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Israeli drone maker SpearUAV says it has nearly 1,000 Viper 300 loitering munition systems ready for delivery to customers around the world, a production milestone the Tel Aviv-based company announced without naming which countries or units are receiving the systems. The Viper 300 is a small, capsule-launched drone that soldiers can fire either on foot […]View the full article

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited the country’s navy on September 6, where officials showed him two unmanned surface vessels now being built inside Azerbaijan through a joint production line with a Turkish shipbuilder. Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva were briefed on the SALVO armed unmanned surface vessel and the KAYRA kamikaze unmanned surface vessel […]View the full article

An F-35B fighter squadron from South Carolina has taken over rotational duty in Japan, replacing a Hornet squadron under a U.S. Marine Corps program that keeps U.S.-based units cycling through the Pacific. Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 533, known as the Hawks, arrived at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni on September 5 under the Unit Deployment […]View the full article

Satellite imagery has confirmed damage to two radar systems, a maintenance facility and an ammunition depot at Russia’s Millerovo airbase in Rostov Oblast, following a Ukrainian drone strike on the night of August 30, according to images published by the Dnipro OSINT. Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi reported that Ukraine’s 1st Separate Center of the Unmanned Systems […]View the full article

U.S. Marines with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit ran two separate forward operating sites at once during a training exercise near Camp Pendleton, California, testing whether the unit can track ships at sea, direct combat operations, and keep aircraft armed and fueled from multiple locations simultaneously rather than a single base. One site, called a […]View the full article

Petrel Technologies says the U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment is evaluating its AERO Sky drone in a live-fire mothership role, with the aircraft shown carrying externally mounted strike drones during the exercise. The company described the work in a post captioned “Golden hour. Live fire. Mothership operations with 75th Ranger Regiment, U.S. Army.” Petrel said […]View the full article

JP Aerospace, a volunteer-run organization that has spent decades pursuing an unconventional path to orbit using airships instead of rockets, has released still images from an upcoming concept video showing a vehicle it calls Hazel being launched from a high-altitude airship called SuperTandem. The images, shared by JP Aerospace president John Powell, show an animated […]View the full article

Photos taken at an air show in Novosibirsk captured a newly built Su-34 fighter-bomber still in factory gray primer, adding to a steady stream of the twin-seat jets Russia has produced for its air force even as it continues fighting in Ukraine. The aircraft was spotted at Mochishche Aerodrome in Novosibirsk during the 15th annual […]View the full article

Ukraine has received its first RCH 155 wheeled howitzers, according to German Aid to Ukraine (GAU), an independent tracker of military assistance to Ukraine, which said September 5 it had confirmed the delivery through a source outside political and industry circles. The system arrives roughly four years after Germany first pledged it, in September 2022. […]View the full article

A Ukrainian gunsmith who services captured Russian assault rifles for Ukrainian troops says the newest generation of Kalashnikov rifle, the AK-12, consistently shows worse barrel quality than the decades-old AK-74 it was meant to replace, based on a detailed inspection of five trophy weapons spanning more than 40 years of production. Dmytro, who runs a […]View the full article

U.S. Central Command forces struck and disabled three Iranian oil tankers on September 5, hours after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired ballistic missiles at two U.S. Navy warships patrolling the region, according to a CENTCOM statement. Both American vessels, an aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer, evaded the Iranian missiles, and no U.S. personnel […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has confirmed that a Swedish-supplied Saab 340 airborne early warning aircraft (AEW&C), known as the ASC 890, has been flying combat missions over Ukraine since March 2026, according to information the ministry released detailing the country’s expanding fleet of Western combat aircraft. Sweden first announced it would transfer the aircraft in […]View the full article

XTEND has deployed its first XOS-powered AtlasROVER ground robot to a customer in the Asia-Pacific region, the company’s public parent, JFB Construction Holdings. It’s the first such deployment since XTEND completed its acquisition of Latvia-based robotics company Atlas earlier this year. The deployment extends XTEND’s software platform, called XOS, beyond the aerial drones it was […]View the full article

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a U.S. federal agency, is moving to buy a single armored vehicle from Roshel LLC on a sole-source basis, saying its current fleet of armored trucks has aged to the point where some units date back to 2008 and are becoming too unreliable to drive long distances. […]View the full article

Aeon, a Texas-based defense manufacturer, disclosed new technical details about its Zeus tactical missile system in a public post from Chief Growth Officer Wes Shover, including a stated speed of more than Mach 0.65 and a 6-pound (2.7-kilogram) warhead payload. The Defence Blog first reported on Zeus in April, when Aeon founder and CEO Naweed […]View the full article

New satellite images have surfaced showing China’s largest known stealth drone undergoing testing at a secretive air base in China’s Xinjiang region, according to analysts tracking the program on social media. Aviation researcher Andreas Rupprecht posted on LinkedIn that two new images had leaked showing the aircraft, known unofficially as the WZ-X, at what appears […]View the full article

Russia’s Rubicon Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies claims its operators used more than 1 million First-Person-View (FPV) drones and struck over 280,000 targets in Ukraine between January 2025 and August 2026, according to a statement the unit posted to its official Telegram channel. The figures come only from Russia’s elite drone unit itself and have […]View the full article

HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to leave Portsmouth Naval Base at 6:20 p.m. on Saturday, September 5, carrying more than 800 sailors on a three-month deployment around British and northern European waters, according to UK Defence Journal. The deployment is the first extended sea period for the 65,000-tonne carrier since it took on a new […]View the full article

The U.S. State Department has approved a possible $5 billion sale of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits to Saudi Arabia, notifying Congress on September 4 of a deal covering more than 10,000 guidance kits and bombs. It is one of the largest single munitions packages Washington has cleared for a foreign buyer in years, and […]View the full article

