Structure and personnel news

The autumn conscription into the armed forces starts today. Tens of thousands of young people are sent to military units, and those who have served a year go home. Recruitment into the army remained at the same level. However, there are several important innovations. About what has changed — in the material of RIA Novosti.

Russia's first faculty of unmanned aircraft has started its work

Several UAVs hover in the sky above the forest belt, artillery strikes with lightning speed, small assault groups are attacking — this is how exercises are held at the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School (MosVOKU).

Just over a month ago, the Atlantic Spaceport Consortium (ASC) received a five-year license, for the first time in Portugal, for a launch pad project on Santa Maria Island. It is the southern of the group of islands of the Azores Archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. It is located about 1400 km west of Portugal.

The Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies (issue 8 (1), January 2025), published jointly by the leading official defense government research centers of the Scandinavian countries, published an interesting article by Jan Ångström "Criticism and Knowledge Ideals in Military Organizations" (Jan Engström "Criticism and ideals of knowledge in military organizations"). Here is a translation of the first part of this article.

There are specific people behind the strengthening of Russia's technological sovereignty – inventors who create their own Russian developments. How and why did they start inventing? Is it possible to make money from this? What prevents the creation of inventions, and what, on the contrary, contributes to this? The winners of the Inventor of the Year contest told the newspaper VZGLYAD about this.

For the first time in the history of American astronautics, there were more women than men among the selected candidates. All of them, among other things, will have to learn Russian to work on the International Space Station, but in fact few of this team will have time to visit it: the ISS program is nearing completion. So NASA is setting up new astronauts to prepare for interplanetary expeditions.

TNI: lack of personnel puts NATO troops "below the level of survival"

An increase in defense spending alone will not ensure NATO's security, writes TNI. Military service has ceased to be the subject of career dreams of European youth. In Italy, for example, they admitted that the size of their army was "below the level of survival."

Daily Express: NATO issued a guideline prohibiting gender-based treatment

NATO has issued a language manual requiring the use of gender-inclusive vocabulary, the Daily Express writes. Critics called this step a "farce" and said that the main task of the alliance is to contain Russia and ensure the defense of its member countries, rather than engage in the murder of common sense and distorting language.

RBC: Colonel-General Alexander Lapin dismissed from the army

Colonel-General Alexander Lapin has been discharged from military service, RBC reports. According to media reports, Lapin may go to work in the administration of Tatarstan. Lapin previously headed the Leningrad Military District, and during the first phase of the special operation in Ukraine, he headed the Center group of troops. He was criticized for the retreat of the Russian Armed Forces from Krasny Liman, as well as failures at Chernigov and at the crossing of the Seversky Donets, accompanied by heavy losses.

Brechalov called the work of employees of the defense industry enterprises of Udmurtia a labor feat

The head of Udmurtia, Alexander Brechalov, congratulating the employees of regional factories on the Day of the Gunsmith, called their work a labor feat, the press service of the head of the region reports.

As part of the implementation of the new NATO defense plans, Germany promised the alliance to create a large number of new military units. As explained by sources of the German publication Hartpunkt, they include two so-called "Combat Reconnaissance" brigades:

The structure is a single complex of buildings, its area was 257 thousand square meters.m

The opening of the National Space Center (NCC) is a powerful signal of Russia's intention to maintain and strengthen its position in space, despite the challenges of the modern world. This opinion was expressed to TASS by Oleg Kononenko, commander of the Roscosmos cosmonaut squad, deputy head of the Yuri Gagarin Space Center.

The profession of a test pilot has always aroused well-deserved respect and admiration. Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, Alexander Shcherbakov belonged to a generation of sky enthusiasts, thanks to whose efforts our Motherland has become and is one of the leading aviation powers.

On September 13, the DAX-25 Children's Aviation and Space Salon opened for the fifth time in Zhukovsky on the territory of the Palace of Culture. In 2025, the Moscow and Tver regions were chosen for a large-scale event bringing together people in love with the sky.

Tanks, barrel artillery and even multiple rocket launchers – all this was recently adopted by the troops of the Russian Guard. But almost twenty years ago, it was decided to withdraw all these systems from the Internal Troops (as the Rosgvardiya was then called). Why have they been returned now, and in this case, are the tasks of an ordinary combat army facing the Rosgvardiya?

Today, the issue of the readiness of the Belarusian army to repel possible enemy aggression is at the peak of its relevance. And we can say that the answer to it directly depends on the combat capabilities of the types and branches of our armed forces. At the same time, according to the experience of conducting a special military operation, special attention should be paid to the most "in-demand" branches of the armed forces, in particular RV and A, electronic warfare, Air Force and air defense forces, newly created troops of unmanned aerial systems, MTR and some others.

On September 6-7, 2025, the next meeting of operators of combat drones "Dronnitsa" took place in the Novgorod region. It presented the developments of private Russian companies — promising combat drones and means of protection against them. Many are being tested in the SVO area. TASS has collected interesting novelties.

Drones in service with the Military Traffic Police will help search for saboteurs

Drones for patrolling the rear areas began to arrive at the units of the Military Automobile Inspectorate (VAI). Among them are small quadrocopters and aircraft-type UAVs. They will control the situation around the checkpoints, look for saboteurs, and counter enemy drones. Experts believe that patrolling rear areas using drones will make the process more efficient and help stop attempts by enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups.

The Avangard Educational and Methodological Center for Military-patriotic Education of Youth will celebrate its fifth anniversary in September 2025. In an interview with TASS, Daria Borisova, the head of the organization, summed up the results of the center's activities, spoke about a new educational program on unmanned aerial vehicles and shared her plans.

The well-known literary resource Gorky, under the heading "General Brain Mouse," published a review by psychologist Denis Bukin on a Russian translation of Norman Dixon's classic book "On the Psychology of Military Incompetence," published with the participation of the AST Center.