Raw Intel

The North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed on January 19 that multiple aircraft are en route to Pituffik Space Base in Greenland to support planned operational activities, an announcement made as political tensions rise over the Arctic island’s status. In a statement, NORAD said the deployment “will support various long-planned NORAD activities” and emphasized several […]View the full article

India is set to publicly unveil its Long Range Hypersonic Anti-Ship Missile (LRAShM) during the Republic Day parade on January 26, marking the first official presentation of the country’s longest-range hypersonic strike weapon developed for maritime operations. The missile, formally known as the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, is a boost-glide hypersonic system developed by the […]View the full article

Japan’s Ministry of Defense reported a sharp increase in Air Self-Defense Force emergency fighter scrambles in December 2025, with aircraft launched 79 times to intercept foreign military aircraft approaching Japanese airspace, according to data released by the Joint Staff Office on January 16, 2026. The total represented an increase of 46 scrambles compared with November […]View the full article

Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) confirmed on January 20, 2026, that it has taken delivery of a newly developed small unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) designed for underwater defense missions. The announcement was made by the Ministry of Defense’s JMSDF public affairs office, which stated that the domestically developed UUV has now been formally inducted into […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Air Force confirmed that Russian forces used a Zircon hypersonic missile during a recent overnight strike, marking another documented combat employment of the advanced weapon against targets on Ukrainian territory. The Ukrainian Air Force Command said the missile was launched from the territory of temporarily occupied Crimea, likely from a ground-based launcher. According to […]View the full article

There was a lot to get excited about at last week’s Surface Navy Association confab, and I’ll get to that in a minute, but it would be wise to temper one’s expectations. 20 years seems like a long time, but in many ways it is not. As we look forward to what our fleet will look like at mid-century, we should look back to what we were all promised in January of 2005 that was going to transform into the Navy of the 21st century. There were four ship classes that were going to be the surface fleet that we were promised at the time, were going to ensure America’s dominance at sea for the next half century. (NB: most of the hypertext links below go to the tags from my OG Blog t…

United States Central Command confirmed that American forces are operating the Electronic Advanced Ground Launcher System (EAGLS), a mobile counter-drone weapon designed to protect U.S. troops, following recent testing and operational deployment in the Middle East. In a statement published on January 19, 2026, CENTCOM stated that the system “counters drone threats with precision” and […]View the full article

A Russian pro-Kremlin media channel released new footage this week showing what it claims is the combat use of a laser weapon against Ukrainian drones in Russia’s Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine, marking another public appearance of a Chinese-made directed-energy system in Russian service. The video, published on January 2026, shows a stationary […]View the full article

EuroTrophy GmbH has signed a €330 million ($383 million) contract with KNDS Deutschland to supply Trophy Active Protection Systems for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks ordered by Lithuania, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Croatia, the company announced on January 19, 2026. The agreement covers the delivery of Trophy APS units for the four national […]View the full article

Ukraine has paused additional orders of HX-2 strike drones from German defense technology firm Helsing after the systems showed technical problems during frontline testing, according to Bloomberg. The decision follows field trials conducted by Ukraine’s 14th Regiment, a unit specializing in unmanned aerial systems, where the HX-2 experienced repeated difficulties during launch and operation. The […]View the full article

A Ukrainian defense company, CENTRE ZAKHYST, has announced the successful development and combat testing of its ODIN counter-unmanned aerial systems, a domestically produced solution designed to intercept attack drones, according to a statement released by the company. CENTRE ZAKHYST said the system has been implemented in combat conditions and tested both at training grounds and […]View the full article

Poland has tested the KUNA configurable autonomous multi-role platform in winter terrain, confirming its ability to operate in snow, ice, and sub-zero conditions where standard wheeled vehicles lose mobility, according to information released by the Wojskowy Instytut Techniki Pancernej i Samochodowej (WITPiS). The winter evaluation focused on mobility, autonomy, and logistics support in conditions that […]View the full article

DARPA, the Pentagon’s research and technology arm, confirmed on January 14, 2026, that its Robotic Autonomy in Complex Environments with Resiliency (RACER) program has completed final operational tests and is ready for transition to U.S. military units and commercial users. The announcement follows a series of Army and Marine Corps demonstrations that showed RACER-equipped vehicles […]View the full article

Is four months too short a turnaround for a guest on Midrats? Not if the topic at hand keeps running to the top of your read board. From the unending diplomacy responding to the Trump Administration’s unending drive to get Greenland’s geography—and the resulting security—more firmly under American control, to the sitcom-worthy deployment of a couple of dozen “Coalition of the Freezing”—Greenland can’t-stop-won’t-stop from gathering eyeballs and attention. So, we’re bringing back Elizabeth Buchanan for another visit. We’ll use her recent article in The Spectator as starting off point, A buyer’s guide to Greenland. We go LIVE at 6pm Eastern. If you are reading this after th…

India has reportedly acquired dozens of Belarus-made Berkut-BM one-way attack drones, according to defense industry sources. The Berkut-BM is a jet-powered kamikaze drone developed by the Indela company in Belarus and designed to strike time-sensitive battlefield targets before they can relocate. The system is powered by compact Chinese-made micro turbojet engines produced by Swiwin, giving the […]View the full article

Japan’s Board of Audit revealed in January 2026 that military equipment worth approximately 1.1 trillion yen ($6.9 billion) purchased from the United States under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program has not been delivered to the Japan Self-Defense Forces despite more than five years passing since contracts were signed. The finding is detailed in an […]View the full article

South Korea has begun deploying its Hyunmoo-5 surface-to-surface ballistic missile to frontline military units, military officials said Sunday, confirming that the country’s most powerful conventional strike weapon has entered operational service as part of efforts to deter North Korea. According to South Korean military officials, the missile began entering frontline units in late 2025 and […]View the full article

The United States Army has missed its deadline to field the Dark Eagle hypersonic missile, acknowledging that the first U.S. ground-based hypersonic weapon will not be deployed until early 2026, despite the unit assigned to operate the system already being trained and ready. According to a report by Bloomberg, the Army confirmed this week that […]View the full article

A Chinese-made VN22 6×6 wheeled armored vehicle was spotted at the Military Scientific and Technical Institute of Uzbekistan, confirming the presence of Chinese armored platforms at a key Uzbek defense research facility. Images show the VN22 positioned inside the institute alongside other military vehicles, indicating that the platform is undergoing technical evaluation. The VN22 is […]View the full article

A new variant of China’s ZBD-04 infantry fighting vehicle has been spotted during transport at an undisclosed location, showing the platform fitted with an automated, unmanned weapon turret, indicating a possible shift in the Chinese Army’s approach to infantry vehicle design. Images circulating online show a modified ZBD-04 chassis equipped with a lighter, remotely operated […]View the full article