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Romania has signed a contract for 12 Airbus H225M Caracal military helicopters, the first step in replacing the Romanian Air Force’s aging fleet of locally built IAR-330 Puma helicopters, Airbus Helicopters said on October 7. The deal was concluded through France’s defense procurement agency, the DGA, and is financed under the European Union’s Security Action […]View the full article

Israeli armored vehicle maker Plasan and off-road equipment specialist ASFIR 4X4 have unveiled Stormer, a light tactical vehicle for special operations forces built on a Jeep Gladiator pickup and designed to carry up to 12 people and more than 1,000 kg (2,200 pounds) of payload. The companies will show Stormer at the Association of the […]View the full article

X-Bow Systems has won a prototype agreement worth up to $69.7 million to develop and qualify a solid rocket motor booster for a next-generation U.S. Navy weapon, and to tool a production line in Luling, Texas, that can build up to 500 motors a year, the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based company said on October 7. The […]View the full article

On certain anniversaries, I tend to repost some things I’ve written on the topic. On occasion I repost in full; other times I make slight modifications and updates. I’m going to do a 80/20 of the later today on a post I did on October 7th of last year. We have a few thousand more new readers this year than last, so they need a catch-up anyway. Some things are so fundamental, they don’t change all that much over time. Hard moments in history are clarifying events. The more difficult they are, the clearer they can make things for you. As I have mentioned before, one of the big wake-up calls I received after October 7th, 2023, was how much very real Jew-hate existed in modern Western society. Not just there, but excused by a large part of our cultural and political system as well. People and institutions revealed themselves to us. Distressing, but clarifying. Don’t look away when you see what is being said and done today. No. Look closer. Remember. Note. Act. Don’t forget. Politicians, academics, the media, the entertainment industry, and just the people down the street revealed themselves. The mask did not slip; for many, it was gleefully ripped off. While the universities have quieted, a bit, the real important areas are thoroughly infected. Just look at the Senate race in Michigan. Look at some of the candidates for statewide office in Minnesota. Look at the newly elected mayor of New York City. Jew hate—and I am not interested in your nuanced spin about anti-Zionism, let’s be adults here—has been mainstreamed. And it started the same day the Palestinian Arabs in Gaza set forth on their murder, rape, pillage, and kidnapping. As for Gaza in 2026, I have no more sympathy for that city than I have for the cities of Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan that we and the British left in ruin. They started wars of aggression, and the victims of that aggression rose to the occasion to stand against evil. They started total war, they invited total war. Those who wanted total war, supported total war, or did nothing to stop total war—behold the feast you brought upon yourself. Either accelerationists or nihilists, it does not matter. Behold the wages of your enterprise. Israel was, if anything, restrained in this war—more restrained than almost any equally justified military in history. As we are now starting our fourth year of the Israeli-Gaza War of 2023, I’m not going to retell a lot that I’ve already written on the topic. If you want to catch up, see the posts with Gaza and Israel tags. I want to remind everyone how we got here. Talk to anyone familiar with the political realities on the ground on October 6th, 2023, and they will tell you that the communities that surrounded Gaza were, politically, the most accommodating and left-leaning you would find in Israel. The ones who had the most sympathy for Gazans. It was those Israelis who received the nightmarish wrath that extruded out of Gaza the morning of October 7th, 2023. Just look at the killings and kidnappings numbers for some perspective. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been at war with the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas (a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, or FTO), which led an attack that day from the Gaza Strip into Israel. More than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals (including 46 U.S. citizens in Israel) were killed on October 7, and Hamas and other groups also seized some 251 hostages. How should Americans look at those numbers (besides the very real 46 fellow Americans killed). When adjusted for population, that would be as if in one day, 40,729 Americans were killed by an invading force. 8,519 Americans kidnapped. Would we do any less? I think not. That is just the murder and kidnapping. I would refer everyone to the Dinah Project Report if they want details of the campaign of rape on October 7th. The injured are in the thousands more. Now, today, see what is right in front of you. All across the world, the campaign of rape and murder that Gazans opened their war with has been rewarded by recognition of a state that never existed. Left-wing cities and college campuses have allowed open Jew-hate to flourish. Hundreds of thousands have marched from Amsterdam to Dearborn supporting Hamas, and, as such, wholesale rape, murder, torture, and kidnapping. It really is that simple. Those who excuse it are, in my mind, as morally bankrupt as those who support it. Never again? For the worst reasons, we have decided that, perhaps, just a little. Demand accountability and call it as you see it. Speaking of institutional rot, I would be remiss—because it is inside the Navy lifelines—if I did not once again remind everyone of the moral cowardice of one of our own institutions. In a venue that justified its existence largely on the lack of attention to the plight of women as victims of war, the staff that run the Women, Peace, and Security program at the Naval War College ignored—just weeks after the mass rape and slaughter of women and girls—the entire atrocity by Gaza. I am still waiting for full accountability there. Heck, I’ll just take partial at this point. Where to from here? I don’t know. What I do know is that anyone who calls for a “two-state solution” simply has not been paying attention. Even Israeli Arabs no long think this is possible. To finish things up, Konstantin Kisin has some points that need to be heard. As good now as then. Share Leave a comment 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 United Aircraft Corporation has delivered a new batch of Su-34 fighter-bombers to the Russian Aerospace Forces, the second batch of the jets handed over this year, the company’s parent, state defense conglomerate Rostec, said. Rostec did not say how many aircraft were in the batch. Photos and video released by UAC show at least […]View the full article

