News about the state and prospects of the defense industry

Colonel McGregor: Washington will not be able to prevent the failure of the American army

Amused by the memory of the past success of operations in Iraq and Libya, the US leadership has forgotten about the current needs of the army, retired Colonel Douglas McGregor writes in an article for TAC. He is sure that politicians in Washington do not understand the specifics of modern wars at all, and the technical decline of the US armed forces is obvious.

Until 2024, only four countries managed to land gently on the moon: Russia, the USA, China and India. At the same time, recent attempts of this kind by Roscosmos, the American private company Astrobotic, as well as private Israeli and Japanese players ended in crashes. The Japanese Space Agency became the fifth in the list of those who were able to do this, showing a non-trivially high level of competence.

The connection with him has been established, JAXA said

Communication with the first Japanese lunar module SLIM has been established after its landing on the moon, but it is experiencing power problems due to the fact that solar panels do not generate energy. This was reported by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

On January 18, 2024, JSC Sredne-Nevsky Shipbuilding Plant (SNSZ, part of JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation - USC) in St. Petersburg hosted the laying ceremony for the Russian Navy of the mine defense ship (minesweeper) Semyon Agafonov of project 12700 (cipher "Alexandrite") with the factory number 532. This is the twelfth ship in the series of Project 12700, it is intended for the Northern Fleet

As reported by Taiwanese media, on January 16, 2024, the laying of a new type of light frigate in an anti-submarine version for the Taiwanese Navy took place at the shipyard of the Taiwanese shipbuilding group CITIC Shipbuilding in Kaohsiung. Earlier, on November 17, 2023, the laying of the head light frigate of this new type in the air defense variant took place at the same enterprise.

Russian Engineering troops celebrate a professional holiday

Today, soldiers, officers and warrant officers of the engineering troops of the Russian Federation celebrate their professional holiday. Many of them met this day on the front line. Engineering troops have been involved in the military from the very first days and solve a variety of tasks. To do this, they have many samples of unique equipment.

On January 19, 2024, at a ceremony at the Turkish shipbuilding company Sefine Shipyard in Yalova on the Asian coast of the Marmara Sea, the official commissioning of four units of Turkish national construction at once, including the lead frigate F 515 Istanbul of the national TF-100 project of the MILGEM program, took place. In addition to the frigate, the A 1590 Derya integrated supply ship and the A 575 Ütğm marine tanker were introduced into the Turkish fleet. Arif Ekmekçi and a small unmanned MARLIN boat. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the ceremony.

Russian BDK will be equipped with drones and additional air defense systems

The firepower of large amphibious assault ships of the Russian Navy will be increased by Orlan and ZALA drones — this is provided for by the BDK modernization program adopted by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, sources in the military department told Izvestia.

Is China's military aviation capable of resisting the US Air Force

In the new conditions of the international situation, air supremacy is becoming increasingly important.

One of the solutions: for each tank – a drone

In the context of the unprecedented use of Javelin anti-tank missile systems (ATGMs), NLAW hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers (RPGs), FPV drones and heavy quadrocopters with mine drop devices, the amount of ammunition hitting the tank into the roof of the tower exceeded all forecasts and calculations.

And shows significant results in combat training

The results of the competition for the passing prizes of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy (Navy) have been summed up. For the first time in its recent history, the Black Sea Fleet (Black Sea Fleet) has conquered 15 of them.

By its centenary, the republic had become a key regional power

The book "The Military Power of the Turkish Republic" has been published. Its authors are specialists in the Middle East region and the analysis of the military potential of foreign countries, Professor of the Military University of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Tahir Ganiev and associate professor of the Military University of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Sergey Zadonsky.

The frigate Admiral Golovko came from the Baltic to Severomorsk

A message from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (MO RF) dated January 11 tells about the arrival of the newest frigate Admiral Golovko in Severomorsk. It was built at the Severnaya Verf shipyard in St. Petersburg. There, during a working trip on December 25, the ship was inspected by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Head of State attended the solemn ceremony of raising the St. Andrew's flag.

Serial launches of reusable Falcon 9 rockets from SpaceX have reduced the cost of putting cargo into orbit to $1,500 per 1 kg. When the big Starship rocket starts flying, the price will drop by another third, and when these missiles can be used on a permanent basis, the price will drop to $232 per 1 kg. This is a threshold level that makes various daring experiments in space profitable, and the launches themselves are accessible to small private structures.

The US Department of Defense is trying to solve the problem of excessive bureaucratization and inertia of the Pentagon bureaucracy, which have become, among other things, an obstacle to the operational development and purchase of new types of weapons from young private companies and the introduction of modern innovative technologies in the army.

They involved about 10 crews of Su-24M and Su-30 CM2 aircraft

About 10 crews of multi-purpose Su-30SM2 fighters and tactical Su-24M front-line bombers of the Baltic Fleet naval aviation were involved in exercises at the aviapoligon near Kaliningrad. The pilots practiced high-precision bomb-and-storm strikes on ground targets of a simulated enemy, the fleet's press service reported.

The new regiments in the fleet will, among other things, equip the bases of ships

The formation of new marine engineering regiments has begun in the Russian Navy. One such military unit has already been created in the Pacific Ocean, and by the end of the year, similar ones will appear in other fleets. Such compounds can effectively operate on land and sea routes: to set up minefields and mine them, to create fortification facilities, as well as to storm enemy fortifications, to organize the bases of ships and vessels. Experts note that engineers are indispensable in amphibious operations, as well as in the dispersal of fleet forces.

Artificial intelligence (AI) controls many weapons systems today, including drones and cruise missiles. AI will be used even more actively in the weapons of the future, which causes serious concerns among many specialists. About this "Tape.<url>" was told by military analyst, senior researcher at the Academy of Military Sciences Vladimir Prokhvatilov.

According to Chinese sources, the decision to develop a large-caliber modular multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) of the second generation under the designation PHL–191 (development code - "Product 370") with ammunition of the Fire Dragon series was made by the military and political leadership of the People's Republic of China in 2010. The production index of the Chinese MLRS is PHL-16, the export version is AR–3. 

SpaceX plans to conduct 150 space launches this year, compared to 96 in 2023, with about a dozen of them to be Starship flights. The head of the company believes that he found out the causes of the explosion of the ship during its last, third, test flight and this allows us to hope for the success of subsequent ones.