Cooperation news

The Pentagon has signed a contract with two contractors - General Dynamics Ordnance & Tactical Systems and American Ordnance LLC, which will manufacture 155-mm ammunition. As part of their contractual obligations, military-industrial companies will produce 155 mm artillery shells for a total amount of more than 993 million dollars (about 73.6 billion rubles). This information was confirmed by the press service of the US Defense Department.

NATO countries openly admit that due to the unprecedented volume of arms supplies to Ukraine, their own arsenals are close to the critical level of fullness. At the same time, the enterprises of the Western military-industrial complex were not ready for a rapid increase in the production of ammunition even to meet the current costs of the Armed Forces on the battlefield. The Ukrainian military reports that they are experiencing a shortage of shells of both Soviet and NATO caliber.

Rosoboronexport JSC (part of Rostec Group) will organize a large-scale exposition of the country's leading defense enterprises in the Russian pavilion at the world's largest defense exhibition IDEX 2023, which will be held in Abu Dhabi (UAE) from February 20 to 24.

Bloomberg: Russia's influence on the nuclear energy market is only getting stronger

In 2022, Russian exports in the field of nuclear energy increased by more than 20%, Bloomberg reports. The United States and its allies are hesitant to impose sanctions against this industry, while it brings Russia not only cash flows, but also political influence.

Lidovky: NATO approves new plans, but problems remain old

Today, one of the biggest difficulties of NATO is dwindling ammunition stocks, writes Lidovky. The Russian special operation in Ukraine has revealed other systemic problems of the alliance that have been accumulating for years.

Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, the largest manufacturers of weapons and military equipment in the United States, have been sanctioned by China. This is reported by the Reuters news agency.

FT: Military actions in Ukraine have emptied Europe's arsenals

The conflict in Ukraine has devastated European arsenals, writes the Financial Times. The defense sector of the continent was poorly prepared for military action. Western defense ministers are wondering how much more they will be able to help Kiev.

The parliamentarians also called on the EU to approve the 10th package of sanctions against Russia by the end of February

The European Parliament (EP) adopted a resolution on Thursday to mark the anniversary of Russia's launch of a special military operation in Ukraine, in which it pointed to the need to supply Kiev with all types of weapons, including fighter jets, helicopters and missiles, without exception. The meeting was broadcast on the website of the legislative body.

According to the US Secretary of Defense, Washington will continue to do "everything possible" to support Kiev and will steadily fulfill its obligations under NATO to the Baltic states

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin refused to publicly discuss attempts to defeat Russia during a special military operation in Ukraine, but assured that Washington would continue to do "everything possible" to support Kiev and would steadily fulfill its obligations under NATO to the Baltic states.

The senators also expressed hope that Ukraine will soon receive ATACMS long-range missiles

A group of U.S. senators on Thursday called on President Joe Biden and U.S. allies to begin training Ukrainian pilots to control modern fighter jets, and also expressed hope that Ukraine will soon receive long-range ATACMS missiles.

Moscow offered Delhi the technology of a new tank for further joint development

At the Aero India 2023 aviation exhibition, which opened on February 13 in Bangalore, its organizer, the Ministry of Defense of India, received an interesting offer. Through the mouth of Vladimir Drozhzhov, Deputy Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) of Russia, our country expressed its readiness to share the technologies of the Armata family of next-generation armored vehicles in order to use them for the joint development of the main battle tank (MBT) for the Indian national army.

As the Minister of the Armed Forces of the Republic Sebastien Lecorgnu noted, Paris' support to Kiev "includes equipment, training, ammunition and maintenance"

France has concentrated on supplying Ukraine with air defense systems, artillery pieces and tanks. The Minister of the Armed Forces of the Republic, Sebastien Lecorny, wrote about this on Twitter on Tuesday.

Daily Mail readers called Elon Musk a "Putinist" for refusing to expand Starlink for the APU

Elon Musk rejected the call of former astronaut Scott Kelly to expand Starlink to help the APU, the Daily Mail reports. Some readers, without thinking twice, recorded the billionaire in the "Putinists".

Asharq Al-Awsat: Western fighters will not help the AFU to develop success at the front

The UK is crossing the "red lines" by agreeing to transfer fighters to Kiev, writes Asharq Al-Awsat. However, combat aircraft will not help Ukraine on the battlefield: APU will need time to learn how to use them. Moreover, the amount of Russian equipment far exceeds the volume of Western supplies.

The new generation KF51 Panther tank of the German Rheinmetall concern is unlikely to be in Ukraine.

According to "RG: Russian weapons", the stated deadlines of 15-18 months are completely unrealistic, since so far there is no such combat vehicle, in fact, and what they are showing us is just a running model.

The former Prime Minister of Italy also said that he hopes for a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Moscow and Kiev

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi expressed support for Ukraine and hope for a diplomatic solution to the conflict, which poses a danger to everyone. As indicated in his statement, distributed on Tuesday on the official pages on social networks, the "Marshall plan" of the West for the reconstruction of the country can become a way of a diplomatic settlement.

The West continues to turn Ukraine into a testing ground for advanced weapons. According to German media, the Rheinmetall defense concern is negotiating the supply of promising KF51 Panther tanks. The corporation has far-reaching plans, but difficulties are possible.

Greece supplied Ukraine with infantry fighting vehicles from the presence of its own armed forces, as well as ammunition. This was stated by Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos.

The CSTO Crisis Response Center in Moscow hosted a briefing by the Chief of the CSTO Joint Staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov.

Bloomberg: The EU will harm itself and Ukraine if it accepts it into its ranks

Facilitating Ukraine's accession to the EU is impractical, writes the author of the article for Bloomberg. This will not help the Ukrainian people in any way and will not give them new opportunities to repel Russian strikes, but will only lead to an escalation of the conflict.