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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Neanderthals skillfully hunted giant cave lions, a study showed for the first time. </li><li>The findings suggest the animals were carefully pelted, maybe for some kind of ritualistic purpose.</li></ul><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-interbreeding-between-humans-and-neanderthals-affects-our-health-today-2023-6">Neanderthals</a> hunted cave lions with wooden spears and feasted on their meat at least 48,000 years ago, according to a study of ancient bones.</p><p>The research is the first to show how our prehistoric ancestors had the hunting skills to take on the fearsome beasts, despite their rudimentary tools.</p><p>But they didn't just target cave lions for sustenance. The study suggests that Neanderthals hunted the predators for some sort of ritualistic purpose, Gabriele Russo, zooarchaeologist of the Universität Tübingen in Germany, told Insider.</p><p>"This implies that they had some sort of cultural relation or special dynamic with the nature within which they lived," said Russo, who is an author of the study.</p><div type="image" title="A 3D rendering shows neanderthals skinning a mountain lion in an open plain. " height="1500" width="2000" msid="104405378" hostid="261"></div><h2>Two points in time show Neanderthal's relationship to the beasts</h2><p>The study, published in the <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=8a7dee559cfbbe6bdf590f4967e256c6d51beebe08253de94e762c460bc67084&amp;postID=6529026b8cf71b3065e061ae&amp;postSlug=neanderthals-hunted-cave-lions-feasted-meat-study-2023-10&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41598-023-42764-0">peer-reviewed journal</a> Scientific Reports, looked at two sets of remains from cave lions, which were large cats that roamed Eurasia before going extinct more than 10,000 years ago.</p><p>Scratches on ancient bones found near the modern town of Siegsdorf in Bavaria, Germany, provided a snapshot of a battle against the fearsome predator about 48,000 years ago.</p><div type="image" title="Cave lion bones, turned brown with their age, are displayed in near-anatonimical position on a black background. A replica wooden spear is placed across the lion's neck. " height="1136" width="2000" msid="104405379" hostid="261"></div><p>What is clear is that a tool was used to deliver the dying blow to the animal, most likely a thrusting spear piercing through the cave lion's chest while he was lying on his side.</p><div type="image" title="A 3d model shows the cave lion's skeleton as well as the position of the spear depending on the marks left on the bones. The model is shown from four angles. " height="916" width="1498" msid="104405380" hostid="261"></div><p>Other marks on the bones may have been caused by wooden javelins being thrown at the lion.</p><p>It's possible the Neanderthals stalked the lion, throwing javelins, to exhaust the creature before killing it. The lion's skeleton suggests it was quite old and may have been weakened after being kicked out of its pride, so it's also possible the hunters ambushed it during its sleep, Russo said.</p><p>Several cut marks also show that not only did the Neanderthals kill the predator, but also ate its meat.</p><p>This is the earliest evidence of humans killing a large predator, Russo told Insider.</p><p>That the Neanderthals were able to take down big animals isn't that surprising. Previous evidence suggests they hunted elephants, giant deer, wolves, and bison, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.science.org/content/article/neanderthals-hunted-and-revered-cave-lions">Science reported</a>.</p><p>But going after a cave lion is another challenge entirely.</p><p>"Hunting a predator is not a very smart thing to do, because they are dangerous and you would put much more effort in finding them because they're more rare in the environment compared to herbivores," Russo said.</p><p>The study suggests the hunt was designed "to get something on a social level, some social rewards," he said.</p><p>Another set of remains — two partial cave lion digits and part of a paw — may go some way to explain why Neanderthals may have taken that risk.</p><p>These small bones, found in the so-called Unicorn Cave in 2019 in the Harz Mountains of Germany, showed marks of being severed with stone tools, suggesting that careful attention was paid to keeping the cat's fearsome claws as part of the pelt during the skinning process.</p><p>"They definitely are showing behavior that points to something beyond simple survival," Davorka Radovčić, an archaeologist at the Croatian Natural History Museum who was not part of the research, told Science. "It's not only us who are capable of complex behavior."</p><h2>Neanderthals may have had a spiritual connection with their environment</h2><p>Modern humans, or Homo sapiens, are generally said to have migrated from Africa <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/science/archaeology-neanderthals-lions-hunting.html">about 42,000 years ago </a>— leaving little doubt about who may have left these marks on the cave lion remains.</p><p>The findings add to the growing body of evidence suggesting they were far <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/40000-year-bone-hints-humans-neanderthals-shared-cave-culture-2023-8"><u>more sophisticated </u></a>than they were long thought to be.</p><p>"We know that they were great hunters, and there is lots of evidence that were skilled hide workers making clothing elements," said Russo.</p><p>"We know from recent years that they had personal ornaments, like eagle talons. We know they use <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neanderthals-created-first-cave-paintings-2018-2">pigments</a> to maybe we don't know what but probably paint their bodies," he said.</p><p>"The lion pelts and the hunting of the lion now also suggests that they had this special relationship with predators — maybe they saw them as fellow hunters or they were they had fear of them, or they worshipped them," he said.</p><p>"There was some sort of feeling that actually we can understand because we are humans and they are humans," he said.</p>

Neanderthals hunted cave lions at least 48,000 years ago, and feasted on their meat, ancient bones reveal

