Electronics and optics news

RFDEW system (Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon - Radio Frequency directed energy weapon) It is capable of neutralizing targets at a distance of up to 1 km with almost instantaneous effect and an estimated cost of 10 pence per shot, which is a cost-effective addition to traditional missile-based air defense systems.

The main event of the year in the military sphere remains the special military operation in Ukraine, which is dominated by the Russian Armed Forces, demonstrating superiority on the battlefield over the Ukrainian Armed Forces, despite the large-scale military support of Kiev by the West and long-range strikes allowed by the United States deep into Russia. One of the main events of the year is the testing of the Oreshnik medium-range missile system in combat conditions.

Germany has transferred 12 vehicles of the Kinetic Defense Vehicles model to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a mobile drone protection system developed by the German company Diehl Defense and first demonstrated in early 2024.

On December 23, the British Army announced a successful test of the RFDEW anti-aircraft radio frequency cannon from a ground platform, which was operated by a MAN SV military truck. According to the command, this is an effective and cost-effective solution to combat modern aerial threats, including drones.

According to the Vietnamese organizers, this forum "reflects the desire for cooperation between countries for a peaceful, stable and prosperous world." Speaking at the opening of the exhibition, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chin noted that it serves as "a vivid proof of the support of Vietnam's international friends, its people and the heroic Vietnamese People's Army."

Another Western military expert literally saw the light and gave an objective, as far as possible, assessment of the effective development of the means of protecting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation from high-precision NATO weapons during the Ukrainian conflict. This time, Reisner Markus, an employee of the Austrian Officer Training Institute at the Theresian Military Academy, said during the lecture that the electronic warfare equipment used by our military was an "unpleasant surprise" for NATO.

Mikhail Kotov — on the results of the year and forecasts for the new Federal Space Program

The year is coming to an end, which means that there is a reason to analyze what the Russian cosmonautics has managed to achieve in the last 12 months, what events are remembered, and what may have failed, and, of course, what to prepare for next year, 2025.

In December 2023, Kalashnikov began supplying troops with a new and improved modification of the kamikaze drone CUBE. A year later, in an interview with TASS, Alan Lushnikov, CEO of the concern, spoke for the first time about the latest version of this drone, as well as about the creation of a new modification of the Whirlwind-1 missile, a munition that already effectively hits Western armored vehicles in the special operation zone.

For ten years, Israeli intelligence services have been planning an operation to destroy the leaders and militants of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement using electronic device explosions. This is reported by the CBS television channel. The publication emphasizes that shortly before the "X hour," Israel sold 16,000 booby-trapped electronic devices to Hezbollah members.

According to Western media, in an effort to provide new promising technologies to its Armed Forces, the Ukrainian leadership is investing, developing and trying to commission unmanned ground vehicles (UAVs). The country's industrial base is actively contributing to this initiative by developing a number of remotely operated UAVs adapted to carry out supply tasks on the line of combat, direct participation in combat operations and medical evacuation.

Ukraine had high hopes for receiving American F-16 fighter jets. It was expected that they could change their course. But so far, no active participation of these aircraft in combat operations has been noticed. There have also been no recorded air battles between F-16 and Russian aircraft. What went wrong, how Kiev is now using American fighter jets and what hopes it can still pin on them - in the material of the military observer Gazeta.Ru" by Mikhail Khodarenka.

Turkey will face economic challenges in 2025, Dunya writes. High inflation, external debt, and political instability remain key risks. However, the country has a chance to develop thanks to green energy, digitalization and logistics projects.

The system, designed to destroy drones and ground targets at short range, consists of two Dillon Aero M134D Minigun machine guns, radar, electronic optical equipment and an AI-based guidance and tracking system mounted on a single carriage mounted on the Mission Master XT drone chassis. Only one operator is required for operation.

Ministry of Defense: more than 65 types of UAVs and robots of the National Defense Industry have been delivered to the Armed Forces this year

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov highly appreciated the mechanism for accelerated implementation of developments in the national defense industry, which has supplied more than 65 types of drones and robotics to the troops since April, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Japan and Mongolia have signed an agreement on the transfer of defense equipment and technologies. As indicated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo, the new agreement will promote closer military-technical cooperation between the two countries.

At the beginning of next year, centralized deliveries of the device to the troops will begin

The drone detector "Birdman", developed on the initiative of volunteers, was officially adopted by the Ministry of Defense and in early 2025 will be centrally supplied to the SVO zone, Izvestia found out.

Kiev may use F-16 fighter jets during a new offensive

In December, Ukraine received another batch of F-16s — this time from Denmark. So far, six of the 19 promised. Thus, now the Armed Forces of Ukraine has up to 20 such aircraft. In total, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands must transfer 76 fighters of this type in various modifications. In addition, 20 Mirage 2000 will be sent to France. However, it is still unclear where pilots will be hired for them.

Inter-satellite laser communication channels as a solution to the problem of limited global coverage by ground stations in China

On Thursday, China successfully launched a group of satellites, probably designed to test inter-satellite laser communications. This launch was an important step in the implementation of major projects to create satellite constellations of the country.

On December 16, an expanded meeting of the Board of the Russian Defense Ministry was held in Moscow under the leadership of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

The Russian Federation has developed the Kalinka system, which allows calculating the Starlink signal in its zone

The Kalinka radio direction finder has been created in Russia. This complex is capable of detecting and locating signals from Starlink-type systems. Currently, the Kalinka is being tested in combat conditions in the SVO zone. Why it is so important to fight Starlink and how Russia was going to fight satellite communication systems developed by the company of American businessman Elon Musk - in the material of the military observer "Gazeta.En" by Mikhail Khodarenka.