News about the state and prospects of the defense industry

On April 4, a thematic conference call with the leadership of the Armed Forces was held at the National Defense Management Center of the Russian Federation under the leadership of the head of the military department, Army General Sergei Shoigu.

The Pentagon is going to thoroughly increase the arsenal of weapons of destruction for its combat aircraft. According to Lockheed Martin Corporation, the country's military department has ordered the supply of large batches of JAGM and HELLFIRE air-to-surface missiles, the total cost of which can be up to $4.5 billion, including subsequent possible options.

Julia van der Colff's interesting material "Building A New American Arsenal" ("Creating a New American Arsenal") has been published in the American online publication "Wars on the Rocks" with a discussion of the current problems of the US military-industrial complex in the light of the fighting in Ukraine.

Entrepreneur and owner of Twitter (blocked on the territory of the Russian Federation for refusing to remove extremist content) Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak are among the big names in an open letter signed calling for stopping the deployment of artificial intelligence-based tools such as ChatGPT.

Machine vision is a technology for obtaining images, processing them and using the data obtained to solve various kinds of applied tasks without human intervention. One of the important elements of machine vision devices are photosensitive devices that convert the energy of optical radiation into an electrical signal. The holding company "Roselectronics" of Rostec State Corporation is engaged in the production of such devices. And the technology itself is already being used in full force in the work of the Corporation's enterprises.

Foreign Affairs: the conflict in Ukraine has shown how the US is not ready for war with China

The US military-industrial complex is collapsing due to the Ukrainian conflict, which revealed the systemic shortcomings of the American military industry, writes Foreign Affairs. Drastic changes are needed in this area, otherwise America will lose the war with China in the first few weeks, the author of the article believes.

Presumably, the division will be formed in the first half of 2025

The division of special-purpose submarines - carriers of Poseidon super torpedoes - is planned to be formed as part of the submarine forces of the Pacific Fleet by the end of 2024 - beginning of 2025. This was reported to TASS by a source close to the Russian military department.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that the units of the Airborne Troops (airborne), which are sent to the zone of special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine, are reinforced with heavy flamethrower systems "Solntsepek".

The US Federal Prosecutor's Office said that three men from Alabama organized a multimillion-dollar accounting fraud scheme at a defense contractor that builds ships for the US Navy.

Fox News: Biden's military ideology has brought the American armed forces to a decline

According to a recent report, American troops are declining due to the fault of Biden and his administration. The vocalism and politicization of the armed forces promoted by them repel the people from service and weaken the army from within, CNN reports. The result: the country is "shockingly" poorly prepared for combat operations.

SpaceX announced the launch of a launch vehicle (RN) with a group of satellites as part of the mission of the US Space Force (Space Development Agency). As specified in the American company, it was about 10 communication satellites placed in low orbit.

The production of civilian drones has started in the Rudnevo Industrial Park. This was announced on Friday, March 31, by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

Even before joining NATO, Sweden and Finland acquired high military potential

During the Cold War, the neutrality of the two Scandinavian countries looked different. Finland, in fact, was in the Soviet sphere of influence, although it was not going to build socialism. Sweden took a much more pro-Western position, while it managed to become one of only five countries in the world that produced almost all military equipment for themselves. Except that Sweden has not created nuclear weapons, although such attempts have been made.

A crucial stage in the development of a multifunctional weapon system for the US Navy

The creation of the Aegis multifunctional weapon system has become a landmark event in the history of the American Navy and has significantly increased their capabilities for the combat use of various types of naval weapons, but primarily anti–aircraft and anti-missile.

They were once among the strongest in the world

From the Air Force and Air Defense Forces of the USSR, the Armed Forces of Ukraine received gigantic air power: 4 air armies, 10 air divisions, 49 air regiments, 2.8 thousand planes and helicopters, 8 anti-aircraft missile brigades, 10 anti-aircraft missile regiments. Moreover, in these units, formations and associations, the share of the most modern aviation equipment at that time was very high.

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.