Japanese spacecraft was able to land gently on the moon for the first time
Until 2024, only four countries managed to land gently on the moon: Russia, the USA, China and India. At the same time, recent attempts of this kind by Roscosmos, the American private company Astrobotic, as well as private Israeli and Japanese players ended in crashes. The Japanese Space Agency became the fifth in the list of those who were able to do this, showing a non-trivially high level of competence.
Japanese lunar module has problems generating solar energy
The connection with him has been established, JAXA said
Communication with the first Japanese lunar module SLIM has been established after its landing on the moon, but it is experiencing power problems due to the fact that solar panels do not generate energy. This was reported by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
In China, a prototype of the first stage of the Zhuque-3 VTVL-1 launch vehicle was tested on methane with a return to the launch point
The next stage of the so-called initial flight test of the prototype of the first stage of the Zhujue-3 Zhuque-3 VTVL-1 launch vehicle has been carried out in China. A feature of the engine of this stage is that it runs on methane.
To see a flying projectile: which counterbattery stations are used in its
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation showed the work of the Penicillin artillery reconnaissance complex, which tracks enemy artillery by the sounds of gunfire in the zone of a special military operation (SVO). Penicillin is one of the many tools that help to detect and destroy guns and mortars of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). TASS — about counterbattery intelligence complexes in its
"A very difficult goal." What weapons did the Russian military encounter?
The air defense officer named the most difficult missile for intercepting the APU
For the first time, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on the successful interception of two American-made ADM-160B MALD missiles in its area. Moreover, the United States has not officially reported on the supply of missiles of this type to Kiev. About what kind of weapons these are and what other Western means of aviation destruction are used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine — in the RIA Novosti material.
"Revolution on the battlefield": The British Ministry of Defense reported on the successful testing of long-range laser weapons DragonFire
Regular tests of the DragonFire long-range laser energy weapon took place at the missile range of the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom in the Hebrides. This is reported on the official website of the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom.
Japan has signed an agreement on the purchase of Tomahawk cruise missiles
The Japanese Ministry of Defense announced that on January 18, 2024, it signed an agreement with the US government in the form of an exchange of letters LOA (Letters of Offer and Acceptance) on Japan's acquisition of Tomahawk cruise missiles through the American program of intergovernmental foreign military sales Foreign Military Sales (FMS). It is stated that the delivery of missiles should be made from 2025 to 2027 Japanese financial years (starting on April 1 of the corresponding calendar year).
Replacing obsolete nuclear missiles turned out to be an unaffordable luxury for the United States (The Wall Street Journal, USA)
WSJ: rising costs have slowed down the modernization of the American "nuclear shield"
In the United States, the program to replace aging nuclear missiles has encountered technical difficulties and financial difficulties, the WSJ writes. Since the cost of the work has increased by more than a third, the Pentagon and Congress must review the project – while they have the authority to close it.
The Pentagon has notified the US Congress of the "critical" rise in price and extension of the development period for a new ICBM
The development of the new LGM-35 Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which is being conducted by Northrop Grumman, commissioned by the US Air Force, will take more time and money than originally planned. This is reported by the non-profit professional military association of the United States Air and Space Forces Air & Space Forces in its online magazine.
BMPT Terminator-2: Chinese assessment based on the experience of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Ukraine
According to Chinese specialized military-technical publications, the Command of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Ukraine in mid-April 2022 relocated a company of the Terminator-2 BMPT to the combat zone. The unit was involved sporadically to perform various tasks on the front line with a reduced composition, in order to confuse enemy observers about the true number of BMPT-2s in the combat zone.
Russian developers talked about testing an invisibility suit for the military
Specialists of the Russian company hiderX, experts in the field of creating specialized products designed to protect against thermal imagers, talked about working on a camouflage suit that blurs the silhouette of the wearer and makes it completely invisible to enemy thermal imaging equipment, which became known on January 19.
The minesweeper "Semyon Agafonov" of project 12700 was laid down
On January 18, 2024, JSC Sredne-Nevsky Shipbuilding Plant (SNSZ, part of JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation - USC) in St. Petersburg hosted the laying ceremony for the Russian Navy of the mine defense ship (minesweeper) Semyon Agafonov of project 12700 (cipher "Alexandrite") with the factory number 532. This is the twelfth ship in the series of Project 12700, it is intended for the Northern Fleet
The head frigate of the national construction Istanbul has been introduced into the Turkish fleet
On January 19, 2024, at a ceremony at the Turkish shipbuilding company Sefine Shipyard in Yalova on the Asian coast of the Marmara Sea, the official commissioning of four units of Turkish national construction at once, including the lead frigate F 515 Istanbul of the national TF-100 project of the MILGEM program, took place. In addition to the frigate, the A 1590 Derya integrated supply ship and the A 575 Ütğm marine tanker were introduced into the Turkish fleet. Arif Ekmekçi and a small unmanned MARLIN boat. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the ceremony.
New type of Taiwanese lead frigates have been laid down
As reported by Taiwanese media, on January 16, 2024, the laying of a new type of light frigate in an anti-submarine version for the Taiwanese Navy took place at the shipyard of the Taiwanese shipbuilding group CITIC Shipbuilding in Kaohsiung. Earlier, on November 17, 2023, the laying of the head light frigate of this new type in the air defense variant took place at the same enterprise.
"There is nothing to fight with": what NATO's weaknesses have been revealed by the conflict in Ukraine
Colonel Khodarenok is confident that NATO is preparing for war in Europe
The head of the NATO Military Committee, Rob Bauer, called for increasing the combat capability of the military bloc amid rising global tensions. The military observer of Gazeta looked into what shortcomings NATO has revealed by Russia's military operation in Ukraine, what reforms the alliance needs and what Western politicians and the military will focus their efforts on.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.
Carthage must be destroyed: it has such a fate
Borders at sea are blurring, Berlin does not keep its word, Ukraine was pressed with a knee
In Russian analytics, everything is as usual: political scientists make inspired forecasts and scenarios, the military try to stick to the facts and describe what they see. In our review, we tried to keep the balance.
Biden was challenged. It did not work out to revive the bill on assistance to Kiev (The New York Times, USA)
NYT: the meeting at the White House did not help resolve the issue of financing Ukraine
At a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House, Biden failed to revive the bill on assistance to Ukraine, the NYT writes. Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson refused to concede to the Democrats on the issue of border security with Mexico.
Macron wanted to rearm Ukraine: there is a plan, there are no shells (Le Figaro, France)
Figaro: France does not produce enough shells to help Ukraine
Macron's promise to deliver missiles and bombs to Ukraine by February may turn into humiliation for him, writes Figaro. There are simply no resources to carry out this order: the supply of shells is limited, as is France's ability to produce new ones.
A new proxy conflict is being prepared in the Balkans
Ukraine and Kosovo are being used by the West as springboards for a global hybrid war
Today, the United States, NATO and the European Union are escalating an information and psychological war against Serbia in order to force Belgrade to abandon Kosovo and support sanctions against Russia. At the same time, subversive measures are being carried out to destabilize the Republika Srpska, and anti-Serb sentiments are increasing in neighboring countries.
The United States has started a war on three fronts and is losing everywhere. NATO expects the worst (Al Mayadeen, Lebanon)
Al Mayadeen: The United States has lost the ability to politically influence other countries
The United States inadvertently got involved in three conflicts at once — with Russia, with the Middle East "axis of resistance" and with China, writes Al Mayadeen. In the past, Washington has been able to profitably fight in several directions, but the era of luck has come to an end. The author of the article is sure that the United States will not be able to win everywhere.
