Current Events

Enjoy ... 02 January AUSTRALIA Two more suspected asylum seeker boats carrying a total of 54 people have been intercepted by Australian navy patrol boats off Australia’s north-western coast. 03 January CHINA Rumours that a total of 24 JIANGKAI-II class frigates may be built eventually. IRAN +++ The Iranian Navy wrapped up ten-day exercise “Velayat 90” with naval +++ parades displaying different types of warships, submarines, hovercraft, helicopter and aircraft Iranian Army chief: wargames “proved that Iran is powerful enough to exercise full control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz” … the US Navy has moved aircraft carrier JOHN C STENNIS out of th…

Something to consider, in light of a seemingly 'more troubled than usual' world. No, Great Power War Isn't Obsolete (The Diplomat)

All in PDF US nuclear warheads, 1945-2009 Russian nuclear forces, 2009 US nuclear forces, 2009

Nuclear-conventional Firebreaks and the Nuclear Taboo (CBSA)

On Perdix and other micro-UAVs swarms, fot the future history: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/03/08/inside-the-secretive-pentagon-office-planning-skyborg-fighters-and-drone-swarms/ https://warisboring.com/imagine-f-16s-deploying-swarms-of-tiny-drones-8c6593fe51c6#.glcsfd99c https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1044811/department-of-defense-announces-successful-micro-drone-demonstration https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/Perdix%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a24494/chinese-drones-swarms/?src=social-email

How do we model this in Harpoon?! Oz's Magnetic Sub-Hunter DefenseTech Being a sub-hunter has gotten tough, lately. The new diesel subs that Iran and China are buying up are tiny, quiet, and can swim through the crannies that hug the coasts. That makes 'em really hard to find. And it's a major reason why the U.S. Navy is switching from passive sonars to Slayer-loud, active sonars that makes whales slam dance onto dry land. Australian scientists may have found a better way to find these quiet subs, The Engineer reports -- one that doesn't drive whales psycho. The Australian development, called MAGSAFE, uses the detection of changing magnetic fields to…

BBC News story, with video Well, I have to say, it looks like you'd imagine a Russian stealth fighter to be. Like a stretched F-35.

An early 1980's BBC documentary about the Royal Navy's Submarine Command Course otherwise known as 'Perisher'. Part 1 of 6 parts.

Promise and Reality: Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Air-To-Air Combat (pdf, a research paper by Lt Col Patrick Higby, USAF, submitted to Air War College in March 2005)

Full PDF article at National Defense University Excerpt follows, from Defense Aerospace: "Faced with the prospect of aerial stealth proliferation, states in the 21st century are looking for anti-stealth defense options. One such alternative, passive radar, appears a cost-effective counter to stealth. Passive radar is a receive-only system that uses transmitters of opportunity. Integrating a system of netted receivers, passive radar can detect, track, and target piloted and unpiloted stealth systems and provide cuing for antiair weapons systems. A passive radar system emits no radio energy and can be well camouflaged in both urban and rural landscapes. The thre…

US Overseas Military Presence: What are the Strategic Choices? From http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1211.html [excerpt of abstract]

Hi All, @donaldseadog let me know that no new Raw Intel threads have been appearing for a couple of weeks so I looked into it just now and of the four blogs we had feeding Raw Intel, three have no posted recently and the other put their feed behind CloudFlare making it inaccessible. In any event, if you had a topically appropriate RSS feed you'd like to see feed our Raw Intel section, please note it on this thread and I'll have a look. Thanks!

Once again, HCE proving it is ahead of the curve. Raytheon floats idea for offshore missile batteries (Jane's) Seriously, though, I hate the SAM barges. Please don't use them in your scenario building if you can possibly avoid it.

From Naval Open Source Intelligence SAAB does a great job of marketing their wares. Check out the new promo for the RBS-15. Enjoy!

From Stratfor Stratfor, 17 September 2007 Red October: Russia, Iran and Iraq By George Friedman The course of the war in Iraq appears to be set for the next year. Of the four options we laid out a few weeks ago, the Bush administration essentially has selected a course between the first and second options -- maintaining the current mission and force level or retaining the mission but gradually reducing the force. The mission -- creating a stable, pro-American government in Baghdad that can assume the role of ensuring security -- remains intact. The strategy is to use the maximum available force to provide security until the Iraqis can assume the burden. The forc…

Report of the Global Commission on Drugs [excerpt]

Revitalizing Wargaming is Necessary to Be Prepared for Future Wars (War on the Rocks)

Radars matched with aircraft types. Probably at long term useful for database editing (in Russian): https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B5_%D0%A0%D0%9B%D0%A1

Interesting and not far of the Harpoon simulation outcomes: http://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3691

An excellent 'detailed analysis' of the Soviet/Russian S-300P SAM system by Sean O'Connor can be found at his (also excellent) IMINT & Analysis Blog site here: http://geimint.blogspot.com/