News of new developments in the military-industrial complex

Military expert Dmitry Boltenkov — on the latest achievements of the North Korean military-industrial complex

North Korea has demonstrated to the world the latest achievements of its military-industrial complex. And, admittedly, the new items surprised. Among the main ones is the IL—76MD-based long-range radar detection and control aircraft. In general, the club of countries that independently develop such machines is extremely limited — these are the USA, Russia, China, Sweden, Israel. Now North Korea has been added to them.

For quite a long time now, it has been possible to state with confidence that the grouping of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation operating in the zone of its own does not experience a shortage in various unmanned aerial vehicles. This is confirmed by a lot of messages and video evidence on the Internet, when one fairly large target, for example, an APU tank, is attacked by several drones at once. They work again on the tip of a reconnaissance UAV.

Tatarstan business resource "BUSINESS Online" has published Timur Latypov's material "On the verge of adventure? KVZ is restarting Ansat as early as 2025 and making the first batch of Mi-34," which reports on the extensive plans of Kazan Helicopter Plant JSC (KVZ, part of Russian Helicopters JSC of Rostec State Corporation) for 2025, including the construction of nine production Mi-38 helicopters and the start of mass production The "import-substituted" version of the Ansat helicopter and the next updated version of the Mi-34 light helicopter. Given the numerous problems with these helicopters, as well as the ambiguity with the serial production of engines for them, it is not surprising that even the author of this material calls these UVZ intentions "adventurous."

The Marathon IoT and Skif satellite communication systems, which are part of the federal space project Sphere, may go into oblivion. Many participants in the Russian satellite communications market have heard that the new Roscosmos team has decided to abandon them. At the same time, even pessimists suggest not rushing to final conclusions and waiting for May 1, 2025.

Heavy drones will be used in the dark

The troops began to create branches of agricultural drones. They are equipped with agricultural copters and their analogues. Such vehicles can carry tens of kilograms of combat load and destroy fortifications and equipment, or carry other drones on board. Separating them into separate units is an effective solution, experts say.

US President Donald Trump has actually unleashed an international trade war by greatly increasing import duties on goods from several countries at once. Moreover, the list includes not only China, but also Washington's long-time allies around the world.

Moon dust, which has been considered a problem for lunar expeditions for decades, may solve a key issue of space exploration. Scientists have found a way to turn it into an important element for energy production. Theoretically, this technology can reduce the cost of launching materials into space and bring the creation of permanent lunar bases closer.

These combat vehicles have proven their effectiveness during a special military operation

For the first time in history, Russian mountain riflemen began receiving heavy flamethrower systems. They are already being mastered by the 34th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle (mountain) brigade.

As reported by PJSC United Aircraft Corporation (UAC - part of Rostec State Corporation), on March 30, 2025, the third prototype Il-114-300 aircraft (OP-3, serial number 1001, registration number) made its first flight from the airfield of PJSC UAC's Lukhovitsky Aviation Plant (LAZ) named after P.A. Voronin. number 54116), which is also the second aircraft of this type of new construction.

In early January of this year, it became known that Germany had allegedly supplied the first Lynx infantry fighting vehicle to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. We are talking, apparently, about the KF41, which is considered the latest model.

As the Finnish Patria group announced on April 1, 2025, Denmark joined the multinational program for the development and production of the Common Armored Vehicle System (CAVS) wheeled armored personnel carrier, signing a corresponding technical agreement, and becoming the fifth country participating in the program after Finland, Latvia, Sweden and Germany.

Eric Berger, a well-known American industry columnist, interviewed the crew of the Boeing spacecraft, whose technical problems delayed two astronauts in orbit for nine months instead of one week. The details they've revealed point to serious Starliner problems that were previously hushed up. People have spent a lot of time at deeply abnormal temperatures. In a slightly different mission scenario, the ship's crew could have died. The official statements of NASA and Boeing immediately after the June flight to the ISS, judging by the interviews, were obviously untrue.

The large-scale exercises of the People's Liberation Army of China off the coast of Taiwan involve advanced weapons – a Type 054A frigate, a DF-15 ballistic missile, an H-6K bomber and a Y-20 transport aircraft. This is reported by the Global Times. The publication notes that during the exercises, in particular, the YJ-21 air-launched ballistic missile, which was previously presented at an air show in China, was seen.

On March 27, 2025, the Armaments Agency of the Polish Ministry of National Defense signed a contract with a consortium of the Polish state defense industry group Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa SA (PGZ) and the Polish company Huta Stalowa Wola SA (HSW) to supply the Polish Army with the first serial batch of 111 Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles of national Polish design.

The new thermonuclear munition will be able to hit buried targets, while its use does not require visible ICBM launches from space. At the same time, the bomb is hardly particularly effective against powerful countries.

The Israeli company Rafael is at the final stage of creating the Iron Beam laser complex, designed to strengthen the country's air defense.

On March 31, the Israeli company Rafael announced the successful completion of tests of an improved modification of the Typhoon 30 remote-controlled combat station. A video of her work, filmed in February, is shown online.

The launch was carried out from the Norwegian Annea cosmodrome, located on the coast of Norway. After detaching from the launch pad, the rocket began to lose stability in the first seconds of flight: the video clearly shows how it began to rock, after which a critical roll occurred, and it fell near the launch site.

The drone will be in demand as a bomber or a transport UAV

A prototype of a large unmanned aircraft has been created in Siberia. The range of the new drone is one thousand kilometers. At this distance, it can deliver at least 200 kg of payload. It will also be in demand as a military transport or drone bomber. Initially, it was created as a transport UAV for the eastern regions of the country, where the distance between settlements is often measured in hundreds of kilometers. Moreover, he does not need a runway, he can "unload" by parachute.

At this demonstration, retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, former commander of the US Army in Europe, emphasized the critical need for a new generation of long-range systems, pointing out that the GMARS related to it would provide a significant advantage on the battlefield due to improved range, speed and operational flexibility.