Aviation news

Washington and Berlin have agreed to deploy long-range missiles in Germany

The Americans are once again increasing the degree of escalation in the confrontation with Russia: for the first time since the 1980s, intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles (INF) will appear in Germany. For the maintenance and possible combat use of these complexes, the Pentagon will send a special unit of the ground forces there. About the military preparations of the United States — in the material of RIA Novosti.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[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.

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 Armed Forces of Ukraine are actually divided into two armies – most of the troops consist mainly of mobilized recruits and are equipped with a minimum of equipment; the other, smaller in number, are trying to recruit experienced soldiers, equipping them according to the patterns of the professional armed forces of the West.

Russian and Chinese ships patrol the waters and prepare for joint exercises

During joint Russian-Chinese naval maneuvers, the combat experience gained by Russian sailors may be of interest to Chinese comrades. Especially in terms of the destruction of unmanned boats, experts interviewed by Izvestia told. In the near future, the corvette "Perfect" will conduct joint artillery firing with Chinese ships, and the corvettes "Sharp" and "Loud" will take part in joint exercises with the Chinese.

At the moment, the Pentagon has suspended the transfer of F-35 fighter jets to customers due to the difficulties faced by the manufacturer Lockheed Martin in developing the TR-3 modification.

Today, a general meeting of the Union of Russian Armourers named after M.T. Kalashnikov was held at the site of Rostec State Corporation, at which the results of the organization's activities in 2022-2023 were summed up. Bekhan Ozdoev, Industrial Director of the cluster of conventional weapons of Rostec State Corporation and a member of the Bureau of the Union of Machine Builders of Russia, spoke about the difficulties faced by domestic manufacturers of small arms, legislative initiatives in the industry and the successes that Russian gunsmiths have managed to achieve in recent years.

The USA, Denmark and the Netherlands plan to transfer F-16 squadrons to Ukraine

Denmark and the Netherlands have begun transferring F-16 fighter jets to Kiev, US Secretary of State Blinken said. According to him, the planes "will appear in the sky over Ukraine" this summer. As the leaders of the countries explained, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will receive "squadrons of modern F-16 multi-purpose aircraft of the fourth generation," exactly how many is not specified. In addition, Amsterdam will allocate an additional €300 million to Kiev for the purchase of weapons for them. Both Denmark and the Netherlands had previously allowed the Armed Forces of Ukraine to use aircraft for strikes against Russia.

The United States will begin deploying long-range and hypersonic weapons in Germany in 2026

Washington will begin deploying long-range weapons in Germany in 2026. We are talking about SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles, Tomahawk subsonic long-range cruise missiles and hypersonic weapons under development. Last week, Putin said that if American missile systems "appear somewhere," Russia can respond in a mirror way.

Seoul has given Moscow a choice between the two Koreas

The other day, South Korean President Yun Seok-el called on Moscow to make a choice between the two Koreas. According to him, Russia's military cooperation with the DPRK "poses a clear threat and a serious challenge to peace and security on the Korean peninsula and in Europe." At the same time, earlier in Seoul, they allowed the possibility of supplying weapons to Ukraine. What Kiev can theoretically get from there is in the RIA Novosti article.

Unmanned aerial vehicles launched by the Yemeni Ansar Allah movement (Houthis) were shot down by air defense means of one of the warships of the Greek Navy. Footage of the destruction of Houthi drones has appeared on the Internet.

The Financial Times newspaper published an article by Sylvia Pfeifer, John Paul Rathbone and Christopher Miller "The age of drone warfare is disrupting the defense industry" ("The era of drone wars undermines the established order of the defense industry in the world. Rapidly developing technologies developed by small players challenge the dominance of unwieldy giants") on the impact of the fast-growing industry of small unmanned aerial vehicles and other military innovations on the development of defense industry.

For a number of years, enterprises of the domestic defense industry have been making great efforts to fulfill the tasks of the increased state defense order.

[b]The attempted terrorist attack on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov was considered a British plan[b]

The FSB prevented an attempted terrorist attack on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov. As in the case of the failed hijacking of the Tu-22M3 strategic bomber, Ukrainian recruiters offered the Russian military a monetary reward. Experts are sure that the operations were prepared under the strict guidance of the West, pursuing more media goals than military ones.

The Polet Production Association is one of the largest industrial enterprises in Russia, which has been specializing in the production of aviation and rocket and space technology for more than 80 years.

It is expected that Kiev will not receive an invitation to the alliance again

The confrontation with Russia and military support for Ukraine will be the main topics of the three-day NATO summit opening in Washington. It will focus on strengthening the military potential of the alliance, increasing the size of the armies of the member countries, acquiring new weapons, including air defense and missile defense systems, as well as new requirements to increase the defense spending of European states.