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Russia has devoted increasing military resources to Ukraine but maintains an outpost in Kaliningrad.</li><li>Perched on the Baltic, nuclear and conventional forces in Kaliningrad can strike deep into Europe.</li></ul><p>Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022 has pushed tensions between Moscow and NATO to their highest level in decades</p><p>Over the past 18 months, there have been close calls along the alliance's borders with the two warring countries, and NATO and Russian aircraft have tangled over the Black Sea. The tense environment has been punctuated by Russian threats of nuclear strikes against the West in response to NATO's military support for Ukraine.</p><p>While the world has focused on the fighting in Ukraine, Russian forces are still present in Kaliningrad, Russia's exclave on the Baltic Sea, where Moscow has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/finland-joining-nato-means-russia-baltic-kaliningrad-more-isolated-2023-4" target="_top">based its Baltic Fleet, stationed ground troops, and stored nuclear weapons</a>.</p><p>In a future war, the secretive drones the US has supplied to Ukraine — the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-has-sent-hundreds-of-phoenix-ghost-drones-to-ukraine-2022-9" target="_top">Phoenix Ghost</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-sends-ukraine-loitering-drones-for-kamikaze-attacks-on-russia-2022-3" target="_top">Switchblade</a> — could get a new mission: hunting Russian nukes in Kaliningrad.</p><h2>Drones vs. nukes</h2><div type="image" title="Russia S-400 Kaliningrad" height="813" width="1400" msid="103138884" hostid="261"></div><p>Kaliningrad is a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russias-kaliningrad-could-be-next-flashpoint-in-standoff-with-europe-2022-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">key military outpost</a> sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland on the Baltic coast. It has long hosted both nuclear and conventional forces, though Russia's military has moved several units based there to Ukraine since the fighting started last year.</p><p>Kaliningrad's location allows the Kremlin to threaten several NATO members with long-range weapons, and it could be a base from which Russian forces could interfere with a NATO response to a clash with Russia.</p><p>While chances of a war with Russia seem low, Kaliningrad still represents "a major threat" to NATO, and the alliance need to invest in troops and weapons to neutralize Russian forces there in case of a conflict, William DiRubbio, a second lieutenant in the US Air Force, wrote in a recent article published by the journal of the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank.</p><p>DiRubbio argues that NATO could use special-operations forces to prevent Russia from launching the tactical nuclear weapons it has stored in Kaliningrad by targeting <a href="https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/06/iskander-the-missile-putin-would-use-to-start-a-war-against-nato/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Iskander ballistic missiles</a> that would likely carry those weapons.</p><div type="image" title="Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile" height="794" width="1196" msid="103138885" hostid="261"></div><p>Going after the Russia's nuclear command-and-control infrastructure "could have immense deterrence and escalatory ramifications" and should be avoided, as should targeting the nuclear warheads themselves, but taking out the delivery platform would thwart Russian nuclear launches, according to DiRubbio.</p><p>Since Iskander missiles are mobile, special-operations troops would be "the best method to deal with them," DiRubbio writes, citing missions by the US Army's Delta Force and its British cousin, the Special Air Service, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/delta-force-sas-hunted-iraqi-scud-missiles-during-gulf-war-2021-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to hunt down and destroy Iraq's Scud missiles</a> during the Gulf War as precedent.</p><p>NATO forces could use <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamikaze-style-drones-big-advantage-and-challenge-top-marines-say-2022-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">loitering munitions</a> — drones designed to linger near a target before crashing into and destroying it — for such a mission in Kaliningrad. "A focus should also be on the training of these forces with the Phoenix Ghost and Switchblade drones to assist them in their search and destroy efforts," DiRubbio writes.</p><p>Special operators are trained to undertake such difficult missions, and one could see a Delta Force squadron armed with loitering munitions, also known as "kamikaze drones," infiltrating Kaliningrad in order to do it. "To enable quick action in the case of conflict, NATO ought to begin investment in small staging camps near Poland and Lithuania's respective border with Kaliningrad," DiRubbio writes.</p><h2>Switchblade and Phoenix Ghost</h2><div type="image" title="A Marine with a Switchblade drone" height="1333" width="2000" msid="103138889" hostid="261"></div><p>The US has sent tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine and provided thousands of weapons, ranging from main battle tanks down to one-way attack drones, like the Switchblade and Phoenix Ghost, that a few soldiers can carry and operate.</p><p>With relatively short range, these drones are designed to take out relatively small targets on the battlefield, whether its a few troops in a trench or an armored vehicle. The US has provided a few hundred of those two drones to Ukraine, including both version of the Switchblade.</p><p>The Switchblade 300 packs an explosive charge roughly equivalent to a Claymore anti-personnel mine to take out infantry targets. It is fired from a mortar-like tube and has a range of 6 miles, though it can stay in the air for just 15 minutes. The Switchblade 600 is designed for heavy-duty targets, like tanks, and packs an explosive charge similar to that of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/javelins-stingers-nlaws-help-ukraine-destroy-russian-tanks-aircraft-2022-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Javelin anti-tank missile</a>. It has a range of 24 miles and can stay in the air for about 40 minutes.</p><p>Little is known about the capabilities of the Phoenix Ghost loitering munition. However, US officials have stated that it is a one-way attack munition akin to the Switchblade.</p><p>Loitering munitions, whether provided by international partners or built by Ukrainian troops have had <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2022/06/08/failure-or-savior-busting-myths-about-switchblade-loitering-munitions-in-ukraine/?sh=2fadf320369f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">success</a> in Ukraine, helping shape the battlefield at the tactical level. By pairing them with highly trained special-operations troops operating from forward bases, as DiRubbio outlines, they could also prove valuable in other serious contingencies.</p><p><em>Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. He is working toward a master's degree in strategy and cybersecurity at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies.</em></p>

A possible future mission for the US's secretive Phoenix Ghost and Switchblade drones? Hunting Russian nukes

