News about the state and prospects of the defense industry

During the Cold War, Western analysts were perplexed by how many different types of tanks there were in the Soviet Union, the author writes. Today, Russia resumed production of the T-80 series and continued development of the T-72 and T-90. But are there any differences between them?

Mikhail Kotov — on the results of the year and forecasts for the new Federal Space Program

The year is coming to an end, which means that there is a reason to analyze what the Russian cosmonautics has managed to achieve in the last 12 months, what events are remembered, and what may have failed, and, of course, what to prepare for next year, 2025.

The Kalashnikov Concern continues to supply military uniforms to the Russian army, and a large batch of tactical gloves has been delivered to the customer. This is reported by the press service of the concern.

Another Western military expert literally saw the light and gave an objective, as far as possible, assessment of the effective development of the means of protecting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation from high-precision NATO weapons during the Ukrainian conflict. This time, Reisner Markus, an employee of the Austrian Officer Training Institute at the Theresian Military Academy, said during the lecture that the electronic warfare equipment used by our military was an "unpleasant surprise" for NATO.

Vadim Badekha, CEO of the United Aircraft Corporation, has become the new chairman of the Expert Council of the State Duma Committee on Industry and Trade for the Aviation Industry.

Economist: New air defense systems prevent the West from maintaining air dominance

Ultra-expensive American combat aircraft such as the F-35 have not yet entered service in sufficient numbers, but they have already begun to become obsolete, writes The Economist. Western rivals have developed reliable ways to protect themselves, including with the help of advanced air defense systems.

The Portuguese Navy has allocated a Tridente-class military submarine for the European Space Agency's SubSea project. It is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of long-term stay of people in a confined space when they perform particularly responsible missions. This is a kind of simulation of space flight over long distances, for example, to Mars and other planets.

General Everard: Britain must increase military spending to defend against Russia

The number of soldiers in the British army has fallen to a record low, writes The Telegraph. "This is suicidal!" the command is sounding the alarm. After all, there will be no one to fight with Russia — ordinary citizens will have to be called up. This idea is resented in society.

And how will the modernization of existing combat vehicles change the long-range aviation of the Russian Air Force

The Tu-160 and Tu-95 long—range strategic missile carriers of the Russian Aerospace Forces are undergoing modernization. During these works, the technology of vacuum welding of titanium products has already been restored, and production of airframe assemblies and unique systems has resumed. The production and testing base for the new machine is also expanding.

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.

The US Navy has failed a 3.7 billion missile cruiser modernization program

It was not possible to modernize the largest ships of the fleet not from the aircraft carrier class, the Ticonderoga-class cruisers. A government special commission found that almost two billion dollars were wasted. Why this happened is in the RIA Novosti article.

Light tanks (LT), which became widespread during the Second World War and the post-war decades, and at the turn of the century, seemed to be irrevocably a thing of the past.

In December 2023, Kalashnikov began supplying troops with a new and improved modification of the kamikaze drone CUBE. A year later, in an interview with TASS, Alan Lushnikov, CEO of the concern, spoke for the first time about the latest version of this drone, as well as about the creation of a new modification of the Whirlwind-1 missile, a munition that already effectively hits Western armored vehicles in the special operation zone.

Poland is one of the main suppliers of materiel for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Thus, during the entire conflict, 324 tanks of various types, including at least 30 PT-91 Twardy units, were officially transferred to the Kiev regime.

Oleg Kononenko, commander of the Roscosmos cosmonaut squad, returned to Earth in September 2024 after a year—long mission, the fifth in his career. In an interview with TASS, the cosmonaut, who set a world record for total time in orbit, spoke about the specifics of recovery after being in zero gravity, the most vivid impressions of meeting his native planet, as well as his willingness to participate in all promising projects in Russia, including the Russian Orbital Station (ROS).

The system, designed to destroy drones and ground targets at short range, consists of two Dillon Aero M134D Minigun machine guns, radar, electronic optical equipment and an AI-based guidance and tracking system mounted on a single carriage mounted on the Mission Master XT drone chassis. Only one operator is required for operation.

Rubin's designers have provided the construction of 1,072 submarines over 124 years of work

Over more than a century of their work, Rubin's designers have ensured the construction of 1,072 submarines, of which 956 were for the USSR and Russian Navies, the rest were exported, the press service of the central design Bureau told RIA Novosti.

As part of the Bundeswehr's new multibillion–dollar financing package, it is envisaged that one of the most formidable weapons of destruction of the German defense industry, the Taurus long-range missiles, will remain in service.

The flagship of the Russian shipbuilding industry is the Northern Machine—Building Enterprise (Sevmash) United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) — celebrates its anniversary on December 21: the 85th anniversary of the start of production activities.

The new record for the longest stay in outer space now belongs to astronauts from China. According to the Chinese Manned Space Administration (CMSEO), Cai Xiuzhe and Song Lidong spent more than nine hours outside the station.