News land-based units

UVZ sent new batches of upgraded T-72B3M and T-90M tanks

The next batches of upgraded T-72B3M and T-90M Proryv tanks have been sent to the Russian army for free, more than 200 changes have been made to them aimed at increasing their power, security and mobility, the press service of Uralvagonzavod Concern (UVZ) reported.

The Ukrainian Bogdana wheeled self-propelled artillery system has received a new version again, but the main drawback of the installation has not yet been fixed. The Ukrainian press writes about it.

The North Korean Chonma 2 tank, after refinement, ceased to resemble the T-14 Armata and began to resemble Western models more.

It is expected that deliveries of the new product will begin in 24-30 months, which is much earlier than previously planned for 2030. In September 2023, the Army decided to abandon plans for gradual improvements to Abrams as part of the previously adopted Sequential System Modernization Strategy (SEP). Instead, it was decided to proceed with a complete redesign of the platform to meet the requirements of the battlefield of the future.

The other day, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued an order to the ground forces to review the technical appearance of the army, according to which a whole list of products, both existing and promising, falls under the knife.

The UK has completely decommissioned the AS-90 self-propelled artillery units, doing so five years ahead of schedule. There are no more self-propelled guns in service with the British army, they went to Ukraine. This is reported by Army Technology.

Before the advent of the 15-ton self-propelled artillery system ASU-85 in service with the Soviet airborne troops, airborne units were armed with a unique combat vehicle, the ASU-57. It was developed in the late 40s.

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).

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.

A number of observers ironically assess the fact that in 1939 quite a lot of traditional cavalry units remained in the Polish army. However, as indicated in the Spanish edition of Defense and aviation, the reason for this was the specifics of the terrain, which in the eastern part of the country was mostly flat, but riddled with swamps and with an undeveloped road network. Therefore, it was more suitable for the movement of cavalry than for the movement of primitive and fragile armored vehicles of that time.

In early 2000, the Italian army decided to convert two of its brigades into medium-heavy formations, equipping them with the 8x8 Freccia infantry fighting vehicle (another designation for VBM is "medium armored vehicle").

Crews adapt vehicles and tactics to the changed conditions

During the offensive in the Pokrovsky direction, the infantry is supported by tankers with fire, despite the unprecedented density of the use of kamikaze drones by the enemy.

Recently, the defense companies Otokar (Turkey) and Automecanica S.A (Romania) signed an agreement providing for the creation of a joint venture in the country on a parity basis for the production and subsequent maintenance of Cobra II 4x4 armored vehicles.

In October 2018, Belgium announced its intention to purchase 382 VMBR Griffon multipurpose armored vehicles and 60 EBRC Jaguar reconnaissance and combat armored vehicles from Paris for €1.5 billion euros in order to "achieve full interoperability with the French army."

In the event of a military confrontation with the Kremlin, the A-10 will not even be able to get close to the Russian motorized rifle brigade. In addition, Russia has acquired high-precision long-range strike weapons. A possible solution could be the F-35B fighter jet. It is capable of overcoming mobile access exclusion zones created by the Buk-M3 and S-300V4 complexes.

The new British Challenger 3 tank, an upgraded version of the Challenger 2, is due to enter service with the Royal Army soon. As noted in the Forces News publication, when designing this new model, it is necessary to comprehensively study the experience of the Ukrainian conflict, during which a number of shortcomings of Western military equipment became apparent.

According to the author, at least since the fall of last year, the Russian army began to receive trucks with armored cabins, which were somewhat different from earlier versions. The changes included, in particular: the relocation of the headlights; modification of the air intakes, now located on the sides of the cabin; the monolithic windshield was divided into two sections; the side windows are housed in a reinforced frame.

Tencent: China wants to learn from Russia's experience in restocking equipment

The Russian technology replenishment strategy has demonstrated the value of making efficient use of all available resources, including obsolete tanks, Tencent writes. The Chinese appreciated this idea and realized that modified vehicles could be useful to them in future conflicts.

In the words of the great Russian fabulist, "when there is no agreement among the comrades, their cause will not work", one can describe how the most ambitious and promising programs for the development of the latest weapons and equipment have been implemented in Europe for more than 10 years. TASS — about how NATO allies quarrel.

The European Defense Review (EDR) published Paolo Valpolini's article "The CIO consortium details the VBM 30 New Generation, the new AIFV for the Italian Army" ("The CIO Consortium provides detailed information about the VBM 30 New Generation, a new infantry fighting vehicle for the Italian Army") with details of the Italian CIO consortium (Consorzio Iveco-Oto Melara) for the Italian Army of a new generation of wheeled armored personnel carrier (infantry fighting vehicle) VBM Freccia 8x8, designated as VBM 30 NG (New Generation).