Suicide drones for Iran being developed by top universities?

[Englishontrail]

I'm utterly bewildered that this isn't a bigger story. I work at one of the named universities and have only just found out. This is the second time a big story that could affect national security hasn't made it to the main stream media.

www.thejc.com/news/news/iran's-'suicide-drones'-are-being-developed-at-british-universities-3lUpJ4vPCpCIqRaYwvkRR0

Gosh thats crazy. There needs to be more anti drone technology. Something that suspends electrical current or something. Like those electric grenades in Call of Duty. Are they real? I don't know.

A lot of people are more interested in the sordid salicious crap that's going on rather than serious issues.

This is the second time a big story that could affect national security hasn't made it to the main stream media.

Well, I read about it around a month ago on Apple News+. They cherry pick stories from the mainstream media.

Hmmm, I also work at one of these unis and would be very surprised if it is how they day. All research considered potentially a risk to security is hosted and researchers vetted, and no way would explicit Iranian funding be permitted to research so open to being used.

I suspect either it's got in through the back door (ie source of funding being obscured, unlikely), or more likely the research was funded and carried out for a different purpose but has since been appropriated.

The Telegraph. June 8, 2023…

The 11 UK universities accused of helping to develop Iran's 'suicide drones'

I don't have a telegraph subscription so didn't see it. I would have expected more widely read outlets to look into.

@GayPareeee I'm not surprised by this story. I've raised concerns at work about about the way they process confidential projects. They brushed me off. I wondered if they wanted there to be back door access or if they really were that lazy. I assumed the latter. Now I wonder if it's the former.

*By more widely read, I meant the likes of the BBC. It's a very worrying news story to me but perhaps other more cynical people (who think this stuff happens all the time) are less interested.

This feels like anti Islamic sentiment by the JC more than anything. It’s more than a month old and hardly anyone else has picked it up, so I don’t think it’s verified; university ethics teams are usually pretty hot on this kind of thing.

I work at a university and only found out today because the pro-vice chancellor wrote to everyone advising us to refer any media enquiries to the communications team. The JC happened to be one of the few places that covered it and I clicked the first link I saw on my mobile.

Here's one from elsewhere: ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-universities-allegedly-helped-iran-develop-drone-tech/

And another: www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2023/06/09/uk-universities-accused-of-helping-iran-develop-suicide-drones-and-fighter-jets/?outputType=amp

Also I don't think concern about the Iranian government being aided in developing weapons for war should feel anti-Islamic. All of the Muslim people I know embrace the peaceful teachings from their religion and don't agree with the interpretation of extremists.

The fact that the story was broken a Jewish paper probably has more to do with it's impact on the Middle East.

We clearly don't work at the same place then as have not heard a peep from anyone.

Tbf Iranian regime is only one of many questionnable sponsors . . .

well the West has developed and continues to a lot of weapons that have and continue to destroy lives across the world. While I worry about the regime using these against its own people I think any UK or US concern over it is the usual hypocrisy. Unmanned drones have been used to massacre families and villages in the middle east with little genuine concern here so...