Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 28 November 2019
NATO's aging eye in the sky to get a last overhaul

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO and rorism or evacuation op-
U.S. aircraft-maker Boeing erations, and provide help
agreed Wednesday a $1 during natural disasters.
billion contract to refurbish They can stay aloft for 8
the military alliance's aging hours at a time and watch
fleet of surveillance planes, over an area of more
ensuring that they can than 120,000 square miles
continue to serve as the or- (310,000 square kilometers.)
ganization's eye in the sky Developed years before
until 2035. the internet and mobile
The agreement, which telephones were in com-
was not actually signed mon use, they seem almost
Wednesday, was made quaint in an age where a
public just days before U.S. pilotless drone has flown for
President Donald Trump 40 consecutive hours, and
joins his NATO counterparts stealth technologies wreak
in London for a Dec. 4 sum- havoc with many modern
mit marking the 70th anni- surveillance systems.
versary of the world's big- But the maintenance pro-
gest security alliance. gram will see their comput-
Trump is expected to make NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, right, and the President of Boeing International, Sir er hardware and software
fresh demands on his Euro- Michael Arthur, hold up photos of an AWACS plane during a media conference at Melsbroek upgraded to turn around
pean and Canadian part- military airport in Melsbroek, Belgium, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019. double the intelligence
ners to significantly step up Associated Press information, data and im-
defense spending. Critics agery that they currently
say he is intent on drum- when Jimmy Carter be- far from the alliance's new tember 11, 2001 attacks handle, whether it be of
ming up business for the came U.S. president and as billion-dollar headquarters. on New York and Washing- air, ground, sea or space
U.S. defense industry. a missile crisis with the then He said the upgrade will ton to help protect cities origin.
NATO's contract an- Soviet Union was beginning provide the Airborne Warn- and nuclear power plants. The surveillance aircraft,
nouncement provides a to fester in Europe, the 14 ing and Control planes, They were used during the which are based in Ger-
timely reminder that mon- Boeing E-3 planes cost al- known as AWACS, "with Russia-Ukraine crisis, to as- many, are among the few
ey is going to Boeing, al- most $8 billion. sophisticated new com- sist Turkey during the war military assets that NATO
though other European "The modernization will munications and network- in Syria and to help the co- owns as an alliance. Mem-
contractors will be involved ensure NATO remains at ing capabilities so these alition fighting the Islamic ber nations own all the oth-
in the refurbishment, which the leading edge of tech- aircraft can continue their State group. er equipment. A new drone
is expected to be complet- nology," NATO Secretary- vital mission and contribute Beyond their role as NATO's program has also been set
ed by 2027. General Jens Stoltenberg to our security." eye in the sky, the planes afoot, with the first of five
Purchased in 1977 at the told reporters at a military The planes were deployed can be used for air-polic- Global Hawks delivered to
height of the Cold War, airport outside Brussels, not in U.S. skies after the Sep- ing, support in counter-ter- a base in Italy last week.q

Trump campaign, GOP groups attack Google's new ad policy

WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi- groups said. Twitter to ban political
dent Donald Trump's re- Democratic political ads. Twitter also placed
election campaign and groups have also been crit- restrictions on ads related
other Republican election ical of Google's new policy. to social causes such as
groups criticized tech gi- "Tech companies should climate change or abor-
ant Google on Tuesday not reduce the power of tion rights. Twitter said the
for making it harder for po- the grassroots just because move would help reduce
litical advertisers to target it is easier than addressing the flow of election-related
specific types of people. abuse on their platforms," misinformation. The Trump
The GOP groups said the said leaders of the Demo- campaign protested that
changes will lead directly cratic National Committee change as well but said
to suppressing voter turn- and allied groups helping Google's will have more im-
out and would "dispropor- oversee Democratic con- pact.
tionately" hurt Republican gressional campaigns. "Much has been made of
candidates. Social media companies Twitter's equally concern-
Google has said that, be- President Donald Trump waves as he departs after pardoning are grappling with how ing decision to ban political
Butter, the national Thanksgiving turkey, during a ceremony in
ginning in January in the the Rose Garden of the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019, in best to prevent a repeat ads and suppress speech,
United States, advertisers Washington. of 2016 when Russian op- but because advertising on
will only be able to tar- Associated Press eratives, masquerading as that platform is ineffective
get political ads based on Americans, used targeted and only a tiny percentage
broad categories such as said Trump has built the strength from it." advertisements and inten- of Americans use Twitter,
sex, age and postal code. greatest digital operation "Google should immedi- tionally falsified news ar- their impact is insignificant,"
Currently, ads can be tai- in politics, so Google's deci- ately reverse its decision ticles to interact with and the Trump campaign and
lored to more specific sion will "disproportionately in order to ensure they do attempt to deceive tens of GOP groups said in a joint
groups, such as political af- impact both the Trump op- not suppress voter turnout millions of social media us- release. "Google, however,
filiation. eration and all of the Re- during both the Democrat ers in the United States. is a serious platform with
But the Trump campaign publican candidates and primaries and the 2020 Google's announcement very deep reach across the
and Republican groups organizations that derive general election," the GOP follows the decision by entire country."q