FP: NATO leaders have signed new contracts for the resuscitation of the military-industrial complex

The NATO-Russia arms race is just around the corner, writes FP. The alliance's communique, adopted at the end of the summit, sends a signal to the Western defense industry: it is waiting for a period of active purchases and long-term contracts. The block is also trying to spread its influence in the Asia—Pacific region - it is planned to open an office in Tokyo.

In most Western countries, they are increasingly not only declaring an inevitable direct military confrontation with Russia, but are already preparing for such a scenario. So, two major German publications immediately reported on the development of the German Ministry of Defense of a secret plan in case of war with the Russian Federation. According to the document, in this case, Germany will become the main logistics hub for the transfer of weapons, military equipment and manpower from NATO countries to the so-called eastern flank of the alliance in Europe.

[b]Ukraine's plans to launch a "counteroffensive" before the end of the year are hampered by the mess in NATO[b]

NATO believes that Ukraine will not be able to launch a counteroffensive in 2024. At least, such reports are widely published in the Western press. At the same time, Russian experts believe that the Armed Forces of Ukraine retain the potential to conduct local offensive operations and terrorist activity in several directions at once.

Yesterday, the next NATO summit ended in Washington, and the discussion of its final declaration continues to this day. Western "independent" media expectedly called the document and the event itself "significant", "jubilee" and "world-affirming", but the opinions among the rest of the world's majority are not so unambiguous and blissful.

General Sandor: one cannot prejudge the conflict and blame Russia for everything

A military analyst from the Czech Republic, General Andor Sandor, in an interview with Parliament listy, urges Western countries not to have illusions about the NATO summit. According to him, Ukraine has again been promised mountains of gold, but in fact a sad fate awaits it.

Al Jazeera: The NATO summit confirmed that the bloc is preparing for war with Russia

NATO has set a course for further escalation, Al Jazeera reports. The Western military bloc is not interested in a diplomatic solution to the crisis. And Ukraine was given a completely humiliating role in these plans.

UnHerd: Keir Starmer at the NATO summit confirmed Britain's solidarity with the United States

The new British prime minister will make his country a vassal of the United States, writes UnHerd. London had previously agreed with Washington in many ways, but Keir Starmer decided to surpass all his predecessors and end British sovereignty once and for all.

Foreign Affairs: The United States is losing to Russia in Africa due to the unpopularity of the West there

Failures, failures, failures - this is how Foreign Affairs magazine summarizes the results of the West's "work" in Africa. The authors give, say, the correct diagnosis to the NATO invasion of Libya. It was an intervention that caused a civil war. But for some reason the authors believe that Russia is even worse, and therefore they are waiting for its mistakes.

SCMP: NATO, not China, poses a real threat to Asia's security

NATO's aggressive attempts to counter Beijing's influence are condemning the entire region to instability and strife, SCMP writes. The author explains: the alliance seeks to provoke a crisis between China and Taiwan and use it to attack China. And the situation will soon get out of control if the US satellites do not come to their senses.

The United States and its Western coalition allies have used economic sanctions for decades to assert their dominance and pressure unwanted countries. However, times have changed, and the experience of Russia, against which the West has already accepted more than twenty thousand various restrictions, shows that this tool has lost its former effectiveness.

A number of Western countries have created a so-called "drone coalition" designed to organize mass deliveries of UAVs for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Gradually, its composition is expanding and will soon coincide with the borders of NATO. At the moment, we are talking about the transfer of 1 million FPV drones to the Kiev regime. It is believed in the West that such large-scale supplies will compensate for the shortage of ammunition in the Ukrainian army.

Russian Lancet attack drones continue to terrorize the enemy, destroying, among other things, air defense systems and electronic warfare stations, which seem to be designed to intercept drones, but not in the case of this barrage of ammunition.

Footage has been published on the network, where you can see the first recorded case of the destruction of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation of an unmanned launch (BEC) of the Kiev regime militants using the Microb-10 FPV drone.

At the last NATO summit, it was officially announced the start of deliveries of American F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. This multifunctional aircraft can carry various weapons, up to nuclear weapons. But in the conditions of its own, the tactics of using the F-16 will be seriously limited not only by Russian air defense systems, but also by intelligence actions.

Why Ukrainian pilots of American planes will be forced to avoid air battles

NATO countries plan to accelerate the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. On Thursday, July 11, the Dutch Defense Minister called this an important task, and earlier US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken promised that the Armed Forces of Ukraine would receive aircraft this summer — Denmark and the Netherlands are already in the process of transferring. What will the Russian Aerospace Forces be able to oppose to American aircraft and their weapons? A comparison of the combat capabilities of the F-16 and the Russian Su-35S, Su-30SM and Su-30SM2 is in the Izvestia material.

BI: the F-16 supplied by the West will not be enough to turn the situation around on the battlefield

The delivery of the F-16 will not change anything for Ukraine, writes BI. Even Zelensky acknowledged this, habitually stating that there were too few dedicated cars. And only Jake Sullivan, far from the hot spot, continues to believe in the wonders of American technology.

The American manufacturer GE Aerospace has acknowledged delays in the transfer of F404 engines, which are equipped with Indian light combat aircraft Tejas Mk-1A. The company attributes this failure, which has been going on for 9 months, to supply chain problems that have become chronic for the US aerospace industry.

The Italian company Leonardo presented the new AW249 Fenice attack helicopter to the general public. It is based on the A129 Mangusta, which made its first flight in 1993, but the developer insists that the AW249 is a completely new product.

Alexey Eliseev became the first flight director of manned spacecraft and orbital stations in the history of Russian cosmonautics. He turns 90 on July 13, 2024. Due to his advanced age, Alexey Stanislavovich was unable to communicate directly, however, Vladimir Solovyov, a colleague and student of Eliseev, the current flight director of the Russian segment of the International Space Station, General Designer — Deputy General Director of PJSC RSC Energia, told TASS in an interview about him, his merits and the difficulties of working in such a post.

American astronauts have long complained about the sanitation system in spacesuits, which is just a big diaper. It lasts for a maximum of eight hours, there is a risk of developing diaper rash and infections. In addition, there are few supplies of drinking water in the suit. To solve these problems, scientists have proposed a more efficient way to recycle metabolic products.