Russian Ministry of Defence Launches Military-Technical Exposition in Moscow

From 15 to 21 August 2022, Moscow will host the eighth edition of the Military and Technical Forum ARMY 2022, organised by the Russian Ministry of Defence. The exhibition features approximately 28,000 military and civilian items presented by over 1,500 Russian and foreign companies from the defence industry. During the inaugural ceremony, Russian Federation’s president Vladimir Putin declared that “…Russia stands for the broadest, all-around development of military-technical cooperation”, without missing the chance to address Western countries, as he commended the Kremlin’s allies and partners for “not bowing down to the so-called hegemon”. Putin remarked that these allies would be granted access to Russia’s most modern types of weapons, including artillery, warplanes and drones. Attendees to the exposition will look at the new generation of T-14 Armada tanks, Sprut-SDM1 light amphibious tank, K-17 Boomerang wheeled infantry fighting vehicles, Medved and Tiger wheeled armoured vehicles, and advanced unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) such as the Orlan-10E.

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Rethinking Military Service in Europe

From 2023 Latvia will rely again on conscription, after abandoning it in 2007, when the country joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The decision was taken to strengthen army forces, that now rely only on 7,500 active soldiers and national guardsmen (Euronews, 2022). The Russian invasion of Ukraine created the need to reinforce the army potential, and conscription – the mandatory enlistment of people in the national armed forces of their citizenship country – helps to reach this goal by increasing the number of reservists. The Latvian Ministry of Defence plans to recruit some 500 young men aged 18-27 twice a year; Riga hopes the quotas will initially be filled by volunteers, with the compulsoriness becoming effective only at a later stage (Balčiūnas, 2022).

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The new EU Support Hub for Internal Security and Border Management in Moldavia: Boosting EU Domestic Security Through Anti-Trafficking Framework

The war of aggression launched by the Federation of Russia against Ukraine has not only raised the risk of projected threats from less than 1000 km of EU’s external borders. It also raised concerns about threats projected on internal affairs, national security and interest within EU Member States nationals borders. The main concern is about the capacities of the EU block to face the consequences this war implies regarding domestic and regional security. Although this war set the conditions encouraging the increased emergence of national security risks, the EU quickly reacted to tackle issues stemming from it.

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The United Kingdom and Drone Swarming: The Future of Aerial Warfare

From 13 to 14 July 2022, London hosted the Global Air and Space Chiefs’ Conference, where British Air Chief Marshall Sir Mike Wigston announced that the Royal Air Force had successfully conducted the testing of drone swarms with the purpose of striking air enemy defences: “Our swarming drone trials point to the enormous operational potential for these systems to confuse and overwhelm an adversary’s air defences. In the last three years, 216 Test and Evaluation Sqn, alongside the Rapid Capabilities Office, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and industry will have trialled five drone types in thirteen trials of new payloads, new platforms, and new control systems. We are exploring new models of capability delivery and accelerated production “when we need them” rather than “in case we need them” from the twin jet 3D-printed Pizookie, to commercially available large drones fitted with novel payloads, to large quadcopters.”

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Russia vs Ukraine: New Generations of Weapons

Nowadays, the forces deployed in the field are not only composed of people but also of artificial intelligence (AI) systems that take the conflict to the next technological level. Robots and especially drones have played a central role in Ukraine’s defence against the ongoing Russian attack.

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