Putin & Belousov Address the 2024 International Military-Technical Forum

Plus articles on uranium and lasers.

Russia’s annual Army 2024 International Military-Technical Forum held at Patriot Park came and went quickly this year but wasn’t missed by many thousands and military delegations from over 80 nations. Unlike previous years, Putin provided a short video greeting while new Minister of Defense Belousov gave his keynote address in person.

The new Borg look.

First, we have Putin’s welcoming address:

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Friends, foreign guests, ladies and gentlemen,

I am delighted to welcome all the participants and guests of the Army 2024 International Military-Technical Forum.

This is a major forum which attracts high representatives. Held for the tenth time, it invariably enjoys a lot of attention on behalf of specialists, experts and media outlets from across the world.

We appreciate this attitude and have been doing everything to support it, since we treasure our partnerships and are committed to developing them by working together with others in order to ensure equal and indivisible security and build a new, fairer multipolar world order.

We can see that our commitment to promoting constructive cooperation has resonated with others who were sincere and proactive in their positive response. This year, dozens of countries sent their high-level delegations to Russia, led by heads of their defence agencies. Over 120 foreign companies registered to take part in the event.

In addition to this, we offered several foreign exhibitions an opportunity to set up their stands at the forum.

In fact, this forum prides itself for this inclusive and truly international scope, our mutual commitment to dialogue, as well as its packed business programme.

Of course, the forum’s agenda includes grand-scale presentations of the most advanced and largely unique and unrivalled achievements of Russia’s defence manufacturers and its leading, internationally acclaimed corporations. This includes over 240 export versions of weapons, as well as all kinds of military and specialised hardware.

Let me emphasise that many of Russia’s advanced, unique and innovative solutions have already proven their worth on the battlefield. Moreover, we improve their basic performance all the time. Designers, engineers, scientists and teams working at defence manufacturing plants have been proactive in their efforts to take into account the combat experience we acquired during the special military operation.

It is also essential that small businesses, the civil society and patriotic organisations, as well as a massive volunteer movement and the people of Russia in general have all gone to great lengths and have been proactive in supporting the defence industry in the interests of the Russian Army and Navy.

Priorities in terms of these joint efforts include modern gear, communications, protection and electronic warfare means, unmanned systems and artificial intelligence.

During this forum, about a hundred scientific and business events will be held on these and many other topical matters dealing with military development, military strategy and combat tactics.

Friends,

The Army 2024 forum offers a very packed and detailed programme. It focuses on its target audience, which consists of military professionals. I have no doubt that this event will help strengthen the existing ties and forge new ones by signing mutually beneficial contracts with Russia’s Defence Ministry and defence industry enterprises.

It can also enhance the effectiveness of our cooperation with our close and friendly countries on security matters and in terms of defending our national interests.

I wish the participants in this forum every success and all the best. [My Emphasis]

And now here’s Belousov’s speech:

Dear friends!

Welcome to the opening ceremony of the ARMY 2024 International Military and Technical Forum.

As all of you know, the event takes place at a time of the special military operation. This is, in fact, the armed confrontation between Russia and the collective West.

It is driven by a desire of the USA and their allies to sustain their dominance. And to prevent a new multipolar and equal world order.

In this regard, this confrontation affects the interest of every country. It is important to realise that success in modern military conflicts is possible only if the following basic conditions are met.

First, supplying the troops with the most modern armaments. Above all, high-precision weapons.

Second, the use of new tactics of warfare. Including with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles and robotic systems.

Third, developing an effective control system using an advanced technological basis. This also includes artificial intelligence.

Forth, a continuous improvement of the military personnel training. Mostly of those in command.

Only such comprehensive approach offers a full advantage over the enemy.

It was decided to organise the work of the ARMY Forum around this key conclusion.

This year, the business and exhibition programme of the Forum focus on targeted discussion of the experience acquired during the special military operation and new forms of warfare. And ways to adapt industry to the tasks assigned to the Army and Navy.

More than a thousand Russian enterprises with their military products are represented at the Forum. These include initiative projects.

There is also a display of cutting-edge weapons which have proved effective in a real combat environment. Innovative solutions in the field of artificial intelligence, electronic, and information technologies are presented.

For the first time, the exhibition shows developments of 'People's Defence Industry'. These are products made by citizens, workers, and small and medium-sized enterprises. All of them – for the needs of our fighters in the special military operation zone.

Foreign visitors will be able to learn about the latest and promising weapons. They will have an opportunity to sign mutually beneficial contracts to strengthen their national armed forces.

I am confident that the Forum will contribute to implementing groundbreaking ideas in defence sphere. It will also help develop Russia's defence industry and expand military and technical cooperation.