French defense startup Harmattan AI has unveiled IRIFI, an autonomous long-range loitering one-way attack drone system that the company says is designed to hit targets up to 2,000 km (1,240 miles) away without relying on satellite navigation or human control during flight. The company revealed the system on October 6, marking its move into deep […]View the full article

New U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress pilots are now making contact with a refueling tanker on their first live training flight, a skill that once took students several sorties to master, after the bomber’s training unit at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, built its air refueling instruction around a virtual reality trainer. A peer-reviewed study […]View the full article

The Florida National Guard fed drone video, unmanned boat data and troop positions from a training exercise at Camp Blanding, Florida, to U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs and to Joint Task Force-National Capital Region in the Washington area, where commanders viewed the information remotely. The link-up was part of Drone Crucible 26.3, which ran […]View the full article

The Italian Army has selected an armored version of the INEOS Grenadier 4×4, making Italy the first NATO country to place a large-scale military order for the British-designed off-roader. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2027. The army chose the Grenadier Enhanced Protection Vehicle, or EPV, in its armored configuration. The vehicles will mainly serve […]View the full article

General Dynamics Land Systems will show a version of its M-SHORAD Increment 4 air defense system mounted on a Ford Ranger pickup truck at the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting in Washington, D.C., which runs October 12 to 14. The display puts a short-range air defense and counter-drone package on a commercial pickup, […]View the full article

A Ukrainian fixed-wing strike drone built to find Russian electronic warfare systems by their own radio signals and dive onto them has been listed on Brave1 Market, the government-run online store where Ukrainian military units order weapons, Ukrainian outlet Defender Media reported. The drone, called SHOT-L1, can strike targets up to 80 km (50 miles) […]View the full article

BLADE, the robotics company formerly known as HDT, said it has submitted its Hunter WOLF unmanned ground vehicle for the U.S. Army’s Infantry Last Tactical Mile initiative, a prototype effort to use robotic vehicles for resupply and casualty evacuation near the front line. The company was one of six vendors the U.S. Army selected for […]View the full article

BAE Systems will build electronic warfare systems for three more production lots of the F-35 Lightning II under a new contract from Lockheed Martin, the company said on Oct. 6. The contract covers AN/ASQ-239 systems for F-35 Lots 20 through 22, along with systems to retrofit and modernize older aircraft already in service. BAE Systems […]View the full article