<keyword id="232713" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="hangzhou" source="Orion">Hangzhou</keyword> (China), <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>'s campaign for excellence in the Paris <keyword id="6450929" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="olympic-games" source="Orion">Olympic Games</keyword> next year faces some crucial tests starting from Saturday when the 19th <keyword id="84384" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="asian-games" source="Orion">Asian Games</keyword> officially kick off in Hangzhou, China.<br /><br />India has set itself an ambitious target of achieving medals in double digits for the first time in the Paris Olympic Games in 2024 and the 19th Asian Games not only present an opportunity to assess the preparation of its athletes but also provide Olympic qualification quotas in some sports. Postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic that swept across China last year, the 2022 Asian Games are being conducted within the qualifying period for Olympic Games in all sports and thus provide opportunities for sportspersons to book their berths to France.<br /><br />Indian sportspersons in many sports including men's and women's hockey, table tennis and boxing will get a chance to qualify for the Olympics at Hangzhou.<br /><br />With the Central Government pumping in huge sums to fulfil its dream of Olympic excellence, India is expecting to achieve its best-ever medal haul in the Asian Games at Hangzhou. India's previous best medal haul in the Continental Jamboree has been the 70 medals bagged in Indonesia four years back in 2018.<br /><br />Its campaign spearheaded by the likes of Olympic and World Championship gold medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, two-time World Champion boxer Nikhat Zareen, Olympic bronze medallist boxer Lovlina Borgohain, men's doubles tennis legend <keyword id="12295" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="rohan-bopanna" source="Orion">Rohan Bopanna</keyword>, chess champs Koneru Humpy, D Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu in badminton and table tennis legend Achanta Sharath Kamal, India go into the Hangzhou Asian Games in bullish mood, hoping to challenge the Asian superpowers China, Japan, South Korea and Iran and finish fifth or above.<br /><br />Besides hoping to win its first gold medal since 2014, the Indian men's hockey team will be hoping to clinch a direct berth in the Paris Olympics by winning the gold medal in Hangzhou. The women's hockey team led by goalkeeper Savita Punia has landed in China to not only clinch its berth for Paris 2024 but also bag its first gold medal in the Asian Games since 1982 when women's hockey made its debut in the continental extravaganza.<br /><br />The women's hockey team led by Rajbir Kaur won the title at home in New Delhi and since then India have claimed silver medal twice -- in 1998 and 2018 -- and bronze medal thrice -- in 1986, 2006 and 2014. The team has finished fourth on four occasions.<br /><br />Overall India have won 671 medals in the 19 editions of the Asian Games so far -- 155 gold, 200 silver and 316 bronze medals. The Ministry of Youth Affairs, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) are hoping to add a substantial chunk of medals to the kitty at Hangzhou and maybe cross the 100-medal mark. Though that may look like a tall order considering the country's best effort so far has been 70 in 2018, it does not sound like an impossible target considering the recent performances by the Indian sportspersons in recent times and the new sports that have been added to the programme here at Hangzhou.<br /><br />India hopes to garner most of its medals from athletics, its bread-and-butter sport at the Asian level, shooting, boxing, wrestling, tennis, rowing and sailing.<br /><br />With esports making its debut as a medal sport in Hangzhou and chess returning to the Games for the first time since 2010, India will also be hoping to bag some medals in badminton, squash, table tennis, taekwondo, judo, wushu and equestrian.<br /><br />The country has sent in a huge Contingent of 921 which includes 655 athletes and 260 coaches and support staff.<br /><br />Competitions have already started in men's and women's football, sailing, rowing, cricket, table tennis, volleyball and beach volleyball. The medal hunt will start on September 24, the day after the Games are officially declared open, with shooters providing the first medal for<br /><br />Another reason for aiming for a rich medal haul at Hangzhou is that India hopes to organise the Asian Games for the third time in the next few years. A rich medal haul at Hangzhou will also boost the country's image and get support for hosting the event for the third time after 1951 and 1982.<br /><br />Can Hangzhou be a stepping stone for Indian sports on way to excelling at Paris 2024 and organising the Asian Games soon? The result will be out on October 8, when the 19th Asian Games will come to a close.<br /><br />

Asian Games: At Hangzhou, India on a quest for excellence and preparing for Paris 2024

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US Army is rushing to develop its own tank-killing drone that soldiers can carry into combat.</li><li>The weapon will be a loitering munition, a type of drone being used widely in the war in Ukraine.</li></ul><p>As kamikaze drones wreak havoc in the Ukraine war, the US Army is rushing to develop its own tank-killing version.</p><p>The Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance program aims to develop a lightweight weapon that can be carried by soldiers in the Army's Infantry Brigade Combat Teams.</p><p>Known as LASSO, the weapon will be "a man-portable, tube launched, lethal payload munition," according to an <a href="https://www.peosoldier.army.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3451645/lethal-unmanned-systems-press-release/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcement</a> by the Army's Program Executive Office Soldier. "It includes electrical optical/infrared sensor, precision flight control, and the ability to fly, track and engage non-line-of-sight targets and armored vehicles with precision lethal fires. LASSO currently consists of three modules: the launch tube, unmanned aerial system, and fire control station."</p><p>In a sign of how seriously the Army is taking this project, LASSO has been deemed an <a href="https://acqnotes.com/acqnote/acquisitions/joint-urgent-operational-need-juon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">urgent capability acquisition</a>, a Department of Defense procedure designed to deliver new systems to the field in less than two years. These acquisitions are reserved for capabilities that are "meant to save lives or ascertain mission accomplishment."</p><div type="image" title="A Ukrainian serviceman attach a 3D version of an explosive as he trains to drop explosives devices from a drone in a secret location in Lviv Oblast, Ukraine." height="2000" width="3000" msid="102504126" hostid="261"></div><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-experiment-with-tdr1-drone-was-preview-of-loitering-munitions-2023-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Loitering munitions</a> — the US military avoids the term "kamikaze drone" — are a cross between a drone and a guided artillery shell.</p><p>Light enough to be carried by foot soldiers and equipped with a warhead and a camera, they can orbit an area while relaying imagery to an operator who decides when to crash it into a target. They were designed to give infantry an indirect-fire capability to hit targets shielded from sight by terrain or other obstacles.</p><p>Though loitering munitions such as the US-made <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-sends-ukraine-loitering-drones-for-kamikaze-attacks-on-russia-2022-3">Switchblade</a> have been around for years, they have seen their most prolific use in Ukraine. Ukrainian troops have often strapped small explosive charges to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-01/fpv-racing-drone-kamikaze-attacks-ukraine-russia-war/102155702" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commercially produced quad-copters</a>, turning them into suicide drones capable of knocking out armored vehicles and artillery pieces. Russia has used military-grade <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/lancet-drones-russia-invasion-counteroffensive-kamikaze/32493513.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lancet 3</a> loitering munitions to hunt Ukrainian artillery and disrupt Ukraine's counteroffensive.</p><p>All of which makes LASSO interesting on multiple levels.</p><p>It is an indication that the US Army is no longer keen on the Switchblade, a backpack-size loitering munition that has been used by the Army, Marine Corps, and Special Operations Command for more than a decade, including in Afghanistan.</p><p>In a move that generated a lot of buzz, the US sent more than 700 Switchblades to Ukraine, mostly the 6-pound Switchblade 300 but also a few of the 33-pound Switchblade 600.</p><div type="image" title="Remain of a Russian-made Shahed 136 at an exhibition showing remains of missiles and drones that Russia used to attack Kyiv on May 12, 2023 in Kyiv, Ukraine." height="2000" width="3000" msid="102504128" hostid="261"></div><p>Curiously, the Army's 2024 missile procurement budget doesn't include any Switchblades. One reason may be their price. Each Switchblade costs $58,000, though defense writer David Hambling estimates the true cost at <a href="https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/07/the-u-s-army-wont-buy-anymore-switchblade-300-kamikaze-drones/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">about $80,000</a> apiece. But Ukraine is launching swarms of militarized commercial drones that cost a few hundred dollars each. Even if some are shot down or disrupted by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-losing-10000-drones-month-russia-electronic-warfare-rusi-report-2023-5">Russian jamming,</a> economics favor the cheaper drone.</p><p>What is also interesting about LASSO is that the Army is emphasizing it as an anti-armor weapon. "This anti-tank capability is a key contributor to our efforts to increase the lethality of the Army of 2030's IBCT and maintain overmatch against our near-peer threats," an Army spokesman said.</p><p>While there are frequent videos of Ukrainian drones <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JbZEK9kwqQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crashing into Russian tanks</a>, these are improvised weapons. The Switchblade 300's warhead is only the size of a 40 mm grenade, while the Switchblade 600, which is designed to kill armored vehicles, is expensive. It's not clear what kind of warhead LASSO will pack, and the Army didn't mention cost in its announcement, but if combat in Ukraine is a guide, LASSO will target the thinner armor on top of tanks.</p><p>There are numerous top-attack anti-tank weapons — the US-made Javelin missile and laser-guided artillery shells such as US's Excalibur and Russia's Krasnopol, to name a few — but these munitions cost hundreds of thousands of dollars each. If the Army can figure out a way to build a LASSO that's powerful enough to destroy a tank but cheap enough for mass employment, the impact could be immense.</p><p><em>Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds a master's in political science. Follow him on <a href="https://www.twitter.com/@mipeck1" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fmipeck%2F&amp;amazonTrackingID=null&amp;site=bi&amp;vikingID=63a0ec69c4cc6f36ff0dbbd6&amp;platform=browser&amp;sc=false&amp;disabled=false&amp;sessionID=1666393597540n9zaize3&amp;postID=64cd9e5ecfd91a08ec465dfd" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noindex noopener sponsored">LinkedIn</a>.</em></p>

