Russia

ABOARD A NATO AWACS PLANE — As the aircraft soared over Eastern Europe, tiny triangles and U-shapes blinked across a glowing console. Each shape marked a presence — a ship, a fighter jet, or something else moving near the Baltic Sea and the militarized Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.The NATO E-3A…

Newly aired state media footage showed Russia operating what look to be American-designed Ram pickup trucks with Shahed-style drones ready for launch in the back.Zvezda, the Russian defense ministry’s TV channel, released a video on Sunday spotlighting the large Yelabuga drone factory in the Tatarstan region, which is where the…

The Kremlin is building its way toward a reality where it can soon launch 2,000 Shahed one-way attack drones in one night, according to two recent Western assessments.Maj. Gen. Christian Freuding, the German defense ministry’s commander of planning and command staff, said in a Bundeswehr interview aired on Saturday that…

Some big banks in Russia are reportedly getting ready to ask for an emergency bailout if their finances don’t improve over the next year.Executives in at least three of the country’s big banks have considered the risk that they may need to ask Russia’s central bank for a bailout in…

The drone war in Ukraine remains largely human-operated for now. We’re seeing glimpses of the future, but we’re not there yet.Ukraine and Russia are experimenting with artificial intelligence-enabled drones, but total autonomy and full-scale deployment remain limited in combat, researchers say.AI-enabled autonomy in uncrewed systems has the potential to significantly…

Saab’s CEO Micael Johansson said that while Europe’s leaders have announced huge defense spending hikes, the continent’s current processes are slowing it down too much.”Now, we want to spend like 3.5% to 5% of GDP on defense. But then, when you start getting into the normal processes in terms of,…