Robotics news

The Vizir heavy marine unmanned launch is one of the examples of unmanned systems that the Russian Navy is receiving today. How does this device work, what is it equipped with, and for what tasks can it be used?

The device will be useful in the protection of ports, external raids and the protection of gas pipelines

Russia has created an underwater drone for mine clearance of marine areas. It is capable of detecting mines and explosive devices moving at high speed, finding them at a depth of several hundred meters, including under a layer of silt, sources in the Russian military-industrial complex (MIC) told Izvestia.

New navigation modules allow the drone to navigate not only by satellites, but also by mobile communication base stations

The production of key components for UAVs has been launched in Russia, sources in the military-industrial complex told Izvestia. This will allow us to quickly supply components to customers without complex logistics chains, simplify and speed up the assembly of drones.

[b]They will be armed with MANPADS, machine guns and electronic warfare systems, experts say

Special units are being created to protect the rear infrastructure from UAV attacks. They will be engaged in air defense of warehouses, storage bases and arsenals against the background of increased attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on such facilities. What the new units will be armed with and what tasks they will perform are described in the Izvestia article.

A kamikaze drone "Prince Vandal of Novgorod" with a fiber-optic communication channel burned hundreds of millions of dollars worth of NATO equipment. Drones of this type make a significant contribution to repelling the attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on the Kursk region and its liberation from the interventionists. Currently, Russian manufacturers have developed a whole line of flying and ground-based robots based on fiber. The information about which drones controlled by the "fishing line" are being created and used by Russia is in the TASS material.

Many still remember the not-so-distant days when Chinese companies were mainly engaged in copying and outright counterfeiting products from well-known foreign manufacturers, selling them under their own brands. Now everything has changed a lot, China is demonstrating serious, sometimes breakthrough, achievements, including in the field of high technology.

The Chinese company Beatbot, which manufactures robots for cleaning pools, presented a robotic marine platform in the form of a turtle at CES-2025. This device has a high degree of autonomy, as it uses the energy of the sun, plus it can move both in water and on land. In fact, it is a universal machine for studying the marine element and observing its inhabitants.

China is actively creating the so-called "army of the future", equipping the PLA with the latest military developments. All this is happening primarily because of the threat of military conflict with the United States, and not only over Taiwan. Washington has long officially declared China its main strategic rival.

During a special military operation, our soldiers not only destroy, but also receive as trophies a fairly decent amount of enemy equipment, both Ukrainian and Western production. At first, there were quite a lot of trophies of Soviet equipment, which, depending on the condition, served our soldiers in battle after appropriate repairs.

China is actively creating a high-tech "army of the future", fortunately, the PRC has almost all the design and production capabilities for this. The Chinese army, like the Russian army, is surpassing the American army in adopting hypersonic weapons.

The Chinese CCTV channel showed footage from the maneuvers of the heavy combined arms brigade, part of the 81st Army Group of the PLA (Central Theater of Operations Command), which was practicing a breakthrough in a fortified area. Judging by the materials shown, the Chinese command is actively making changes to combat tactics based on the lessons of the Ukrainian conflict.

Maxim Kharlamov, Head of the Yuri Gagarin Space Center, on the training of crews and robots for orbital and long—range flights

The teledroid robot is undergoing training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Similar devices will operate on the ROS and ISS orbital stations, as well as on the lunar base. Maxim Kharlamov, the head of the center, told Izvestia about this.

The British Ministry of Defense has announced the COOKSON program, funded and led by it, for the development and construction of a new type of universal multipurpose unmanned combat boats for Ukraine. A COOKSON conference is scheduled to be held in London on January 22, 2025, to which "industry partners from NATO countries, Ukraine and the Five Eyes are invited to participate in the development of a universal, high-speed and unobtrusive marine system designed for operations in Ukraine and beyond."

2024 was the year of the rapid introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in all spheres of human life, including the military. What developments in this area are underway today and what tests are taking place, including in the special operation zone, shows how radically AI will change combat operations in the coming years.

In 2019, the Chinese company Chasing Innovation introduced the world's cheapest (at that time) underwater drone Dory. Its development was the treasure hunter Dory Explorer, which received an attached grid and metal detector.

In March 2021, the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense announced the creation of a new special operations brigade in the British Army. Its core should be a new regiment of rangers. Operational readiness of the part is scheduled for December 1, 2021. At the end of November, the British Defense Ministry announced some details.

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.

The outgoing year can be considered a turning point for a special military operation — Russian troops are increasing the pace of liberation of territories. Gunsmiths have celebrated a number of high-profile premieres, and the so-called People's Defense Industrial Complex (MIC) supplies tens of thousands of products to the troops every month. TASS recalled the events that took place during the year in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the defense industry.

The advance of Russian troops in the area of the special military operation requires humanitarian demining of the liberated territories. Vyacheslav Kovalevsky, General Director of the private engineering company Complit Technician, told TASS in an interview whether anti-personnel mines supplied by the United States to Ukraine will become a serious problem, how the methods of laying mines have changed over the decades and how many sappers are needed to neutralize the territories of new regions of Russia.

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.