As the drone battle in Ukraine unfolds, the US Army is scrambling to get its soldiers a new one-way tank-buster

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Japan's army is planning to replace its attack and observation helicopters with drone aircraft.</li><li>Helicopter are valuable, but they also have vulnerabilities — dozens have been downed in Ukraine.</li></ul><p>Attack helicopters have earned a reputation as one of the deadliest weapons on the battlefield, but Japan's military thinks it can do without them.</p><p>Japan's army is now planning to replace its attack helicopters and observation helicopters with drones that will take over the roles of utility and attack, surveillance, and reconnaissance, according to the Japanese military's <a href="https://www.mod.go.jp/j/approach/agenda/guideline/plan/pdf/program_en.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Defense Buildup Program</a>, published in December 2022.</p><p>Japan's fleet of attack helicopters currently comprises 12 AH-64 Apaches and 50 AH-1 Cobras, as well as an observation helicopter fleet of 37 <a href="https://global.kawasaki.com/en/mobility/air/helicopters/oh_1.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kawasaki OH-1s</a>.</p><p>The document did not specify which unmanned aerial vehicles would replace the helicopters, but "a Japanese-language summary showed graphical representations of what appears to be loitering munitions and medium-altitude, long-endurance drones as replacements," according to <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/smr/defending-the-pacific/2023/02/09/japan-to-replace-attack-observation-helos-with-drone-fleet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Defense News</a>.</p><div type="image" title="A Japanese CH-47 helicopter lands on the top of a US Navy amphibious assault ship in the Philippine Sea" height="1333" width="2000" msid="98642883" hostid="261"></div><p>But Japan isn't giving up on helicopters altogether. The Defense Buildup Program calls for acquiring additional CH-47J/JA transport and UH-2 utility helicopters.</p><p>Nonetheless, Japan's decision to do away with its attack helicopters has other nations thinking about what to do with theirs. Japan's move "calls into question Australia's 2021 <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2021/01/19/australia-selects-boeing-apache-as-next-armed-reconnaissance-helicopter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decision</a> to renew the Australian Army's attack helicopter force by buying 29 Apaches of the AH-64E version," the journalist Bradley Perrett wrote for <a href="https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/japan-ditches-attack-helicopters-will-australia-do-the-same/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Strategist</a>, a commentary and analysis site attached to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.</p><p>The Australian Defense Force wants the Apaches to replace aging Airbus Tiger attack helicopters as part of a <a href="https://news.usni.org/2022/07/12/australia-developing-new-defense-strategy-in-response-to-china-says-deputy-prime-minister" target="_blank" rel="noopener">modernization plan</a> that includes new long-range missiles, nuclear-powered submarines, and drones.</p><p>"As the risk of a maritime and air war involving China has become Australia's overwhelming security concern, the army's costly equipment plans have looked ever less relevant," Perrett wrote. "Now we have the judgement of Japan, a close friend, that attack helicopters are not worthwhile even for its capability requirements, which include land fighting to defend territory."</p><div type="image" title="A rear-view of a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force AH-1S Cobra attack helicopter in a live-fire exercise" height="1028" width="1371" msid="98642886" hostid="261"></div><p>Since helicopters first appeared on the battlefield in the 1950s, they have become a versatile and indispensable tool for missions like hauling troops and supplies, and evacuating casualties.</p><p>However, attack helicopters are more problematic. Platforms such as the AH-64 Apache are extremely lethal systems, especially when it comes to hunting tanks. Because they are often operated by armies, they provide ground troops with their own air support, rather than having to rely on the air force.</p><p>But helicopters are also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fighting-in-ukraine-shows-growing-vulnerability-of-helicopters-2022-6">vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire</a>. The US <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjO3OKRgs39AhUpJTQIHQEtCFUQFnoECDAQAQ&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vhpa.org%2Fheliloss.pdf&amp;usg=AOvVaw1ktIoGOjSJOBIi9XvxiFAk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lost 5,600 helicopters in Vietnam</a>, many due to ground fire. Russia has lost almost 60 attack helicopters in Ukraine, according to the open-source defense site <a href="https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/03/list-of-aircraft-losses-during-2022.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oryx</a>. In January, Ukraine claims to have <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-shoots-down-three-russian-ka-52-alligator-helicopters-30-minutes-military-says-1776277" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shot down three Ka-52s</a> in 30 minutes.</p><p>"Russian attack helicopters have been used extremely cautiously, with a heavy reliance on standoff rocket attacks rendering them little more than flying rocket artillery assets," Britain's Royal United Services Institute noted in a <a href="https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/special-resources/russian-air-war-and-ukrainian-requirements-air-defence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">November 2022 report</a>. "Despite this cautious approach, they continue to be shot down regularly by Ukrainian frontline units" using portable anti-aircraft missiles and even anti-tank missiles such as the US-made Javelin.</p><div type="image" title="A MQ-9 Reaper drone on a landing strip in Japan" height="1333" width="2000" msid="98642889" hostid="261"></div><p>Just as helicopters replaced many of the functions once performed by aircraft, drones may now replace helicopters for attack and scouting missions. With AH-64s costing up to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/poland-seeks-purchase-apache-attack-helicopters-from-us-making-second-largest-fleet-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$140 million apiece</a>, using a $100,000 loitering munition to destroy a $10 million tank is an attractive proposition.</p><p>As with drones replacing fighter pilots, a human in the cockpit of a helicopter offers flexibility that can't be matched by a drone operator operating a console thousands of miles away. Rather than attack helicopters being replaced by drones, it seems more likely they will <a href="https://www.army.mil/article/240283/aerial_mum_t_reaches_new_heights_at_dpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">team up with drones</a>.</p><p>"All this doesn't mean that the attack helicopter is useless or that drones can replace it in every mission," Perrett concluded. "But each of the trends discussed here is undermining its competitiveness in terms of value for money."</p><p><em>Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds a master's in political science. Follow him on <a href="https://www.twitter.com/@mipeck1" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fmipeck%2F&amp;amazonTrackingID=null&amp;site=bi&amp;vikingID=63a0ec69c4cc6f36ff0dbbd6&amp;platform=browser&amp;sc=false&amp;disabled=false&amp;sessionID=1666393597540n9zaize3&amp;postID=640e5234d013962a7971e0a3" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noindex noopener sponsored">LinkedIn</a>.</em></p>

