Raw Intel

Future Lynx naval (click to view full) In 2006, Finmeccanica subsidiary AgustaWestland received a GBP 1 billion (about $1.9 billion at 02/07 rates) contract from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) for 70 Future Lynx helicopters, and began a new chapter in a long-running success story. The Lynx is an extremely fast helicopter that entered service in the 1970s, and quickly carved out a niche for itself in the global land and naval markets. The base design has evolved into a number of upgrades and versions, which have been been widely exported around the world. In Britain, Lynx helicopters are used in a number of British Army (AH7 & AH9) and Fleet Air Arm (Mk 8) roles: …

Good analysis by NIGHTWATCH of some events taking place in the South China Sea. Philippines-China : The Philippine military on 2 March sent two military aircraft to patrol the ocean and air space near Reed Bank, a long time Philippine-occupied territory in the South China Sea. The Philippines took the action in response to the behavior of two Chinese patrol boats which harassed a Philippine ship searching for oil, according to Philippine military commander Lieutenant General Juancho Sabban. A Philippine OV-10 aircraft and an Islander light patrol aircraft were deployed after the incident was reported, Sablan said. The Chinese boats appeared ready to ram the Phi…

The latest lament of the lames in the Lamestream Media is that somehow, upon further inspection, Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan doesn't have enough Private Sector experience for the job of Vice President. For one thing, Ryan has no significant private-sector experience. Besides summer jobs working at McDonald’s or at his family’s construction company, or waiting tables as a young Washington staffer, Ryan has none of the business-world experience Romney frequently touts as essential for governing. The New Yorker, and specifically, Ryan Lizza, might want to take a moment to let the irony of saying something as galactically ridiculous as that sink in. I …

Prototype No. 2011 of the J-20 project had its maiden flight last weekend. As previously discussed, No. 2011 has significant changes to the previous J-20 prototypes that we've seen in flight testing (No. 2001 and No. 2002). There were probably 2 more prototypes similar to 2001/2002 for the purpose of static and RCS testing. It seems like 2001/2002 are more like the demonstrator prototypes whereas 2011 is the first pre-production prototype. It's likely that the production version of J-20 will not see any major differences unless major problems are found in testing. The pictures below show prototype 2001 vs prototype 2011 from different view point with Chinese labels o…

Today's guest is Mike Petters, President and Chief Executive Officer of Huntington Ingalls Industries. How long would it take the shipbuilding industry to grow capacity and throughput if the nation faced a naval crisis or conflict? Anticipation, Not Reaction, is Critical The fact is the shipbuilding industry is not designed to respond rapidly to a crisis. Whatever the conflict, the nature of our business dictates that we play with the team we’ve got. Ours is a business of anticipation, not reaction. There is nothing magical about it. To meet tomorrow’s crisis or conflict requires continuous investment today to ensure we can deliver capability critical to our natio…

The following review by Elise Cooper is an exclusive for BlackFive readers. You can read all of our book reviews by clicking here or on the Books category: Dale Brown’s latest book, Tiger’s Claw , proves once again that he is able to bring to life a thrilling and dramatic story that could be in the headlines in the near future. Currently China is in a position to challenge America militarily, economically, and politically. After reading Tiger’s Claw people might understand how the Chinese-American rivalry will play out. The plot starts out with a powerful China and a US weakened by an economic downfall. After China launches its first successful test of…

A-10A over Germany (click to view full) The Precision Engagement modification is the largest single upgrade effort ever undertaken for the USA’s unique A-10 “Warthog” close air support aircraft fleet. While existing A/OA-10 aircraft continue to outperform technology-packed rivals on the battlefield, this set of upgrades is expected to make them more flexible, and help keep the aircraft current until the fleet’s planned phase-out in 2028. When complete, A-10C PE will give USAF A-10s precision strike capability sooner than planned, combining multiple upgrades into 1 time and money-saving program, rather than executing them as standalone projects. Indeed, the USAF accelera…

Nice. No sketchy sound track. Just Sailors and their ships.Me? I like it because it reminds me of one of the best views in my Navy career - early AM when an UDALOY and a RAPUSHKA came out of the fog off Portugal en route to the STROG.This is the ADMIRAL CHABANENKO of Udaloy II class. The Russians do make attractive ships. View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won a $9.3 million contract modification, which increases the ceiling to partially definitize fiscal 2021 air vehicle initial spares, to include global spares packages, base spares packages, deployment spares packages, and afloat spares packages in support F-35 Lightning II Air Vehicle deliveries for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, non-US Department of Defense participants, and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion is in December 2021. Raytheon won a $13.9 million deal to procure contractor logistics support maintainers and engineering reach back support of the AN/ALQ-249(V)1 Next Gen…

Javelin, firing (click to view full) The FGM-148 Javelin missile system aimed to solve 2 key problems experienced by American forces. One was a series of disastrous experiences in Vietnam, trying to use 66mm M72 LAW rockets against old Soviet tanks. A number of replacement options like the Mk 153 SMAW and the AT4/M136 spun out of that effort in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until electronics had miniaturized for several more cycles that it became possible to solve the next big problem: the need for soldiers to remain exposed to enemy fire while guiding anti-tank missiles to their targets. Javelin solves both of those problems at once, offering a heavy fire-and-forget missil…