I wish you all successful and effective work! [My Emphasis]

Short, direct and to the point, Belousov announced the West led by the Outlaw US Empire is at war with Russia as Putin said elsewhere, “through the hands of Ukraine.” When we step back and look at the Big Picture, the Empire’s waging war on the world, a reality that’s been ongoing since 1945 in numerous phases. But as we’re seeing and as I predicted in late 2021, NATO has no weapons capable of defeating Russia—not even their nukes, many of which have faulty delivery systems that render them useless. But there are many other areas where the Empire and West generally is falling behind Russian and Eurasian expertise which will be explored in the following articles published by SputnikGlobe. The first’s title hints at its content, “Russia's Nuclear Reactor Construction Clout Could Nullify Effect of US Ban on Its Uranium,” but goes beyond that one aspect as you’ll see:

A US ban on low-enriched uranium produced in the Russian Federation or by a Russian entity came into force on August 11 as part of the sanctions campaign against Moscow. It does, however, allow for some waivers issued by the US Energy Department until 2028.

The waiver loophole contained in the US 'Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act' that has just come into force can be attributed to purely economic rationale, Valeriy Menshikov, member of public council of “Rosatom” corporation, member of Russia’ Council Centre for Ecological Policy told Sputnik.

One consideration is that the Russian method of enriching uranium to be used as fuel for nuclear power plants is the most cost effective by all indicators, he pointed out. There exist two commercial uranium enrichment processes: gaseous diffusion and gas centrifugation. Both involve the use of uranium hexafluoride and produce enriched uranium oxide. The methods used by the US consume much more electric energy power, he added.

“Russia and Rosatom occupy this niche in the global technological space to about 40%. We rely on the most advanced method of enrichment using centrifuges. We have the ninth generation of centrifuges already operation at full capacity. However, US engineers have not been able to replicate this type of centrifuge that would ensure, a stable operation of the industry,” he said.

Russia is the world's top supplier of enriched uranium. Its uranium enrichment plants account for up to 40% of the world’s enrichment capacity. Imports to the US surged to a record level of $1.2 billion-worth in 2023 (an increase of 40 percent compared to 2022). In the first quarter of 2024, the US purchased about 91 tons of enriched uranium from Russia, valued at $210 million, according to Comtrade data.

US President Joe Biden signed into law H.R.1042, the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act, in mid-May. It went into force this month and bans any imported unirradiated low-enriched uranium (LEU) produced in the Russian Federation or by a Russian entity. Waivers are allowed in cases when the US determines that no alternative viable source of low-enriched uranium is available to sustain the continued operation of a US nuclear reactor or nuclear energy company, or if it also determines that importing the uranium is in the national interest.

Like the long list of previous sanctions slapped on Russia by the collective West, this ban has also been described as inherently self-harming by a plethora of experts. Valeriy Menshikov concurred, and weighed in on why waivers and loopholes in the uranium ban would be eagerly sought out.

The average age of US commercial nuclear power reactors that were operational as of April 30, 2024, is around 42 years. There are 94 nuclear reactors across the country. According to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 22 commercial nuclear power reactors at 18 sites were in various stages of decommissioning as of last year.

Most of the operational ones belong to Gen 2, noted Menshikov, while the scale of energy production requires Gen 3 reactors, which are considered an evolutionary improvement.

But the most important aspect here is that, unlike in Russia, almost all the commercial reactors in the US are owned by private companies, stressed the pundit. Generally, the American nuclear industry as a whole has far greater private participation than any other country.

“And there they know the value of money, naturally. So that's why there's such a loophole, it's simply practical. Each company can, apparently, independently conclude certain contractual agreements with Rosatom. That's the most important thing,” said.

Of course, only time will show to what extent these US private companies will seek out loopholes in the ban on Russian enriched uranium, Menshikov noted. But for Russia this ban is not a big loss, since it is a global leader in the construction of nuclear power plants. “We are building in many countries in Asia, Turkiye, Egypt, India, Bangladesh, Hungary,” he emphasized, with preliminary discussions on the construction of small nuclear power plants underway in Africa, Latin America, and so on. Russia will have a very large amount of the necessary enriched uranium products for these facilities, noted the expert

As for Russia’s alternatives in connection with the US ban, it’s enough to recall that in May China imported a record amount of Russian uranium worth $233 million. The Chinese market is huge, the expert added.

Then there is also the issue of prices. “In general, any tense geopolitical situation in the world always results in an increase in the price of certain products, such as oil, gas, and, of course, such high-tech products as enriched uranium,” remarked Menshikov.

As for the much-flaunted plans by Washington to shake off reliance on Russian enriched uranium supplies by boosting its own production, they will take a lot of time and investment. Menshikov recalled the way Joe Biden had bragged about a US facility having produced its first 90 kilograms of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) in April.

