DefenceTalkThe next round of US sanctions against Moscow over Ukraine will target Russia’s defense industry as well as individuals and companies close to President Vladimir Putin, a senior US official said Sunday. “Starting this week, in coordination with our allies and partners, we’ll be exerting additional pressure on the people closest to him, the companies […]https://www.defencetalk.com/sanctions-to-target-russias-defense-industry-others-us-59425/

DefenceTalkRussia has the world’s second-ranked military after former Cold War foe the United States. The armed forces in Ukraine, a former republic in the ex-Soviet Union, are much, much smaller. But numbers don’t tell the whole story. Other factors come into play in weighing which side might get the upper hand should war break out […]https://www.defencetalk.com/ukraine-vs-russia-military-mismatch-but-does-that-mean-no-contest-59408/

DefenceTalkSweden announced Tuesday that it will increase its annual defence spending over the next 10 years, citing the crisis in Ukraine and an “unsettling” development in Russia. The right-wing government said that spending would rise gradually until 2024, when the annual defence budget increase would be around 5.5 billion kronor (604 million euros, $835 million), […]https://www.defencetalk.com/sweden-to-boost-military-spending-over-ukraine-crisis-59377/

DefenceTalkThe United States will send helmets, medical supplies and other non-lethal military aid to Ukraine amid fears of another Russian incursion there, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday. Hagel said he had informed Kiev that President Barack Obama “has approved additional non-lethal military assistance for health and welfare items and other supplies.” The aid includes […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-to-send-non-lethal-military-aid-to-ukraine-hagel-59364/

DefenceTalkThings just got a lot tenser between the United States and Russia. Yesterday, a Russian fighter jet deliberately and repeatedly “buzzed” the USS Donald Cook, a destroyer that was transiting the Black Sea towards the Romanian port of Constanta. This was no accident; the Sukhoi-24, an all-weather strike fighter, made a dozen passes over the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/what-the-is-a-us-destroyer-doing-in-the-black-sea-59335/

DefenceTalkThe future of the Russian armed forces lies in developing high-precision ‘smart’ weapons and boosting the capacity to conduct no-contact warfare, a Russian deputy prime minister in charge of the defense industry said on Saturday. “Old-fashioned army and fleet, organized in accordance with 20th century examples, will lose a war before they are face to […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-should-be-ready-for-non-contact-war-59327/

DefenceTalkRussia on Monday drew Kiev’s attention over media reports that a Ukrainian military-space enterprise had allegedly been negotiating with third countries on missile technology sale. Referring to the Yuzhmash plant based in the city of Dnepropetrovsk in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry reminded that Ukraine is a participant of the Missile Technology Control Regime […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-warns-ukraine-against-missile-technologies-proliferation-59263/

DefenceTalkSeveral mothballed Mikoyan Mig-29 Fulcrum fourth-generation fighter jets were returned to combat service in western Ukraine, the country’s Defense Ministry said on Friday. “Specialists of our team have already returned several planes to service,” the ministry quoted an unnamed commander of an Air Force unit near Ivano-Frankivsk as saying. “We are now conducting test flights. […]https://www.defencetalk.com/ukraine-puts-mothballed-mig-29-fighter-jets-back-in-service-59228/

DefenceTalkRenault Trucks Defense said Wednesday its project to develop an armored infantry fighting vehicle together with a Russian manufacturer is on hold due to the Ukraine crisis. “The project is on hold because of the political situation, but that is not saying it has been halted,” RTD marketing director Marc Chassilian told journalists in Paris. […]https://www.defencetalk.com/french-russian-tank-project-on-hold-due-to-ukraine-crisis-59218/

DefenceTalkNATO foreign ministers on Tuesday (1 April 2014) reaffirmed their commitment to enhance the Alliance’s collective defence, agreed to further support Ukraine and to suspend NATO’s practical cooperation with Russia. “NATO’s greatest responsibility is to protect and defend our territory and our people. And make no mistake, this is what we will do,” NATO Secretary […]https://www.defencetalk.com/nato-takes-measures-to-reinforce-collective-defense-59208/