To say that the reporting of the last few days about the sudden departure of our B-1B bombers from RAF Fairford has been frustrating—for me at least—is an understatement. Airfield security has been a pebble in my shoe for a very long time. I assume everyone is familiar with my post from 11 months ago a bout the wake-up call at Whitman AFB? If not, give it a read, then come back. Let’s all get our reference point first from last week. Five men who were arrested on suspicion of explosive and terrorism offences after a major incident was declared at an RAF airbase in the west of England have been released on police bail. Three vans were spotted near RAF Fairford in the early hours of Sunday morning and the police were called. A major incident was declared, and everyone in the small village of Whelford was evacuated. The head of Counter Terrorism Policing has stressed that the five men remain under investigation and must adhere to strict bail conditions. It has since come to light that the first of two 999 calls was made by one of the arrested men. A dual UK-Iranian national, aged 25, has also since been arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts. Investigators are exploring “multiple lines of enquiry”, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said on Monday, including whether proxies or individuals were working on behalf of a foreign state - knowingly or not. Like all professionals do, let’s go to the map room. This is what the geometry looks like. OK. Soak that in a bit. Whelford is one of the few little residential areas around this base where our literally irreplaceable heavy bombers were operating from. The parking apron they are using? There it is, right around where the “RAF Fairford” label is. Now, let’s give you some scale. The smaller circle is 500 yards from where the vans and “fellas” were. The larger circle is 1,000 yards. Put on your force protection hat. Remember Operation Spider Web from over a year ago and what it was warning us about? I know for a fact that there has been a rather heated argument over whether we are simply taking too many risks with some of our “There’s nothing dangerous about this airfield! Why, four generations of my family have been flying out of here.” attitude. Habits, inertia, etc. We Americans make some assumptions about distance that is simply not a reality overseas, especially in Europe. Let me give you an idea of what the USAF is used to when it comes to controlling the land around your strategic assets. The issues about Whitman AFB that we discussed last year? Here is what those 500 and 1,000 yard radius circles look like from the CCP’s trailer park. One of the two airbases that B-1Bs are based out of in the U.S. is Dyess AFB outside Abilene, TX. The 500 and 1,000 yard radius circles are applied here—using the Whitman-standard-mobile-home-park launch area outside the base boundaries. We are spoiled. It is as if no one really did a good Red Hat from a force protection point of view and assumed we’d be as safe “over there” as we are “here”. Complacent, comfortable, and … well … its England … how much safer can it be? That is an assumption best left to the past. FY2027’s Jolly Old England is not your grandfather’s Jolly Old England. From letting those found in Fairford out on bail early, to the whole Diego Garcia issue, to their neglect of their military readiness, to their flooding themselves with undigestible hordes of military-aged males from parts of the world who hold the West in contempt…the whole stew is starting to smell a bit off. Old assumptions no long apply. What should the Navy be thinking about? As the members of the Front Porch know, I’ve always been a fan of Strategic Homeporting going back decades, not just for our aircraft, but for our fleet. I hate fleet concentration areas simply because it makes the enemy’s targeting challenges easier. Master air bases simply ensure compounded strategic risk in an era of transnational terrorists, millions of illegal aliens, and drone technology. Accountants love consolidate mega-bases as much as our enemies. Let’s look around a few of our CONUS Navy bases. Compared to Fairford, NAS Oceana is a little better, but not much. On the other side of town, Naval Base Norfolk is even better from the marina parking lot on Willoughby Spit. Ahem. Even my favorite force protection nightmare, Naval Base San Diego, looks like Fort Knox compared to Fairford. Now, if you really wanted to put a dent in the U.S. Navy air ASW, surveillance and reconnaissance, then the trailer park across from NAS Jacksonville…well…yeah. So, does everyone have a better handle on why we had to bug out of RAF Fairford? We could go through a whole host of other legacy NATO bases and get equally ugly results. What to do? Disperse our most critical assets across more bases. Yes, it makes logistics, maintenance, more difficult and expensive…but that is cheaper than losing assets on the deck that are no longer in production. Rededicate ourselves to the concept that institutionalized #1: strategic homeporting. Packing everyone in one spot is just stupid. Take base security seriously. The United States Air Force Security Forces need to make the Royal Air Force’s RAF Regiment look like mall cops and should have full control over the air defenses of its bases, from last-100-yard gun systems up to Patriot batteries clawed back from the Army. NAVAIR needs to benchmark what the USAF does with its bases, especially naval airbases. The Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations must, at every opportunity, bring up the lessons of the last few years about the disadvantages of large, static bases as a primary way to project power. Remind everyone of the flexibility, security, and national ownership of having your assets afloat—from C2 to strike. Assets at sea are not fully secure, but they are harder to kill. We live in a new tactical, operational, and strategic environment. Distribute risk. Mitigate threats. No, it isn’t sexy. It isn’t cheap. It isn’t fun, but it must be done. 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

The U.S. Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman a $66 million order to retrofit MQ-4C Triton surveillance drones already in service with the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force, bringing both fleets up to a common configuration. The firm-fixed-price delivery order covers engineering work, materials and spare parts to install 17 engineering change proposals […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin a $209 million contract modification to keep building the AN/SLQ-32(V)6, the electronic warfare system that warns U.S. Navy surface ships of incoming anti-ship missiles and the radars guiding them. The U.S. Department of War announced the award, made Sept. 30. The modification includes options that, if exercised, would […]View the full article

Russian tank maker Uralvagonzavod says it has completed testing of an upgraded BREM-80 armored recovery vehicle that lets its crew hook up and tow damaged tanks without leaving the vehicle, a change the company says came directly from combat experience in Ukraine. The company, part of Russia’s state-owned Rostec corporation, announced the end of the […]View the full article

The U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division has started fielding the M2A4E1 Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the first Bradley version fitted with an active protection system designed to destroy incoming anti-tank missiles, rockets and drones before they hit the vehicle. The division said in a social media post that its 6th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, is receiving […]View the full article

France test-fired its newest submarine-launched nuclear missile, the M51.3, from a ballistic missile submarine for the first time on Oct. 6, with President Emmanuel Macron watching from a French Navy frigate off the coast of Brittany. The missile was launched from the submarine Le Vigilant off Finistère and came down in the North Atlantic several […]View the full article

