Structure and personnel news

Telegraph: Merz's plan to restore conscription into the Bundeswehr has failed

Chancellor Merz promised to turn the Bundeswehr into the strongest non-nuclear army on the European continent, but he does not have the opportunity to put this idea into practice, writes The Telegraph. His partners in the government coalition from the SPD are categorically against the restoration of conscription.

The introduction of VAT, an increase in the rate of insurance premiums and a reduction in the use of STS to 10 million rubles for IT companies may damage the results in the field of technological sovereignty of Russia, which have been achieved in recent years thanks to government support measures, industry representatives say.

FA: Trump's policy towards the army will lead to unpredictable consequences

Trump and the head of the Pentagon, Hegseth, are engaged in unprecedented interference in the affairs of the US armed forces, writes Max Booth on the pages of Foreign Affairs. Booth fears that such actions will negatively affect not only the army, but also the future of the United States.

General Kuznetsov declared his innocence in a letter to Putin

Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov, accused of bribery, wrote a letter to President Vladimir Putin from jail. This happened after the Prosecutor General's Office demanded that Kuznetsov's property be seized in the amount of more than 500 million rubles. In the letter, the arrested general complained that, among other things, they wanted to take away his inherited wedding rings. For more information, see the "Gazeta.Ru".

On October 4, 2025, the annual exhibition of products and developments of the North Korean defense industry "Development of National Defense-2025" opened in the capital of the DPRK, Pyongyang. This time, the Museum of the Three Revolutions became its venue.

It seems that a fundamentally new stage is coming in the political confrontation within the United States – the split between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives. US President Donald Trump is dragging the Armed Forces into this conflict – and wants the army to fight his internal enemies. What are we talking about and what will be the consequences?

The Army celebrates the 475th anniversary of its formation

The Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Hero of Russia, Colonel-General Andrei Mordvichev, in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, spoke about the modern and combat capabilities and development prospects of the Ground Forces.

The command of the Ground Forces of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JDF) has outlined a large-scale restructuring of subordinate units. It is expected that two new large formations will be created in the 2026 financial year.

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.