The U.S. State Department has approved a possible $750 million sale of 60 AGT-1500 tank engines to Saudi Arabia, notifying Congress of the deal on September 4. The engines, along with spare parts and years of contractor support, would go toward sustaining Saudi Arabia’s existing fleet of M1 Abrams tanks rather than funding new tank […]View the full article

First of all, let’s head to the chartroom. That’s right kiddies…we’re heading to the Battle of the Barents Sea, at the top of the world, in winter. There are a whole host of stories here, but let’s focus on one ship and her Captain: HMS Onslow (G17) and then-Captain and eventually, Rear-Admiral Robert St Vincent ‘Rupert’ Sherbrooke, VC, CB, DSO, DL—41 years of age at the time of the battle. In December 1942, Onslow took part in Arctic Convoy JW 51B, joining the convoy on 25 December, with Captain Robert Sherbrooke taking charge of the convoy's close escort of six destroyers, two corvettes, one minesweeper and two trawlers. Five merchant ships, together with the destroyer Oribi and one of the trawlers, were separated from the convoy by bad weather shortly afterwards. On 30 December, the convoy was spotted by the German submarine U-354, and in response a German force consisting of the heavy cruisers Lützow and Admiral Hipper and six destroyers set out from Altafjord to intercept the convoy. First of all, let’s look at the players. Onslow was an O-class destroyer. Displacement: 1,610 long tons Length: 105.2 meters Armament 4 × single QF 4.7 in (120 mm) guns 1 × single QF 4 in (102 mm) AA gun 1 × quad 2 pdr (40 mm (1.6 in)) AA gun 4 × single 20 mm (0.8 in) AA guns 1 × quadruple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 4 × throwers and 2 × racks for 70 depth charges Her largest opponent in this battle: Hipper, lead ship of the Admiral Hipper-class cruisers. Displacement: 18,200 long tons Length: 202.8 meters Armament 8 × 20.3 cm (8 in) guns 12 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK C/33 guns 12 × 3.7 cm (1.5 in) SK C/30 guns 8 × 2 cm (0.79 in) C/30 guns 12 × 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes The German force split into two, with Hipper and three destroyers attacking from the northwest and Lutzow and the other three destroyers from the south, with the intention that the escort would be drawn off to the first attacker, leaving the convoy unprotected. The Germans attacked on 31 December, in the Battle of the Barents Sea. Sherbrooke in Onslow led the other destroyers in dummy torpedo attacks against Hipper in order to force the cruiser to keep from closing, while laying a smoke-screen to protect the convoy. After about 40 minutes, Onslow was hit by three shells from Hipper and near missed by a fourth, and badly damaged. Two guns were put out of action and a serious fire started, while 17 members of Onslow's crew were killed, and 23 wounded, including Sherbrooke. Later, Achates sank after being hit by Hipper, and Obedient damaged, before the arrival of the British cruisers Sheffield and Jamaica changed the course of the battle, damaging Hipper and sinking the destroyer Friedrich Eckoldt before the Germans withdrew. The convoy had been saved, for the cost of the loss of Achates and the minesweeper Bramble. Sherbrooke was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in the battle. Attention to citation: Captain Sherbrooke, in H.M.S. Onslow, was the Senior Officer in command of the destroyers escorting an important convoy [​JW 51B​] bound for North Russia. On the morning of 31st December [1942], off the North Cape, he made contact with a greatly superior enemy force [led by the heavy cruiser Hipper and the pocket battleship Lützow​] which was attempting to destroy the convoy. Captain Sherbrooke led his destroyers into attack and closed the Enemy. Four times the Enemy tried to attack the convoy, but was forced each time to withdraw behind a smoke screen to avoid the threat of torpedoes, and each time Captain Sherbrooke pursued him and drove him outside gun range of the convoy and towards our covering forces. These engagements lasted about two hours, but after the first forty minutes H.M.S. Onslow was hit, and Captain Sherbrooke was seriously wounded in the face and temporarily lost the use of one eye. Nevertheless he continued to direct the ships under his command until further hits on his own ship compelled him to disengage, but not until he was satisfied that the next Senior Officer had assumed control. It was only then that he agreed to leave the bridge for medical attention, and until the convoy was out of danger he insisted on receiving all reports of the action. His courage, his fortitude and his cool and prompt decisions inspired all around him. By his leadership and example the convoy was saved from damage and was brought safely to its destination. Hitler was so pissed off at his surface navy he fired Admiral Raeder and any idea of a usefulness in the war for surface ships, replaced him with Admiral Dönitz—and the rest is history. Fullbore. If you want to see some more on the larger battle, Drachinifel put together a great video on it. h/t Peter K.Leave a comment Share This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. View the full article

Russia’s 80-Missile Nuclear Battlecruiser Set to Return After Nearly 30 Years in Repair (United 24 Media)

The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Missions Systems a $194.1 million contract modification for engineering support work on the Nuclear-Armed, Sea-Launched Cruise Missile program, according to a Department of War contract announcement. The cost-plus-fixed-fee modification adds to a previously awarded unpriced letter contract and covers technical and engineering support for the missile’s Fire Control […]View the full article

The U.S. Marine Corps has awarded Dynetics a $40.8 million contract modification to build 14 additional Medium Range Air Defense Radar production-representative systems, according to a Department of War contract announcement. The hybrid other transaction agreement modification also funds depot-level technical manual support, program management, engineering change proposals, logistics support and software support. It further […]View the full article

The U.S. Army has awarded Northrop Grumman an $862.8 million contract to manufacture and deliver M1156 precision guidance kits, according to a Department of War contract announcement. The firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract covers manufacturing, inspection, testing, packaging and delivery of the kits and their variants. Northrop Grumman was the only company to submit a bid after […]View the full article