A cutting-edge new weapon which uses radio waves to blast drones out of the sky is under development for the UK’s armed forces.

The Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon (RFDEW) beams radio waves to disrupt or damage the critical electronic components of vehicles and drones used by enemy combatants, which can cause them to stop in their tracks or fall out of the sky.

It can be used across land, air and sea and has a range of up to 1km, which could be extended in the future.

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With an estimated cost of 10p per radio wave shot, the technology is also being billed as a cost-effective alternative to traditional missiles, and could be used to take down dangerous drone swarms.

The technology can be mounted on to a variety of military vehicles, and uses a mobile power source to produce pulses of a radio frequency energy in a beam that can fire sequenced shots at a single target or be broadened to hit a series of targets.

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“The war in Ukraine has shown us the importance of deploying uncrewed systems, but we must be able to defend against them too. As we ramp up our defence spending in the coming years, our Defence Drone Strategy will ensure we are at the forefront of this warfighting evolution.”

The Defence Blog says it's part of Project EALING "Similar in concept to the Epirus LEONIDAS system developed for the US Army".

Police officers in Britain could be armed with Ghostbusters-style devices that fire electromagnetic rays to shut down the engines of ebikes being used in a crime.

Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said the weapon was in development and could be months away from being available, though it is expected to be longer than that.

He said it would be housed in a backpack, reminiscent of the equipment used in the Ghostbusters series of movies. It could tackle crime linked to newer vehicles such as electric bikes and electric scooters.

The device is being developed with the Defence Science and Technology Lab, which is overseen by the Ministry of Defence, alongside other technological innovations that British police are hoping to use. It would fire an electromagnetic pulse at a vehicle that an officer wants to stop because the rider is suspected of involvement in a crime.

The electromagnetic weapon works by tricking the engine into thinking it is overheating, which shuts down the engine and brings the vehicle to a stop. It requires a line of sight to work, Stephens said.

The British police have charged three men with assisting Hong Kong’s foreign intelligence service.

The men were detained alongside several others during a series of raids across the United Kingdom last week, the police said on Monday. The operation is the latest in a spate of action against suspected Russian and Chinese spies across Europe.

They were set to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday to face charges filed under the National Security Act, passed last year to introduce new measures against espionage threats from foreign states.

“While these offences are concerning, I want to reassure the public that we do not believe there to be any wider threat to them,” Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said in a statement.

The London police said 11 people had been detained earlier this month, most of them from Yorkshire, in northern England.

Those who were charged were Chi Leung Wai, 38, Matthew Trickett, 37, and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, all from southeast England.

Seven other men and one woman were not charged and were later released from custody.

Police said the investigation was ongoing, without providing any other details on the charges.

Spate of spying charges

The arrests come as concerns mount across Europe over intelligence operations linked to China and Russia.

The UK announced in late April the arrest of two people suspected of providing “prejudicial information” to Beijing.

The same day, the German police reported that they had charged three citizens with handing technologies with potential military purposes to Chinese intelligence, with whom they have been accused of working since at least June 2022.

The same month, Germany arrested an aide to a far-right member of the European Parliament on suspicion of spying for China.

The British police noted on Monday that the charges against the trio over their work for Hong Kong intelligence are not linked to an ongoing investigation involving Russia, which was also conducted under the National Security Act.

The British government said last Wednesday that it was expelling a Russian defence attache for spying, amid several measures targeting Moscow’s intelligence-gathering operations in the UK.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said the measures were aimed at the “reckless and dangerous activities of the Russian government across Europe”.

Lawyers and doctors assisting the first UK tradespeople diagnosed with a lung disease linked to a material used in kitchen revamps believe the cases could mark the “start of an epidemic”.

The first cases of silicosis among tradespeople who have worked with an artificial stone popular in modern kitchen worktops have been reported in the UK in recent months.

The material – high-silica engineered stone quartz – has already been banned in Australia, where it was described as a modern-day asbestos after hundreds of suspected cases were identified.

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Daniel Easton, a partner with Leigh Day, is representing the first UK patients to have been diagnosed with silicosis after working with the stone. The long-term lung disease is caused by inhaling large amounts of crystalline silica dust, which is created while cutting the slabs.

He told i: “We may be sitting on an epidemic of silicosis that’s going to become a major issue over the next couple of years. There are signs that we may be starting down a similar road to Australia.

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It is understood up to 10 cases of silicosis linked to artifical stone have now been identified in the UK, after i revealed in February that three cases were reported last year to the surveillance scheme Sword, used by physicians to log work-related respiratory diseases.

The popularity of quartz kitchen surfaces has exploded in recent years, and it is now the UK’s most popular worktop material.

Specialist water cutting techniques can suppress the spread of dust during manufacturing, but dry cutting can leave workers exposed to harmful amounts of silica dust.

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In Australia, screening programmes since 2018 found 11 per cent of of 4,743 stonemasons and engineered stone workers received a probable or confirmed diagnosis of silicosis because of workplace exposure to dust known as respirable crystalline silica (RCS).

British computer business Raspberry Pi is finalising plans to float on the stock market this month in a transaction that could value it at up to £500 million.

The Cambridge-based business is best known for selling low-cost, credit-card-sized computers to help children learn to code.

The float could take place within the next ten days, according to City sources, although they cautioned that it could be delayed if market conditions deteriorate.

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Raspberry Pi’s figures for 2022, the latest accounts filed at Companies House, show it employed 94 staff and made $20 million of operating profit from $187 million of revenue.

If the flotation takes place, it would be the second attempt by Raspberry Pi to list on the market. Upton had aimed to float the company in London in 2021 but ditched the plan when stock markets were knocked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Raspberry Pi was also hit by a worldwide shortage of semiconductor chips.

Upton, who works at the firm with his wife, Liz, revived talk of a listing last October when he said “when the markets are ready, we’ll be ready as well”. It is understood Raspberry Pi has been telling prospective investors that it can grow the company by selling more of its products to businesses and through international sales.

Archive

The Northern Lights are set to be visible across large parts of the UK overnight as a huge solar storm is going to hit Earth.

America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reportedly issued its first severe solar storm warning since 2005 yesterday as a huge geomagnetic storm races towards Earth - meaning it could be the most powerful experienced in almost two decades.

It's set to hit overnight, and could supercharge the Northern Lights, making them visible in Scotland, northern England and Wales and even further south if conditions are right.

But the impressive Aurora Borealis could also potentially interfere with infrastructure, including the power grid and satellites when it hits.

I'm not 5G enabled yet so theoretically 4G+ should be my fastest connection speed. However, on O2 I find that it's effectively the same as having no connection at all, and often end up shifting down to 3G just to get some connection.

This can't be right, I feel like I've forgotten a setting or something! Has anyone managed to figure it out, or maybe first does anyone else have the same issue?