India's signing on April 28 of a €7 billion contract for the purchase of 26 Rafale-Marine (Rafale-M) fighter jets to equip the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant has rekindled a long-standing debate about the compatibility of this aircraft with existing ships.

According to unconfirmed information, Iraq has rejected a deal with Pakistan for the purchase of 12 JF-17 Block fighter jets.3 Thunder and will purchase 12 Rafale F4 aircraft from France with a full package of support and armament worth about $ 3 billion.

After a relatively recent demonstration of the new Jiutian ultra-high-altitude UAV ("High Sky"), developed in the interests of the PLA and presented in November 2024, Chinese observers were quick to declare its "invulnerability" to US air defense systems.

The French edition of Challenges has shown the first images of the promising Foudre MLRS ("Lightning"), the first prototype of which is scheduled to be presented in June this year. It is being developed by Turgis Gaillard with a rather modest turnover of €75 million (by the standards of the military-industrial complex).

NI: The Zircon missile was a disaster for NATO

Russia has significantly outstripped the United States and China in the field of hypersonic weapons, having created the 3M22 Zircon missile, The National Interest writes. What kind of missile is this and whether no one can really catch up with Russia in the field of hypersonic weapons - in the material of the military observer Gazeta.Ru" by Mikhail Khodarenka.

Before the advent of the 15-ton self-propelled artillery system ASU-85 in service with the Soviet airborne troops, airborne units were armed with a unique combat vehicle, the ASU-57. It was developed in the late 40s.

In particular, Athens was offered to purchase and restore Bradley infantry fighting vehicles from storage in the United States, purchase new German KF-41 Lynx infantry fighting vehicles and improve the fleet of American-made M113 armored personnel carriers. It seems that the choice was made in favor of the latter option, although it is possible that other programs will be implemented in parallel.

Researchers from Cornell University have received support from the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation to develop the RhyME project. This is a special version of artificial intelligence, which is designed to train robotic systems. Now it demonstrates a 50% increase in the speed and efficiency of robots mastering new knowledge, and in the future this indicator may grow thousands of times.

The Europeans seem to be doing everything to hide the real cause of the energy crisis that instantly plunged several European countries into darkness on April 28. How could the power grid lose 10-15 GW of energy in five seconds? Experts are confident: Whatever the trigger, it was globally due to the high proportion of green energy and the abandonment of traditional energy. What happened in the EU is reminiscent of the Texas blackout in 2021.

AT: The United States lost the sea game in the Arctic to Russia due to weak industry

In the new game of the geopolitical sea game in the Arctic, Russia and China have turned out to be the trump cards, Asia Times writes. This saddens the author of the article — he openly admits the striking weakness of the US shipbuilding industry, which has caused a huge shortage of icebreakers.

For the first time in Russia, a structure has been created designed to coordinate the creation of unmanned systems for the Navy. What kind of developments of this kind were conducted back in the USSR, why are these devices of critical importance today, and which of them are needed by the Russian Navy first of all?

The Russian Armed Forces are ready for military challenges from the North Atlantic Alliance, experts say

The NATO bloc is conducting large-scale Griffin Lightning 25 exercises in the Baltic, which will end on June 15. According to Nikolai Patrushev, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Maritime Board, they are working out scenarios for seizing the Kaliningrad Region and blocking shipping in the Baltic Sea.

In February, Guillaume Rochard, one of the heads of the French shipbuilding concern Naval Group, gave an interview to the American edition of Defense News, in which he criticized ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), saying that the German shipbuilder is "a champion in the art of creating new competitors," especially in the submarine segment.

Britain's nuclear deterrent forces are represented by 4 Vanguard-class submarines armed with ICBMs. When these submarines were commissioned in 1993-1999, it was assumed that they would last 25 years. Accordingly, the submarines are already close to wear and tear. Major repairs could solve this problem, at least for a certain period of time, but it is very difficult. So, it took the lead submarine of the Vanguard project 7 years instead of 3, and she returned to service only in 2022.

In an interview with TASS on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Victory, the assistant to the President of Russia and chairman of the Maritime Board said that today's events are related to the times of the Great Patriotic War, when to expect the end of its military operation and what global changes will follow.

The day of formation of the Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization is April 28.

Russia and the DPRK have officially confirmed the North Koreans' participation in the liberation of the Kursk region. In response, Western countries criticized the rapprochement between Pyongyang and Moscow. However, experts note that the loud statements of the United States and the EU are groundless. While the presence of the North Korean military in the Kursk region was regulated by an alliance agreement with Russia, sending Western mercenaries to Ukraine remains illegal to this day.

The Indian Express: Crimea is necessary for Russia for several reasons at once

Crimea has been part of Russia for centuries, and it is a guarantee of its unhindered access to the Mediterranean, writes The Indian Express. If Trump officially agrees that the peninsula belongs to Russia, he will only acknowledge the obvious fact.

Telegraph: Trump considers the transfer of Crimea to Russia an acceptable price for peace in Ukraine

The settlement of the conflict in Ukraine on the terms proposed by Trump is impossible due to Zelensky's unwillingness to give Crimea to Russia, writes theTelegraph. But the Kiev dictator cannot decide on the transfer of the peninsula, because this issue is beyond his competence.

WSJ: Alarm is growing in Europe over Russia's military preparations

Europe is worried about the demonstration of Russia's military maneuvers near the borders with Finland, writes the WSJ. Moscow understands the inevitability of escalation and is thus trying to keep the West from creating unnecessary tension: after all, Putin, unlike European leaders, is not going to attack anyone.