a phone (Or headphones for that matter) Unless you are Jacob Rees Mogg in disguise?
However in that case you are typing your posts on a computer. Where is that made?
Lee1, I own and run 3 Businesses very successfully without the need to own either an Iphone or Headphones. My computer was made In Taiwan but then again, I’d much prefer an Amstrad or Sinclair. My Kitchen was made In England and my Appliances too but the Granite Tops are from Kashmir so I failed dismally there. My Vacuum Is English and he has a nice friendly little face, as for other stuff, at this moment, I can’t really be Arsed to go and look. As a British and proud to be Citizen, I tend to favour British built products as far as Is possible, I Avoid Chinese Products as far as I can and I most certainly would not sell their crap to my Customers. Sorry about that but I believe in Quality before Price. Anything else you want to know ?
I did not mention Iphone… I meant any phone at all.
Also there is a very successful computer that is Built in Britain. It is called the Raspberry Pi. I have 4 of those beauties. That Taiwanese computer you own is most likely made up predominantly of parts made in China.
My point is that you criticise others for not buying British and yet you likely own many products that are likely mostly made in China (I would bet even some of the parts in your Henry are Chinese). There are however often alternatives for most things but they cost a lot of Money. My Headphones are British, My Hi-Fi is British. They are some of the best in the world but they are not cheap… China builds a lot of tat, but it also builds a lot of great products. Britain builds a lot of great products but also builds tat.
I’m surprised the US would not have blocked this in some shape or form if they wanted too, even the Belgians. It shows how much money talks.
As mentioned above, there couldn’t be a neat little present in this package for China could there …? ?
Before we all rush to condemn, I understand one of our companies is about to sell China an advanced radar system, which has not gone down well in Washington.
Belgium, the country that blocked the release to us of 105mm ammunition from NATO stockpiles during the Falklands War.
Thats how much money talks!
It does on first glance seem rather silly. Didn’t Clinton also sell them Harpoon a while ago? I cling to the belief (hope) that we’re collectively not that dumb and that in the same way as we hopefully used the Spanish port stay for the Northern Fleet to have a jolly good butchers, this glorified PS4 will hopefully have a bit of switch-on-able malware in it.
Mind you, if it was a cock-up, we are hardly blameless if you look back: We sold the RR Nene engine to the USSR which knocked years off their development time and therefore indirectly caused many allied casualties in the Korean War.
In Reality, Everyone Copies Everyone Else though. Be It Japanese Motorcycle Manufacturers, Chinese Car Manufacturers, Personal Computers or Underwear. Then you have to factor In the whole Spy thing. We’re All Guilty of that though.
Nice work…
Why does the West have such a self destructive lemming streak ??? Makes you really wonder. This sale needs to blocked if not already done so.
Cheers
It’s truly mind-boggling.
Folks, this was no doubt done with America’s approval perhaps even a slightly modified version? After all what damage battle/war planning software cause when you do not have he hardware or know how to back it up. If this has damaged NATO or given any insight to ROC then I’ll eat my hat!
Assuming all source code is being analysed by the Chinese I doubt we’d manage to sneak in a TotallyNotStuxnetV2.exe but you never know…
You could not write this as fiction!
In the month we commemorated so many British soldiers whose graves are in Belgium.
Not to mention Google bending over backwards helping China develop AI tech while Google refuses to help the US DoD do the same.
This is fake news put out by the Chinese. The only sources of this story are from China. It has been denied by the company in Belgium, which is in actual fact a subsidiary of an American company in an official press statement issued to “De Tijd” newspaper. (belgian equivalent of the Financial Times)
The armed forces have had their numbers and equipment so depleted over the years that I doubt they could withstand a determined assault by a Boy Scout troop
This cannot have been done without some connivance from the EU.
It’s got to be the best bit of Fiction, that isn’t! Sold to the highest bidder, a bit like the James Bond plots that we have grown-up with.
Whats next, just sell the plans to our Nuclear defense plans to Russia with submarine plots, codes etc!
I really don’t understand why it’s not a death penalty crime.