Japan is ditching its attack helicopters in another sign that one of the most important modern military weapons is losing its luster

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Rep. <keyword id="11932518" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="adam-schiff" source="Orion">Adam Schiff</keyword> was stunned when he read the summary of Trump's July 2019 Ukraine call.</li><li>"Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit," Schiff kept repeating as he read the memo, he writes in his memoir.</li></ul><p>California Rep. Adam Schiff was nearly stunned speechless when the White House released a memo of then-President Donald Trump's July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Trump asked Zelensky to "do us a favor" and launch political investigations targeting the Bidens.</p><p>The White House released the call summary on September 25, 2019, one day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the chamber was opening an impeachment inquiry into Trump's efforts to strongarm the Ukrainian government into aiding his reelection.</p><p>Schiff, the chairman of the powerful House Intelligence Committee, was leading the impeachment inquiry. In his new memoir, "Midnight In Washington," the California Democrat writes that he was in his office in the SCIF, a secure facility used to review classified materials, when one of his senior staffers yelled that the memo had been released.</p><p>The staffer, Rheanne Wirkkala, brought Schiff a copy of the call summary, which the White House had sent to Congress at the same time it was released publicly.</p><p>"I muted the TVs, and before I knew it, five or six of my staff had gathered in my small office to read their copies along with me," Schiff writes. "They stood around me, in front of my desk and to the side, transfixed, others gathering in the two doorways, peering in while frantically reading."</p><p>"Holy shit," Schiff said as he read through the first couple of pages, according to the book. One staff member exclaimed, "Oh my God," while another blurted, "Jesus Christ."</p><p>"We were all racing through the document, and it was a chorus of expletives and biblical references," Schiff writes. At one point, someone asked another staffer if they'd gotten to page four of the summary, and the person replied, "No, I'm still trying to wrap my head around page two."</p><p>"Do you see where Zelensky's asking about the Javelins?" someone asked, referring to lethal defensive weapons Ukraine wanted to buy from the US. "'I would like you to do us a favor, though' - can you believe he said that?"</p><p>"As for me," Schiff wrote, "I kept muttering the same thing, over and over. 'Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit.' And finally, 'I can't believe they would release this.'"</p><p>The July 25 phone call formed the basis of Trump's first impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. While the president claimed it was a "perfect" phone call and that there was "no quid pro quo" with Ukraine, Democrats and most national security experts said the call - and Trump's actions surrounding it - clearly demonstrated his expectation that Ukraine cater to his personal, political demands in exchange for vital military aid.</p><p>A slew of nonpartisan, career officials also testified to Schiff's committee about Trump's months-long effort to force Ukraine to investigate the Bidens and a bogus conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election, and that it did so to help Hillary Clinton's campaign.</p><p>Trump, for his part, maintains that he was the target of a politically motivated witch hunt by the Democratic-controlled House, which voted to impeach him along party lines in December 2019. The GOP-controlled Senate acquitted him in early 2020, with Utah Sen. Mitt Romney casting the lone Republican vote to convict Trump on the abuse of power charge.</p><p>Trump was impeached for a second time in January over his role in the deadly Capitol siege on a charge of incitement of insurrection. This time, ten House Republicans broke party lines and joined Democrats in voting to impeach Trump. Following a Senate trial, seven Republicans voted with Democrats to convict Trump, but they failed to reach the two-thirds majority required in the chamber to remove him from office.</p>

'Holy shit': Read Rep. Adam Schiff's reaction when he saw the summary of Trump's infamous Ukraine call

