IMAGE: Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS The news agency TASS reports ( source ): Russia’s T-14 tank based on the Armata platform will undergo state trials in the Defense Ministry’s scientific and research institutions next year, the ministry’s press service said on Monday. “The T-14 tank, which has been created on the universal Armata platform and developed for the Ground Forces, is completing the manufacturer’s trials. The fighting vehicle in 2019 will start undergoing state trials in the Russian Defense Ministry’s scientific and research institutions,” the ministry said. The T-14 is the world’s only post-war third-generation tank. Armata is Russia’s development, which has no counterparts in the world. Earlier, Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said the Defense Ministry had signed a contract with Uralvagonzavod for the delivery of 132 T-14 tanks and T-15 infantry fighting vehicles based on the Armata combat platform. The supplies are due to be completed by 2021. The

The Eitam and Shavit of 122 Squadron during Israel’s 68th Independence Day flypast. By: Oren Rozen. This file is licensed under the  Creative Commons   Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International  license Russian warplanes took off from Hmeimim airbase in western Syria and intercepted an Israeli spy plane, which was escorted by several fighter jets, off the coast of Lebanon in the morning of December 30, according to Syrian pro-government activists. Observers confirmed that a Gulfstream G550 Nahshon-Shavit signal intelligence (SIGINT) plane of the Israeli Air force (IAF) was carrying out a reconnaissance mission over the international waters off the shores of Syria and Lebanon at the morning. Furthermore, a local source in the Syrian city of Tartus told SouthFront that Russian warplanes were seen heading towards Lebanese coast. CivMilAir  @CivMilAir 41,000ft watching over the eastern Med Israeli Air Force G550 Shavit AEW 679 http://www. airliners.net/pho

Click to see the full-size image The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have captured the village of Abu Hassan and about 60% of the village of Kashmah in the Euphrates Valley from ISIS. On December 28, the SDF released a statement claiming that 71 ISIS terrorists were eliminated as a result of the clashes in the area. Click to see the full-size image

US forces are reportedly evacuating their military base near al-Hasakah; The Syrian Army eliminated 3 ISIS members in the area of al-Safa; The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) still develop their operation against ISIS in the Hajin pocket. Click to see the full-size image

Written by  Nikolas K. Gvosdev ; Originally appeared at  The National Interest ne of the major blind spots in how the U.S. national security apparatus responds to and formulates policy for issues that arise across the Eurasian heartland is how the American government has chosen to bureaucratically define the region. Namely: the continued inclusion of Russia within the diplomatic confines of a larger European bureau has intellectually limited assessments about Russia’s position in the world by framing Russian action primarily through a European lens. Not only does this undercount Russia’s ability to be a major player in the Middle East, South Asia and East Asia, it has also, in my view, tended to overweight the importance of the Baltic littoral to Russian policy. Poll U.S. experts and at the top of any risk prediction for 2019 will be the threat of a Russian incursion into the Baltic states—and the importance of continued efforts to reinforce NATO’s north-eastern frontier as a re

IMAGE: degandr.ru Written by  Maksim Klimov ; Originally appeared at  VPK , translated by  AlexD   exclusively for  SouthFront It is meaningless to build fifth generation submarines without taking into account modern methods of their detection The main tactical property of submarines is stealth. With this in mind, the dramatic increase over the past quarter century of the effectiveness of their search and defense sharply raised the question of revising the appearance of modern and promising submarines, their role and models of application in modern war. Until the issues of protection against detection are resolved, it is pointless to start designing the next generation boats. According to the theory on the matter, science is arguing still, but the fact remains that a number of successful detections and search operations performed by anti-submarine aircraft of the naval aviation with a special configuration of a conventional search radar “Initiative” (development of 60s), en

A fresh photo has appeared online showing a Russian soldier with a patch of the Manbij Military Council of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF is a Kurdish-dominated group which controls the area of Manbij as well as most of northeastern Syria. On December 28,  the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which are the core of the SDF, announced  that they are inviting the Syrian Army to take control of Manbij to protect it from a possible Turkish invasion. A group of Russian and Syrian troops were already deployed in the village of Arima, west of Manbij, earlier this week. Click to see the full-size image

On December 24, a car bomb exploded in a Kabul government compound and then gunmen attacked it, according to local media. Interior ministry deputy spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said that a number of gunmen raided the compound where the Ministry of Public Works and other offices are located. At least one police officer was killed and seven others were wounded in the attack. The health ministry says that at least 16 people were wouned in the incident. “More than 200 people have been evacuated by the security forces, but many are still being held as hostages by the militants,” Rahimi said. According to reports, at least 2 gunmen were killed. The rest is them is involved in exchange of fire with security forces. Click to see the full-size image

Click to see the full-size image Since the November incident between a Ukrainian Naval group and Russian coastal guards in the Black Sea, Russian officials as well as representatives of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) and the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) have repeatedly warned that the Kiev government is reinforcing its military group in eastern Ukraine and preparing provocations to trigger a military escalation there. The data below is taken from reports of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine ( SOURCE ). It allows to get a general look at the recent deployments of military equipment and offensive weapons by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the period from December 18 to December 21. The maps also includes similar data collected by the OSCE SMM about actions of the LPR and the DPR during the same period. Ukrainian Armed Forces: December 18: Three self-propelled howitzers (2S3 Akatsiya, 152mm) at the railway station in Kostiantynivka (60km north of Don