Raw Intel

Last week was, if anything, “Space Week.” There were two very intentional statements from senior U.S. military leaders, one civilian and one uniformed, that put markers down. It is much more important than the coverage it received would suggest. First, the Secretary of the Air Force, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink offered no details about the nature or makeup of the weapons but described them as “on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action.” He made the surprise admission during his keynote address Monday at the annual Air, Space and Cyber Conference at National Harbor, Md. A Space Force spokesperson said the weap…

The U.S. Marine Corps has released a photo of Marines with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit driving a Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System, known as LMADIS, a mobile counter-drone system, in the Middle East on Sept. 2-6. The caption says only that the photo was taken in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, […]View the full article

U.S. Army soldiers launched micro-High-Altitude Balloons at the Yausubetsu Training Area on Hokkaido, Japan, on Sept. 18, including one that carried an APOLLO-R drone. Observers from Japan, the United Kingdom and Australia watched the demonstration during Exercise Orient Shield 26, according to the title of the U.S. Army’s video. Balloons are often seen as relics […]View the full article

U.S. Air Force officers studying at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) are testing whether small drones can scout a damaged airfield before engineers walk onto it. The research targets a job that still depends mostly on people. After an attack, U.S. Air Force civil engineers have to reopen runways while dealing with unexploded […]View the full article

NORAD has sent U.S. Air Force F-16 fighters from Alaska to the Atlantic side of Canada, and plans to take aircraft and personnel on into Greenland, in an Arctic operation running Sept. 13-26. The Alaskan NORAD Region moved the F-16s from Eielson Air Force Base to Goose Bay, in Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador province, for […]View the full article

Turkish defense specialists inspected aircraft maintenance facilities at Royal Air Force Coningsby in England on Sept. 15-17 as work continues on Türkiye’s purchase of Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets from the United Kingdom. The Turkish Ministry of National Defense announced the visit in a post on X. The delegation included personnel from the ministry, the Turkish […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force inactivated four A-10 units at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, on Sept. 18, in a ceremony it described as the official end of the A-10 legacy at the base. The units were the 355th Operations Group, 357th Fighter Squadron, 357th Fighter Generation Squadron and 355th Training Squadron. Col. Jose Cabrera, commander […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force retired EC-130H Compass Call tail 1590 at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, on Sept. 18, after more than four decades of Compass Call electronic warfare operations. The propeller-driven aircraft made its final flight on Sept. 2 and taxied in for the last time during a retirement ceremony. The EA-37B now takes […]View the full article

After a two-week availability period, the Midrats Podcast is back! SummaryIn this episode, we explore current geopolitical tensions, military readiness, and strategic challenges facing the US and its allies, emphasizing the importance of preparedness and international cooperation. You can listen at this link or via the Spotify widget below. Show LinksRussian restrictions on Estonia’s borders Curfew on Russia’s Border with Estonia, Holger Roonemaa on Substack Great Circle ballistic arcs over Greenland Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East, by Michael B. Oren Operation Red Sea Regatta Shipfinder Hormuz Tracker Hormuz Strait Monitor Strait of Ti…

Combat medics from Ukraine’s 1st Separate Medical Battalion traveled to Sweden last week to share their experience evacuating wounded soldiers under drone threat, meeting with medical personnel from the Swedish Armed Forces’ Life Guards regiment, according to a Life Guards post and a LinkedIn account from the Ukrainian company that built the ground robot involved […]View the full article

Five companies posted the top scores in the close-quarters battle category of Gauntlet II, the latest round of testing under the U.S. Department of War’s $1 billion Drone Dominance Program, according to results the program released and companies confirmed this week. Neros topped that category with a score of 88.1, followed by ORQA US LLC […]View the full article

The U.S. Space Force wants companies to pitch satellites that can chase down and inspect objects in orbit on short notice, according to a request for information Space Systems Command published September 18. Space Systems Command asked industry September 18 to pitch designs for a spacecraft that can chase down another object in space, close […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force will hold a two-day industry day October 20-21 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to brief companies on a new mission computer upgrade for its F-16 fighter fleet, according to a notice posted September 18 by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. The event covers the Next-Generation Mission Computer program, an […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy is asking defense companies to pitch designs for a carrier-launched combat drone that could fly, fight and land on aircraft carriers alongside manned fighters, according to a request for information released August 31 by Naval Air Systems Command. The RFI covers the first increment of the Navy’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, run […]View the full article

The U.S. Space Development Agency released a formal request for proposals September 18 for ground stations that will receive data from its next generation of missile-tracking satellites, with proposals due November 2. The solicitation covers Ground Entry Points, or GEPs, for the agency’s Resilient Missile Warning Tracking satellites in low Earth orbit. These ground stations […]View the full article

While some military hardware ages out quickly, the Army’s Avenger air defense system has instead spent nearly four decades getting upgraded piece by piece, and this week it received another one: a new contract worth up to $25.2 million for infrared sensors that let its crews spot targets in the dark. The Defense Logistics Agency […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Leidos an $85 million ceiling contract for digital design tools meant to help engineer future aircraft, the second company in as many days to win a spot under the same research program that Anduril Industries joined a day earlier. The Air Force Research Laboratory made the award to Leidos, […]View the full article

The U.S. Army has awarded a $10.6 million contract for Raybird unmanned aircraft hardware and services to Skyeton Inc., the American arm of Skyeton, a Ukrainian company that has spent the past several years proving the drone in combat over Ukraine. Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, issued the firm-fixed-price contract after soliciting bids […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy has awarded Kato Engineering a $49.3 million contract to keep maintaining the power system behind the electromagnetic catapults on its Ford-class aircraft carriers, covering engineering support, repairs and spare-parts sourcing through 2031. The contract covers the Energy Storage Subsystem of the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, the technology that replaced traditional […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy has added $76.6 million to a Lockheed Martin contract for continued design work on the next generation of the Trident II D5 nuclear missile, part of a long-term effort meant to keep the submarine-launched weapon in service into the 2080s. The modification adds to an existing contract with Strategic Systems Programs, the […]View the full article