“This simply makes me smile,” the pundit said, as “90 kilograms is nothing, almost zero” for the needs of the US.

Everything from research centers to the required technology would need “at least 5-8, maybe 10 years,” Menshikov concluded. [Bolded Italics My Emphasis]

The greatest mistake of America’s Atoms for Peace was to allow private corps to do the work, which also included insuring the plants, as well as poisoning much of the public then covering up its devastation as illustrated in Killing Our Own. Then there’s the educational deficit that’s directly related to nuclear power and other very high tech industrial areas like missiles, rocket engines, commercial jetliners, highspeed rail, etc. One of the reasons Asimov gave for the fall of the Galactic Empire was losing the ability to maintain their “atomics” meaning their nuclear industry and its facilities. The second article also deals with the realm of high tech that continues the Gym’s reporting on that realm’s advances, “Most Powerful Laser Installation in the World: Meet Russia’s UFL-2M ‘Tsar Laser’:”

Interaction chamber of the UFL-2M Tsar laser installation in Sarov.

Construction of Russia’s powerful new UFL-2M ‘Tsar Laser’ is proceeding on schedule, and the installation will reach full power four to five years from now, Sarov Nuclear Center director Valentin Kostyukov has revealed. What are the laser's characteristics, capabilities and potential uses? Check out Sputnik's explainer.

“We have worked out the technology, the physics and the physical model, and launched the first phase of the physical foundations related to engineering systems. I think that in the next four-five years this installation will be operating to full capacity and will produce results,” Dr. Valentin Kostyukov said in an interview with Russian television on Monday.

Conceived in the late 1980s after the construction of the groundbreaking 12-channel Iskra-5 laser, the UFL-2M was developed for the sake of large-scale experiments on controlled thermonuclear fusion using inertial plasma confinement. Its first module become operational in 2020, and useful research began in 2021 and 2022.

Once fully operational, the UFL-2M will have a power capacity of a whopping 4.6 megajoules (MJ). For comparison, the powerful US Lawrence Livermore Labs’ National Ignition Facility’s laser, which set a world record for laser energy yield last October, achieved a power of 2.2 MJ, resulting in a useful yield of 3.4 MJ of fusion energy. France is the only other country with a similarly powerful laser, with its Laser Mégajoule facility outside Bordeaux featuring a power generation capacity of up to 2 MJ.

The building in Sarov it’s housed within.

The UFL-2M consists of 192 0.53 micron laser beams (with power generated by a solid-state neodymium glass laser), which are introduced simultaneously into a sphere-shaped interaction chamber from all sides. The 120-ton chamber has a 10-meter diameter, and is covered by a 100 mm-thick aluminum alloy. The facility’s laser hall is 130 meters long, and built on a special foundation to protect it from seismic influences. The facility consists of some 16,000 square meters of clean rooms. The total cost of the project is approximately 45 billion rubles ($485 million US).

Along with the exciting prospect of achieving controlled thermonuclear fusion for clean energy – a dream of scientists worldwide for many decades, the 'Tsar Laser' has a variety of other potential uses, including the modeling of processes occurring at the moment of a nuclear explosion, making it invaluable for research into new thermonuclear weapons.

The laser installation can also assist in groundbreaking research in the field of high energy density physics, namely, the study the properties of matter in extreme states, including ultra-high pressures and temperatures, characteristic in powerful explosions, which can be helpful, for example, in the study of processes occurring in our Sun and other stars. In some sense, the 'Tsar Laser' itself is a miniature sun created in a laboratory environment.

Russia has a well-established record as a pioneer and leader in the field of laser technologies, with Soviet scientists Valentin Fabrikant, Alexander Prokhorov, Nikolai Basov and Zhores Alferov thinking up, developing and building the first laser technologies in the world in the 1950s and early 1960s. [Bolded Italics My Emphasis]

“Heavy-duty laser facility in Sarov will be used for thermonuclear fusion” is a very useful background article from 11 years ago for the curious. But the laser isn’t a tokamak nor is it to be coupled to one and is thus a different approach to creating fusion power. This snippet from the linked article above tells us where the science originated:

Back in 1963, the Soviet physicist, academician Nikolai Basov and Oleg Krokhin proposed using a laser installation to ignite a thermonuclear target and, on this basis, carry out thermonuclear ignition, and in the future create a thermonuclear power plant. This scheme was different from the one proposed earlier and was associated with magnetic retention. [A Tokamak]

As stated, the Outlaw US Empire has created a similar laser, but does it possess the minds and knowhow to make the special materials required to make a fusion powerplant? The question is pertinent since the Empire cannot produce a hypersonic missile that needs both special materials and special fuel. For those interested in knowing about military laser applications, RT has this series of videos about the Soviet program that are informative and entertaining.

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