The U.S. Army has awarded Anduril Industries a contract worth up to $1.8 billion over five years to roll out its Next Generation Command and Control network, known as NGC2, starting with I Corps, the Army headquarters responsible for much of its force in the Pacific. The initial base period of the contract is valued […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy has awarded Ursa Major two contracts worth a combined $137 million to develop and qualify solid rocket motors for two new missiles: a small air-to-air missile for fighter jets and a ship-launched interceptor meant to eventually replace the Standard Missile family. The Colorado company announced the awards on Oct. 5. The larger […]View the full article

Buntar Aerospace, a Ukrainian maker of reconnaissance drones and battlefield AI software, has raised $16 million to expand production and enter foreign markets, bringing its total funding to $30 million. The round was led by Freedom Fund VC and an international private equity fund that the company did not name. Gardar Venture Capital, Iron Wolf […]View the full article

It is easy to be cynical about published strategies. Often they don’t quite align with what actually happens (history has her own plays), or they distract themselves with unimportant or irrelevant “latest thing” socio-political posturing. While everyone’s eyes have been focused over the last half-year on U.S. and Israeli actions against Iran, does everyone remember where military action this year started? Venezuela. Let’s step back a bit and look at a couple of quotes from documents we discussed in detail over the last year, the National Security Strategy (NSS) and the National Defense Strategy (NDS). As the NDS is subordinate to the NSS, let’s start there. After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region. We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere. This “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine is a common-sense and potent restoration of American power and priorities, consistent with American security interests. Our goals for the Western Hemisphere can be summarized as “Enlist and Expand.” We will enlist established friends in the Hemisphere to control migration, stop drug flows, and strengthen stability and security on land and sea. We will expand by cultivating and strengthening new partners while bolstering our own nation’s appeal as the Hemisphere’s economic and security partner of choice. Look at that last part. The three are intertwined. The same cartels that control the drugs flooding the U.S. are also the ones who are making bank on each illegal alien that crosses the southern border. …control migration, stop drug flows, and strengthen stability and security on land and sea. So, how do you “operationalize” this concept? Let’s look to the NDS. In recent decades, our nation has been overwhelmed by a flood of illegal aliens. At the same time, narcotics have poured across our borders, poisoning hundreds of thousands of Americans. Narcotics traffickers in our hemisphere have profited enormously off this evil and are rightly designated as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs)… At sea, we have seen direct action against drug-running boats and their resupply vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Ashore, there have been hints here and there, but now we are seeing combined operations out in the open. Via CBS, U.S. troops helped Ecuador dismantle a local branch of Mexico’s notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), arresting more than 30 members, Ecuador’s interior minister said Thursday. Quito, a Washington ally, is enthusiastically cooperating with President Trump’s crackdown on organized crime across Latin America. Thursday’s early-morning operation “was conducted jointly with U.S. troops and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA),” Ecuadoran Interior Minister John Reimberg wrote on X. Over 30 Ecuadorans were arrested for allegedly belonging to the group with a “direct connection to the CJNG,” he said. The minister said the group was involved in trafficking cocaine from Colombia, the world’s largest producer, to international markets via ports in southwestern Ecuador. Some 320 Ecuadoran police officers and 50 uniformed personnel from the U.S. Southern Command took part in the operation spanning several cities, he said. While I think there are some good faith arguments against attacking drug boats (as I’ve stated from the start, I support this direct action that I used to dream about in the 1990s, when I was chasing these people on the high seas), it is hard to argue against the coordinated action with South American nations. Heck, even Marine Raiders are getting in on the action. After all, it is the money via demand from the U.S. (and Europe) that is enabling these cartels destroying the rule of law in other nations. It is only fitting that we invest our resources to help mitigate this negative secondary effect. Political shifts to the right in South America are opening the door to more cooperation with the U.S. against these cartels. This is a gain for everyone. President Daniel Noboa tied the raids to his speech at the U.N. General Assembly a day earlier, where he said “no state can confront alone an enemy that crosses borders.” So much potential here, and we are only getting started. Cappy has a good 30-minute summary of the action, with more detail than you will find anywhere else. This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Share Leave a comment View the full article

The U.S. Navy is lining up a five-year engineering support contract for the redesign of the F-35’s mission planning software, the ground-based system pilots use to plan sorties and load data into the stealth fighter before takeoff. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division in China Lake, California, said in a sources sought notice published […]View the full article

Japan has put its longest-range missile system on public display for the first time since deployment, showing the Type 25 surface-to-ship guided missile launcher to local residents at the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s Camp Kengun in Kumamoto on Oct. 3. Four vehicles, including the missile launcher and an ammunition carrier, were lined up inside the […]View the full article