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Paul Manafort.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Ukraine's chief prosecutor has seemingly frozen four investigations into Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, in an effort to avoid "irritating" American officials.</strong></li><li><strong>This occurred as the Ukrainian government sought to purchase anti-tank missiles known as Javelins from the US.</strong></li><li><strong>Manafort is currently facing prosecution in the US over charges of money laundering and financial fraud linked to his work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.</strong></li></ul><p>Ukraine's chief prosecutor has seemingly frozen four investigations into Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, in an effort to avoid "irritating" American officials.</p><p>The investigations have not been closed altogether, but the decision to halt them effectively blocked the prosecutor from issuing <span>subpoenas for evidence or interviewing witnesses. </span>This occurred as the Ukrainian government sought to purchase anti-tank missiles known as Javelins from the US, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/world/europe/ukraine-mueller-manafort-missiles.html">The New York Times reports</a>. </p><p>Manafort is currently facing prosecution in the US over charges of money laundering and financial fraud<span> linked to his work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.</span></p><p>Ukrainian officials are apparently aware of Trump's dismay over the ongoing investigation into his campaign's alleged collusion with Russian election interference, lawmakers told The Times, which seems to have motivated the decision to halt investigations into Manafort's activities.</p><p><span>On Wednesday, Trump once again took to Twitter to vent about the investigation, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/991644756995444736">tweeting</a>, "There was no Collusion (it is a Hoax) and there is no Obstruction of Justice (that is a setup &amp; trap). What there is is Negotiations going on with North Korea over Nuclear War, Negotiations going on with China over Trade Deficits, Negotiations on NAFTA, and much more. Witch Hunt!"</span></p><p>Meanwhile, the US government has been one of Ukraine's staunchest allies in the fight against pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian government apparently doesn't want to do anything to jeopardize this.</p><p>Volodymyr Ariev, a member of Ukraine's parliament, told The Times the the investigation's into Manafort have more or less been placed "in the long-term box."</p><p>"In every possible way, we will avoid irritating the top American officials. We shouldn't spoil relations with the administration," Ariev said.</p><p>Another lawmaker, Andrey Derkach, claimed pursuing an investigation into Manafort put US aid to Ukraine at risk. "Everybody is afraid of this case" in Ukraine, he told The Times.</p><p>Until the investigations were halted, Ukrainian officials were looking into money paid to Manafort and a New York-based law firm by people within former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's political party. Yanukovych, who was pro-Russian, was famously ousted in 2014 by street protests that captured the world's attention and ultimately spiraled into the conflict that continues to rage on in eastern Ukraine. Manafort was a long-time adviser of Yanukovych. </p><p>The Ukrainian government's decision to halt the investigations into Manafort reportedly came in April, roughly a month after the Pentagon gave the final approval for the sale of 210 Javelins and 35 launching units to Ukraine. Ukraine <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-ukraine-receives-us-javelin-systems-poroshenko-2018-4?r=UK&amp;IR=T">received the missiles on April 30</a>.</p><p>Ukraine has long sought these missiles in order to shift the balance in the fight against pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. Over 10,000 people have been killed as a result of the fighting in this region, which began after Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014. </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-crown-prince-salman-met-trump-oprah-bill-gates-2018-4">Why the Saudi crown prince met with Trump, Oprah, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Ukraine reportedly halts investigations into Trump's former campaign chairman to avoid 'irritating' Trump administration amid sale of anti-tank missiles

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The hammer throw at the Summer Games peaked in 1988 and has been declining ever since-as charted by Rody Zakovich on Tableau.<p><div><div class="tableauPlaceholder" id="viz1471596727449" style="position: relative"></div>                </div></p><p>The Olympic record holder is Sergey Litvinov, with a 1988 throw of 84.80 meters for the Soviet Union.</p><p>The World record holder is his compatriot, Yuriy Sedykh, who threw 86.74 meters in 1986.</p><p>In Rio qualifying, the top throw was a mere 77.64 meters (the finals are on Friday).</p><p>Why the decline?</p><p>Sure, you could accuse the Soviet athletes of doping, though there's no evidence either participated. Still, pure strength is seen as relatively unimportant in a sport that involves such complex coordination. More important are the selection pool and training.</p><p>Brendan I. Koerner, <a href="http://www.espn.com/olympics/news/story?id=6656627">writing for ESPN The Magazine</a>, notes that scouts scoured&#xa0;the U.S.S.R for&#xa0;gifted youths for hammer toss and other sports. Already, that presents a much bigger pool of talent than people who naturally take up the sport in countries&#xa0;with&#xa0;less systematic Olympic development programs.</p><p>Top athletes in the Soviet program were given room and board and access to elite training programs, letting them commit to the sport full-time.&#xa0;Top hammer throwers in the US, by contrast, struggle to fit in practice while working day jobs.</p><p>"They say it takes 50,000 throws to make it so you can throw over 80 meters," former US champion Jake Freeman told Koerner. "I've got, what, maybe 15,000 throws? And I've been doing this a long time, for years."</p><p>You could have a similar discussion for various track and field sports: <a href="http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-drugs-dont-work/">as Dermot Hunt wrote at Grantland</a>, world records for high jump, triple jump, javelin, and others were set before 2000. Doping might have a little to do with it, but a bigger factor is that today's top athletes "are choosing to play basketball or soccer, and earning money that track athletes can only dream of."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/usain-bolt-avoids-type-of-food-diet-2016-8">Usain Bolt avoids this one type of food</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="1leDNmNTE6KKFvcB2GOmRD-afw6MHDrS" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Why the men's hammer throw record might never be topped

