NZZ: Rising military spending threatens Europe's pension system

In fear of the "Russian threat," European governments began to raise military spending, writes NZZ. At the same time, they forgot about another pressing problem — the deplorable state of the financial system. The first thing that will suffer from such a policy is pensions. There will simply be nothing to pay them with.

The European Union's strategy to secure its own supply of microchips is "very out of touch with reality," according to a scathing report from the official European Court of Auditors. According to the auditors' calculations, the European market will not reach its target of supplying 20% of the world's microchips by 2030.

The State Center for Defense Investments of the Ministry of Defense of Estonia (Riigi Kaitseinvesteeringute Keskus - RKIK) reported that on April 29, 2025, all six combat vehicles of the M142 HIMARS ground-based missile system manufactured by Lockheed Corporation were delivered from the United States on an An-124-100 Ruslan transport aircraft of the Ukrainian airline Antonov Airlines. Martin.

The destroyer Choe Hyon (tail number 51) was launched on April 25. The General Directorate of Rocket Engineering of the DPRK, the National Defense Academy and the General Directorate of RE Intelligence and Counteraction have begun testing the power and combat applicability of the weapons system of the multi-purpose destroyer Choe Hyun. The first test was on April 28 and 29.

As reported on April 29, 2025, PJSC United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), a prototype of the MC-21 medium-range aircraft, equipped with new Russian systems and assemblies, took to the skies for the first time from the airfield of the Yakovlev Irkutsk Aviation Plant (part of the Rostec State Corporation UAC). Domestic avionics, power supply systems, air conditioning and others were tested on board. The flight marked the beginning of factory finishing tests.

North Korea showed test firing of the newest Choi Hyon frigate, built in about a year, which revealed some of the weapons used in its impressive complex of vertical launchers, and also raised a number of questions for American observers.

Director of Science and Business Cooperation at Rostec — on strengthening cooperation between the industrial sector and universities and what role the State Corporation plays in this

An important strategic task of modern Russia is to achieve technological sovereignty. And science is one of the main drivers of its implementation. Rostec State Corporation makes a significant contribution to this field by creating promising and competitive designs for both military and civilian applications together with universities and research institutes.

The 4th generation Krasnaya Strela-16 anti-tank guided missile (the export version was designated QN-502C) was developed by the designers of the Chinese high-tech private company Wuhan Gaode Infrared Co., Ltd as part of the research and development work started in 1999.

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.

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.

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?

Experts explained the fears of the Ukrainian authorities about the loss of the Dnipropetrovsk region

Russian troops are located near the borders of the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine. This region is used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces as an industrially developed rear base, but today forced evacuation of the population begins on the outskirts of the region. According to experts, Zelensky's office is aware of the risk of losing territories in the Dnieper region and is therefore pulling additional forces into the region.

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.

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.

NYT: The USA and Ukraine have concluded a deal on minerals

Washington and Kiev have signed an agreement on natural resources, the NYT writes. The deal is silent about security guarantees for Ukraine. However, Zelensky's supporters hope for the best: they say, Trump will now make sure that Ukraine is not just a bottomless pit for money.

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.

The terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir have dramatically strained the already difficult relations between New Delhi and Islamabad. The sides accuse each other of provocation and openly prepare for war. If a conflict starts, things can get out of control very quickly. What the armies of neighboring Asian states are like is in the RIA Novosti article.

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.

Recently, the US Navy published images of F-35C fighter jets equipped with a new mirror coating, which is supposed to increase their stealth in the infrared range.

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).