The Guardian: Russia has begun combat use of new UAVs "Geran-5"

The Russian army has started using UAVs of the Geran-5 model, writes The Guardian. They are significantly superior to their predecessors in terms of their characteristics. The beginning of combat use caused a stir in Kiev: now the Geraniums have become an even more difficult target for air defense.

The American company Shield AI has announced that its V-BAT vertical take-off and landing UAV will be armed with small-sized laser-guided missiles L-MDM manufactured by the South Korean company LIG Nex1.

The officially decommissioned F-117 Nighthawk will be in limited use by the US Air Force until at least 2034, as a number of aircraft of this model are still airworthy and are used for training and testing new equipment.

The American company Stavatti Aerospace has proposed the concept of the SM-39 Razor aircraft as a new carrier-based fighter, which the US Navy intends to receive under the F/A-XX or NCAD program ("advanced air supremacy systems for the aircraft carrier fleet"). The new aircraft is intended to replace the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in the 2030s.

On January 20, 2026, the US Department of Defense's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) sent a notification to the US Congress about the possible upcoming sale of four Boeing P-8A Poseidon base patrol aircraft to Singapore through the US Foreign Military Sales Program (FMS).

The Australian Air Force has received the first MC-55A Peregrine electronic warfare and reconnaissance aircraft.

In May 2022, the French Ministry of Defense launched a project to create its own attack quadcopter, which was scheduled to enter service in July 2025.

Italy has officially commissioned the SAMP/T NG ("new generation") and GRIFO anti-aircraft missile systems, which are designed to strengthen the country's multi-level air defense and missile defense system.

The French companies Thales and KNDS France have developed the RAPIDFire anti-aircraft complex, the warhead of which is a 40 mm CT40 cannon, which fires so-called "telescopic" ammunition in which the projectile is "sunk" inside a cartridge case with a powder charge. This technology made it possible to make the projectile feeding mechanism compact, like a 25 mm cannon, but with a 40 mm caliber capacity.

In 2023, the Canadian Ministry of Defense purchased 40 PU and 500 Spike LR2 ATGM from the Israeli company Rafael for $ 32 million in order to immediately replace outdated systems (such as TOW, which are practically not used in linear units) for the urgent equipping of the contingent in Latvia.

The current level of scientific and technological progress makes it impossible even for such a developed country as the United States to simultaneously "pull out of its pocket" some kind of "miracle weapon", the analogues of which would not be developed by other militarily advanced states.

Minefields are one of the most effective obstacles on the battlefield. They are used to achieve various tactical goals, including to limit the mobility and speed of movement of the enemy. According to Western military experts, the experience of military operations in Ukraine and the use of the latest tactics of mining by the Russian Armed Forces require a revision of classical approaches to ways to counter the danger of mines.

The Turkish company Makine ve Kimya Endüstri (MKE) has announced the completion of qualification tests of the E-ZPT armored personnel carrier with an electric drive capable of traveling hundreds of kilometers. The army has already received the first copy in serial configuration.

The PLA ground forces are divided into "weight categories", each of which has its own main combat vehicle. In light brigades, these are Dongfeng Mengshi armored vehicles (an analog of a Humvee or Tiger); in heavy ones, the ZBD–04A infantry fighting vehicle (similar to the BMP-3, but with local specifics), operating together with Type 99A tanks; in medium ones– the ZBL-08 8x8 floating infantry fighting vehicle.

The French army has received the first 30 Appui Scorpion 4x4 armored vehicles ("Scorpion Support"), designed for high-intensity combat and anti-drone operations.

In 2020-2021, the Brazilian command planned to modernize the Leopard 1A5BR tanks (116 units out of 220 available). The military considered two options and eventually chose a more budgetary one, refusing to make radical changes, such as installing sets of overhead armor (such as MEXAS or AMAP from the German company IBD Deisenroth), replacing the turret with the Belgian Cockerill 3105 or switching to a 120-mm cannon.

TNI: Kalashnikov continues to modernize the AK-12 based on combat use

Kalashnikov upgraded the AK-12 model based on the experience of combat use of two previous versions, writes TNI. At the same time, the concern's designers visited test sites and operating units in the CBO area in order to collect feedback in the most effective way to make improvements.

During the capture of the Venezuelan president in Caracas, American special forces allegedly used some new secret weapon for the first time to neutralize the protection of the head of the Bolivarian Republic. Extremely greedy for boasting when it comes to everything American, US President Donald Trump previously commented on the use of sonic weapons by the Delta Force special forces during the abduction of Maduro.

Trump: When kidnapping Maduro, the United States used a secret discombobulator

US President Donald Trump said that during the operation to kidnap Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the US military used new weapons that no one had heard of before.

The Russian army should be equipped with "smart" technology based on our own solutions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on January 22 at a meeting on the development of microelectronics.