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Erin Scott/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">President Donald Trump announces opioid response grants to state governments in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 4, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>The acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, and the intelligence community's watchdog, Michael Atkinson, referred a whistleblower complaint about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-donald-trump-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">President Donald Trump</a> to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, The New York Times reported.</li><li>Atkinson was reportedly concerned that a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that's at the center of the complaint could amount to a violation of federal campaign finance laws.</li><li>The Justice Department's criminal division reviewed the complaint and determined there were no grounds to investigate Trump's behavior because the call didn't show him breaking the law by asking for a financial contribution or item of value.</li><li>But notes from the call released on Wednesday indicate that Trump repeatedly pressed Zelensky to investigate former Vice President <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-joe-biden-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-3">Joe Biden</a> and his son, Hunter, after discussing US military aid to Ukraine.</li><li>The US president made no direct mention of offering aid in exchange for Zelensky's assistance in probing Biden, but be brought up how the US does "a lot for Ukraine" right before asking Zelensky for a favor.</li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</strong></li></ul><p>The acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, and the intelligence community inspector general, Michael Atkinson, referred a whistleblower complaint involving <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-donald-trump-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">President Donald Trump</a> to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/us/politics/ukraine-transcript-trump.html?action=click&amp;module=Spotlight&amp;pgtype=Homepage">The New York Times reported Wednesday</a>.</p><p>Yahoo <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">News</keyword> <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/latest-schiff-says-trumps-words-123124299.html?fbclid=IwAR1OxhRqjrdWkk78jplhsrr6MTQ2mpFSvlGt6LOsx1D4YJZdkLG-IiOPGEc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Atkinson told Maguire that a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, which is at the center of the whistleblower complaint, could amount to a federal campaign finance violation.</p><p>Notes of the call that the White House released on Wednesday show Trump repeatedly pressing Zelensky to discredit the Russia investigation and investigate former Vice President <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-joe-biden-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-3">Joe Biden</a> and his son. Trump asked Zelensky to do him that "favor" after Zelensky raised the issue of US military aid to Ukraine.</p><p>The Justice Department's criminal division reviewed the whistleblower's complaint and determined that there were no grounds for an investigation of Trump's behavior, The Times reported. Officials are said to have decided that the memo of Trump's phone call with Zelensky didn't show him violating campaign finance laws by asking for a financial contribution or an "item of tangible value."</p><p>But notes of the phone call indicate that Trump repeatedly pressed Zelensky to investigate the Bidens after discussing US military aid to Ukraine.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-zelensky-ukraine-call-transcript-quid-pro-quo-biden-2019-9" data-analytics-position="1">The notes on Trump's call with Ukraine's president hint at a quid pro quo over investigating Joe Biden's son</a></em></p><h2>'We do a lot for Ukraine'</h2><p>Trump had ordered the US to withhold the nearly $400 million military-aid package to Ukraine days before the phone call. The US president made no direct mention of offering aid in exchange for Zelensky's assistance in probing Biden, but be brought up how the US does "a lot for Ukraine" right before asking Zelensky for a favor.</p><p>Early in the call, Trump reminded Zelensky that "we do a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot of effort and a lot of time. Much more than the European countries are doing."</p><p>Zelensky agreed, telling Trump he was "absolutely right." He added, "The European Union should be our biggest partner but technically the United States is a much bigger partner than the European Union ... the United States is doing quite a lot for Ukraine."</p><p>The Ukrainian president went on to thank Trump for "your great support in the area of defense. We are ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps. Specifically, we're almost ready to buy more javelins from the United States for defense purposes."</p><p>Trump then responded, "I would like you to do us a favor though, because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike ... I guess you have one of your wealthy people ... The server, they say Ukraine has it."</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-advisers-tried-to-stop-ukraine-phone-call-whistleblower-2019-9" data-analytics-position="2">Trump aides were so afraid he'd pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden that they tried to derail his call with the Ukrainian president</a></em></p><p>The US president was referring to the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, which the Democratic National Committee hired to respond to Russia's breach of its servers during the 2016 election. Trump's reference to "the server" relates to an unfounded conspiracy theory that the DNC hid an incriminating server from the FBI while the bureau was investigating Russia's hack, and that the server contains information about who was really responsible for the breach.</p><p>Trump's discussion of the server and Crowdstrike with Zelensky shows his continued reluctance to accept the US intelligence community's finding that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to propel him to the presidency.</p><h2>'Whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great'</h2><p>"I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it," Trump said, according to the notes. "Whatever you can do, it's very important that you do it if that's possible."</p><p>He then pivoted to discussing Biden: "There's a lot of talk about [former vice president Joe Biden's] son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me."</p><p>Trump and his allies maintain that he did nothing wrong during the phone call. But national-security veterans and congressional Democrats have sounded the alarm over his move to repeatedly pressure a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent ahead of a presidential election.</p><p>On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump stemming from the call and the whistleblower's complaint.</p><p>Shortly after, Trump reportedly reached out to Pelosi and tried to negotiate with her about releasing the whistleblower's complaint to Congress, but Pelosi shot him down and told him, "Tell your people to obey the law."</p><p>The shift appears to indicate that the White House is taking the impeachment proceedings seriously, even as Trump decries them as a continuation of the "witch hunt" he's long said has been wielded against him and his presidency.</p><p>The White House decided on Tuesday evening to release the whistleblower's complaint to congressional intelligence committees. The move came after Pelosi's announcement and after the Senate, in a rare show of bipartisanship, unanimously voted for a resolution calling for the complaint to be released to Congress.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reporter-luke-harding-explains-life-under-fsb-surveillance-2017-12">A reporter who lived in Russia for 4 years reveals what it was like being stalked by Russian spies</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

The US's top spy agency referred the Trump whistleblower complaint to the DOJ for criminal investigation. The DOJ decided not to investigate.