Raise your hand if you might have tracked either of these ..... The Transshelf semi-submersible open dock vessel has delivered two decommissioned Victor III class nuclear submarines from a Russian Pacific Fleet base in Kamchatka to the Zvezda shipyard in the town of Bolshoi Kamen in Russia’s Far East for scrapping. View the full article

The Navy just released an interesting video of Raytheon's Griffin missile testing from USS Monsoon (PC-4) off VACAPES last month. Although relatively short-range (about 5km), Griffin brings some much-needed offensive firepower to the PCs. The $45k a pop Griffin has proliferated in the U.S. military in the past few years, with roll-on installations on Marine Corps C-130s and other aircraft. Monsoon's testing also represented a successful demonstration of laser designation and targeting at sea (albeit on a clear day). The dual quad-pack Griffin set up onboard Monsoon is very compact and lends itself to installation onboard even smaller vessels such as the MK VI. The …

The United States Navy has moved up the deployment of the Bataan ARG. There's word Thursday that the USS Bataan, homeported in Norfolk, will head out on deployment later this month. Navy officials tell WVEC.com that the Bataan is surging to replace the Kearsarge, as part of a contingency operation. The surge is designed to give the president flexibility regarding the recent uprising in Northern Africa and in the Middle East. There's no word on the exact time of the deployment or for how long it will last. There are several things here. The Kearsarge had unloaded Marines into Afghanistan, and while the ship has been reinforced with additional M…

Yesterday around 6.00 CET pirates in a fishing vessel attacked the MV Flintstone 93NM north east of the island of Socotra. The pirates in their dhow where seen coming and the crew of the Flintstone went into hid in a special compartment of the ship. Meanwhile the Dutch Vessel Protection Detachment, consisting of marines, prepared for the arrival of the skiff that came from the dhow, that was being used as a mother ship. At first the VPD fired flares at the coming ship, in which they could see several weapons including a RPG. When this RPG was aimed at the Flintstone the marines answered with direct fire, forcing the skiff to return to the dhow. What I don't un…

The Royal Navy speaks so it can sleep at night. Adml Sir Mark Stanhope said the campaign would have been more effective without the Government's defence cuts. The aircraft carrier and the Harrier jump-jets scrapped under last year's strategic defence review would have made the mission more effective, faster and cheaper, he said. Sir Mark warned that the Navy would not be able to sustain its operations in Libya for another three months without making cuts elsewhere. ... "The pros would have been a much more reactive force," he said. "Rather than deploying from Gioia del Colle, we would deploy within 20 minutes as opposed to an hour and a half, so obvious…

Do you feel lucky…? (click to view full) The T-45 Training System includes T-45 Goshawk aircraft, advanced flight simulators, computer-assisted instructional programs, a computerized training integration system, and a contractor logistics support package. The integration of all 5 elements is designed to produce a superior pilot in less time and at lower cost than previous training systems. The US Navy uses the Hawk-based T-45TS system to train its pilots for the transition from T-6A Texan II/ JPATS aircraft to modern jet fighters – and carrier landings. This is not a risk-free assignment, by any means. Nevertheless, it is a critical link in the naval aviation chain. Th…

This is the official press release by the US Navy. PACIFIC OCEAN (NNS) -- An aerial target drone malfunctioned and struck guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) off the coast of Southern California at approximately 1:25 pm local time today, Nov. 16, while the ship was conducting a radar tracking exercise during routine training at sea. No Sailors were seriously injured, but two Sailors were treated for minor burns. The ship remains capable of operations, however it did sustain some damage and will return to its homeport of San Diego to have the damage assessed. The Navy is investigating the cause of the malfunction.That is very vague, so what if we add a bit…

My recent post on how to counter Chinese anti-shipping capabilities between the First and Second Island Chains was heavily influenced by CAPT William Toti’s seminal article in last June’s Naval Institute Proceedingson the need to tackle anti-submarine warfare from a theater-wide, threat-tailored, combined arms campaign construct. If you haven’t read his article (which is outside the paywall), do so. It is a foundational work. Toti observes that the dramatic sensor advantages that allowed the U.S. Navy to thoroughly dominate Soviet submarines throughout much of the Cold War no longer hold. Our ability to detect and attack an approaching adversary submarine before …

Wait. What?! This video (flying around today) of Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen is unbelievable...: Wonder how the SEAL Team chiefs and officers feel about that one... Jonn Lilyea says that this is evidence of the Dems swiftboating the SEALs. Heh. View the full article

Wait .... let me put that in better context. From our buddy over at ELP. On another note, this from insidedefense.com (subscription). LCS - the gift that keeps giving. Roll in the fail. I guess putting Sailors in combat not knowing the ability of their "warship" to actually do that "overseas contingency operation" thingy is asking too much. Making sure you can explain to the family members of those killed in combat why their sons and daughters are at the bottom of the sea is "unreasonably expensive" and "impractical." I'll let you answer that question in front of a Senate investigation committee sometime later this decade or next. View …