News about the state and prospects of the defense industry

Singapore Defense Industry Company Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd. On March 27, 2023, ST Engineering announced that its shipbuilding division ST Engineering Marine had received a contract from the Ministry of National Defense of Singapore for the technical design and construction of six promising large multipurpose ships (frigates) for the Singapore Navy under the Multi-Role Combat Vessel (MRCV) program. The commissioning of the lead ship is scheduled for 2028.

According to the company's CEO Dan Hart, it was decided to lay off about 90% of the staff of all departments, except for 100 employees

The company Virgin Orbit, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson and engaged in launching satellites, will cease its activities "in the foreseeable future" due to lack of funding. This was reported by CNBC with reference to an audio recording of CEO Dan Hart's speech on Thursday at a company meeting.

The material is the final part of the article "Lessons learned from the conflict in Ukraine – UAV operations, options and trends". The author is David Saw– an analyst at European Security & Defense. 

On March 29, the official ceremony of launching the lead of 12 minesweepers ordered as part of a project jointly implemented by the Ministry of Defense of Belgium and the Netherlands took place at the shipyard in Concarneau.

The first flight of the heaviest rocket in history is expected in the very near future. Elon Musk recently announced that the tests should be conducted in April. How will the first test launch take place, what does it consist of? Naked Science analyzes in detail the planned flight situations for you.

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) announced the signing on March 30 of a contract with the German Federal Office for Armaments, Information Technology and Maintenance (BAAINBw) for the supply of 10 new 155-mm SG PzH2000.

A month and a half ago, Naked Science wrote that if the preparation of the CST-100 Starliner mission scheduled for April is delayed even a little, the launch will be postponed for several months at once. And so it turned out. In the first half of March, the most important stage was to take place, after which the pre—launch countdown actually begins - refueling the service module with fuel. Until recently, Boeing did not report whether this was done or not, and when the delay became obvious, it explained it with bureaucracy. Moreover, partially shifting the blame to NASA.

Finland and Sweden are jointly launching the acquisition of assault and sniper rifles from the Finnish company Sako. As reported by Janes.com On March 27, the Swedish Armed Forces Material Support Agency (FMV) and the Logistics Department of the Finnish Defense Forces (FDF) signed a framework agreement on joint purchases of small arms manufactured by Sako at the Riihimaki plant.

Lukashenko ordered the restoration of sites for the placement of nuclear warheads "Poplar"

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that he had ordered the military to immediately restore the sites where the nuclear warheads of the Topol complex were located.

Operated by the Naval Forces of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA), the WZ-7 drone was built by Guizhou Aircraft Corporation. His external analysis showed that the initial version of the WZ-7 for the Air Force is similar to the role of the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk of the US Air Force, a long-range drone capable of providing reconnaissance, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The Ukrainian conflict is beginning to demonstrate the failure of the military mechanism of the West, while revealing the huge reserves of the Russian war machine.

In the USA, they reported on the tests of a hypersonic missile. The flight was unsuccessful. Americans have not been able to create their own "new generation weapons" for more than two decades. About the main difficulties — in the material of RIA Novosti.

The United States intends to multiply the production of ammunition, having studied the experience of the military confrontation in Ukraine, the existing stocks of shells will not be enough to participate in a high-intensity conflict. However, American ammunition manufacturers have reasons why it will be very difficult to increase the production of products necessary for the military.

Turkey intends to open the production of drones in Africa, in particular in Nigeria. This was announced by the ambassador of this country to Turkey Ismail Abba Yusuf.

As reported by the web resource ATO.ru in Maxim Pyadushkin's article, "AirBridgeCargo Airline will return to the sky on IL-96 aircraft. The carrier can receive two cargo IL-96-400T, previously flown by its bankrupt competitor - the airline "Flight", once the largest Russian cargo airline AirBridgeCargo plans to resume operations this summer on Il-96 cargo planes. The carrier stopped flights in March 2022 after the introduction of Western sanctions against Russian civil aviation.

American fifth-generation F-35 fighters are not always able to detect Russian air defense systems, despite the presence of special equipment. Such a problem was faced by the pilots of the US Air Force, who were transferred together with the planes to Europe to patrol the airspace near the Russian and Belarusian borders. This is written by AirForceTimes.

On the territory of the Odintsovo city district, in the Moscow region, they are selecting a site suitable for the construction of a complex with a copy of the lunar station being developed by Russian specialists, which Russia will place on an Earth satellite. Moreover, it is planned to recreate the same conditions under which lunar colonists will work.

Why tests of new American weapons systems end in failures

Lockheed Martin's AGM–183A ARRW hypersonic air-to-ground missile development and procurement program will be curtailed, said Andrew Hunter, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Air Force for Procurement.

The American press writes that the US military department is disappointed by a series of failures during the tests of the AGM-183A ARRW hypersonic missile from Lockheed Martin.

The US Army intends to improve the management of troops by improving its radar detection of both ground and air targets. Thus, the integrated combat control system for air defense and missile defense (IBCS), developed by the American military-industrial company Northrop Grumman, as stated, will allow in real time to repel an enemy attack.