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>24-year-old&#xa0;Khallil Mangalji is a happy guy. He just closed a $1.8 million round of venture funding for his two-year-old startup, <a href="https://www.fiix.io/">Fiix</a>, and got some good news about his health.<p>The cancer tumor he's been fighting for the past year while launching his startup is in retreat and the prognosis for a full recovery is good, he told Business Insider.</p><p>His young life is a reminder that good things often require hard choices,&#xa0;teamwork and, sometimes, fighting with everything you've got.</p><h2>An annoyance leads to a&#xa0;startup</h2><p><span>Mangalji&#xa0;is CTO and one of three cofounders of a Toronto startup called Fiix, which sends licensed mechanics out on house calls to do minor auto repairs like installing new brake pads and changing tires or oil.</span></p><p><span>Fiix was launched two years ago by&#xa0;Mangalji and his two college buddies Zain Manji and Arif Bhanji, who would hang out and dream&#xa0;up apps to generate some cash&#xa0;while they finished their&#xa0;computer science degrees.&#xa0;</span><span>They had already tried a few things, none of them successful, like an "</span>Airbnb for weddings" and "a magnetic weight lifting app,"&#xa0;<span>Mangalji tells us.</span></p><p><span>But on this particular day, one of them had to deal with&#xa0;getting snow tires put on his car. The local shops were all booked up, so he was forced to&#xa0;hire&#xa0;someone off of Kijiji,&#xa0;Canada's version of Craigslist, who was coming to his house to do the work.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>When the mechanic was done they looked at each other and said, "That was much easier than going to a shop. What if we could build an app to do that for everyone?" Mangalji&#xa0;recalled.&#xa0;</span></p><p><span>And so their&#xa0;startup was born, initially called Tire Swap. The guys rounded up some licensed mechanics, built an app to send them to people's houses to change tires, and were shocked that in the first week "80 people paid us to use the service," he said. By the end of the month, it had serviced "hundreds" of customers, he said.</span></p><p><span>Soon customers started asking if the mechanics could do more stuff, so Tire Swap became Fiix. Today, Fiix has completed 4,000 repairs for people, is on track to do $1.2 million worth of repairs this&#xa0;year, and keeps three mechanics so busy they left their shops to&#xa0;work for Fiix customers full-time, he said. All told there's 15 mechanics registered on the system, he said. </span></p><p><span>Fiix is only in Toronto, but with that nearly $2 million in seed money led by <a href="https://javelinvp.com/companies/">Javelin Venture Partners</a></span>&#xa0;(backers of Thumbtack and a bunch of other auto-tech startups), the founders hope to start expanding to other areas.</p><h2><span>Snapchat leads to $20,000 and Y Combinator</span></h2><p><span>Fiix bolted onto the startup scene in a highly&#xa0;unusual way.&#xa0;</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Mangalji was initially going&#xa0;the traditional route with his career. In college he landed prestigious internships at Pivotal Labs, Apple, BitPesa (a bitcoin/blockchain startup in Africa), and Facebook.&#xa0;</span><span>When he graduated he landed job offers from Facebook, Uber, Medium, and others, he said.</span></p><p><span>Mangalji is convinced he landed so many offers because he could show them Fiix. They were interested in how it was built and were especially impressed it was earning revenue.</span></p><p><span>While a friend of his advised him to blow off a job and work on Fiix full time, he ignored that advice and&#xa0;</span><span>accepted an offer from Uber.</span></p><p><span>But right before he was going to start the job in May, 2016,&#xa0;Justin Kan announced he was&#xa0;accepting pitches for a Y Combinator Fellowship via Snapchat. Kan is&#xa0;</span><span>best known as the co-founder of live video platforms Justin.tv and Twitch.tv.&#xa0;</span><span>Scrappy startups were sending Kan Snap video pitches laden with bad attempts at humor.&#xa0;</span><span>Just for kicks,&#xa0;Mangalji, Manji and Bhanji made their own.</span></p><p><span>They were shocked when Kan's followers, who were voting on the pitches, chose&#xa0;Fiix among the&#xa0;best of the bunch. This won them an interview for a YC fellowship spot, which they aced. </span><span>They were told to be in California the next day.&#xa0;They&#xa0;literally <a href="https://hackernoon.com/how-to-make-20-000-on-snapchat-and-get-into-y-combinator-2513a7ee371d">booked their airline tickets from Canada to San Francisco on the cab ride to the airport.</a></span></p><p><span>And&#xa0;</span><span>Mangalji made the hard choice to call up Uber and turn down the sure-fire job. He was going to focus on Fiix instead.</span></p><p><span></span><span>They ended this first YCcombinator experience with $20,000 and a bunch of Amazon Web Services credits.</span></p><p><span>But the real break happened without them knowing. In early June, a</span><span>&#xa0;top "Product Hunter" saw their YC pitch and&#xa0;<a href="https://www.producthunt.com/posts/fiix">posted their app to Product Hunt.</a> Fiix became the second product of the day on June 6, 2016. Visits to their site shot up 6,000%, and more customers started rolling in.</span></p><h2><span>A&#xa0;cancer diagnosis</span></h2><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>Things were going well for the Fiix team when&#xa0;Mangalji&#xa0;received the devastating news that he had cancer.</span></p><p><span>His first response was cheerful determination.</span></p><p>"I went in with the attitude, I'm going to be able to do this. As a cofounder, you have to have mental toughness. I thought, if you have a problem, as long as you mentally feel you can overcome it and never let that change, you will," he&#xa0;told Business Insider.</p><p>But he hadn't counted on being cut down at the knees by the&#xa0;cancer treatments themselves. They drained him.</p><p>"Everything gets deteriorated.&#xa0;You start to lose more than energy and strength. The hardest thing to lose is the mental freedom. My thoughts started to loop more," he said.&#xa0;</p><p>The&#xa0;treatments were in three-week cycles - from easy weeks to hard weeks - over three months. On those hard weeks, he&#xa0;couldn't eat or hardly get out of bed, much less focus on work. So his cofounders carried him on their shoulders, put in the extra hours when needed, and just did his work for him, he says.</p><h2><span>More Y Combinator,&#xa0;more bad news</span></h2><p><span>The treatments ended and Fiix got accepted into the full Y Combinator program. The three of them moved to California. Mangalji</span><span>&#xa0;describes that time like the HBO show "Silicon Valley" as in, "a bunch of sweaty dues living together in a house drinking a bunch of Soylent and trying to build&#xa0;a billion-dollar company."</span></p><p><span>Then, his&#xa0;cancer came back. </span></p><p><span>As a Canadian, his treatments were covered by the national health system (even the care&#xa0;he needed in California). But when the&#xa0;cancer returned, he had to go home for another three months of chemo.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>He posted a heartbreaking YouTube video on that day, saying "I'm not really that worried about it. It's just like another thing to get through," although he was clearly discouraged.</span></p><p><span>Flash forward to today, and the cancer is in retreat and Fiix is still growing - t</span>he cofounders have hired three more people.</p><p>Obviously,&#xa0;for Fiix to become a billion-dollar startup, it will need to grow from one city to a national or international market. That's no small task and few startups have done so successfully.</p><p>But for&#xa0;<span>Mangalji, just being able to&#xa0;try is a joy.</span></p><p>"I appreciate our opportunity to do something that matters. Most people don't have that opportunity to do things that matter. They have to worry about getting food every day or getting shelter," he says.</p><p>"There were&#xa0;times when I couldn't eat enough or couldn't stand and I didn't have the freedom to work on Fiix. But in times like now, when we can work on Fiix, it's a luxury."</p><p>Here's the video.</p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Snap stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/SNAP-Quote"> here.</a></p><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/leveraxe-vipukirves-axe-problem-engineering-technology-product-kickstarter-finland-cutting-wood-2017-8">This weird looking axe has solved an engineering problem that you probably didn't know existed</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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