Raw Intel

There is no greater partner for the US Navy than the Royal Navy. I wish they had more units, but more often than not, they will sail with us into harm’s way. Great to see this. The Portsmouth-based warship came under sustained missile and drone attacks in the Red Sea over a six-month period from December 2023 until June last year as she strove to protect merchant shipping and allied warships targeted at random by Houthi rebels in Yemen. In response, her Sea Viper missile system and 30mm gun destroyed a string of drones, even one ballistic missile. For their actions, HMS Diamond has been awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation by the US Navy. Her Commanding Officer during …

Six F-16 Fighting Falcons touched down in Argentina on Saturday morning, marking a major milestone in the modernization of the Argentine Air Force and the country’s return to supersonic combat aviation after more than a decade. The arrival was confirmed by the Argentine Air Force, which stated, “Mission accomplished: the F-16s have landed on Argentine […]View the full article

The United States Air Force moved multiple special operations support aircraft north along the coast of the United Kingdom today, as three U-28A Draco intelligence and reconnaissance aircraft were tracked heading toward the North Sea amid rising tensions over the Russian-flagged crude oil tanker Marinera. Aircraft spotters observed U-28A aircraft using the callsigns AGREE32, AGREE34, […]View the full article

Uzbekistan’s armed forces conducted a live-fire air defense exercise using multiple Chinese-made surface-to-air missile systems. The exercise involved launches from three Chinese systems: the long-range FD-2000B, the medium-range KS-1C, and the short-range FM-90. All missiles were fired as part of an integrated air defense target practice aimed at training crews in detection, tracking, and engagement […]View the full article

The United States Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $1.9 billion contract for the C-130J Maintenance and Training System (JMATS) IV, according to a contract announcement. The agreement covers production, modernization, sustainment, and support of training systems used by crews and maintenance personnel operating the C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. The program addresses the continued […]View the full article

MGI Engineering said Tuesday it has completed the first successful flights of its TigerShark uncrewed deep-strike platform, marking a major milestone for a new long-range European autonomous strike system. The first flights move the program beyond development and into active testing, introducing a platform built for long-range missions in high-intensity combat environments. MGI said TigerShark […]View the full article

Rolls-Royce has secured the propulsion contract for Australia’s new general-purpose frigate fleet, with the Royal Australian Navy confirming the MT30 marine gas turbine will power up to 11 ships based on Japan’s upgraded Mogami-class design. The selection follows Australia’s earlier decision to procure the upgraded Mogami-class frigate as its general-purpose naval frigate replacement. Japan’s Mogami-class […]View the full article

Taiwan’s state defense research institute publicly unveiled its next-generation anti-armor rocket, showing off a weapon significantly more capable than what Taiwanese infantry currently carry and explicitly designed to counter the armored vehicles a Chinese amphibious invasion force would land on Taiwan’s beaches. The National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, known as NCSIST and the […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin a $2.3 billion contract to establish and sustain new operating sites for the F-35 Lightning II, the American-built stealth multirole fighter that has become the backbone of air power for the United States and allied operators across the global F-35 fleet, covering site activation, interim contractor support, fleet […]View the full article

A British firm building uncrewed patrol boats for NATO navies just crossed the billion-dollar valuation mark, with Kraken Technology Group announcing the close of a $175 million Series B funding round on July 9 that values the company at $1 billion. The round, led by Digital Transformation Capital Partners, or DTCP, arrives less than a […]View the full article

A German company that makes the transmissions and propulsion systems inside tanks, armored vehicles, and warships has posted its best order intake in company history, and the surge traces directly back to militaries around the world rushing to rearm. RENK Group AG, a Germany-based manufacturer that builds gear units, transmissions, and propulsion systems for military […]View the full article

Israeli drone maker SpearUAV says it has nearly 1,000 Viper 300 loitering munition systems ready for delivery to customers around the world, a production milestone the Tel Aviv-based company announced without naming which countries or units are receiving the systems. The Viper 300 is a small, capsule-launched drone that soldiers can fire either on foot […]View the full article

Mack Defense will display a hybrid-electric heavy tractor it built for the U.S. Army’s Common Tactical Truck program at the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., Oct. 12-14. The truck is Mack’s on-road entry for the program and is designed to replace older highway haulers such as the M915 Line […]View the full article

Lithuania is putting U.S.-made AN/TPS-77 Multi-Role Radars into service to watch its airspace, with the truck-mounted Lockheed Martin systems feeding real-time data into NATO’s integrated air and missile defense network, the country’s Ministry of National Defence said. Lithuania is buying three of the radars under a Foreign Military Sales contract worth about $52.6 million that […]View the full article

Since I started reading military history when I was ... well ... able to read ... there have been two types of leaders that I have always found interesting at moments when all is lost. One represents the worst example, and one is the best. When I say, “all is lost,” I'm not talking about fighting retreats or "Horatius at the Bridge" situations when forces are engaged in holding actions to buy time, but those moments when defeat is a forgone conclusion. There is no real hope for victory but a leader has to make decisions as to what they are willing to do and sacrifice - not just themselves, but for those they lead. If they decide to continue to fight or carry out their d…

The GAO has a report out on LCS maintenance. A long running concern here has been the intentional, and borderline criminal, neglect of maintenance Navy-wide in general. The LCS program, from the manning CONOPS to maintenance has been one long example of bad ideas made flesh by an entire generation of pigheadedness. In 2021, we have good people in hard jobs doing the best they can with the dog's breakfast of a class of ships they were given - and yet we can't seem to build anything straight connected to this crooked timber. We should have stopped building them long ago - but we will have to make do with what we have. If you want to, rage read the whole thing ... but I…

After the events of this weekend, I'm not really up to writing something to kick Monday off. It isn't that I did not have time, it is just that I wanted to invest it in something else. While there are a lot of entities who need some self-reflection, I think for today we need to look back at the senior in-theater leadership of the military effort in Afghanistan. We'll talk in more detail later. This works best on full screen, and you only have 10 seconds a slide, so don't dilly-dally. Ponder. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=WkAN3tHqTP4:K…

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w7RCTtz6GZo/VTosMd1sraI/AAAAAAAAJio/81yRbuPXaXg/s1600/SumnerRenderLaffey.jpg So, how was your command tour? Think you accomplished a lot? Benchmarks? Yes, we have benchmarks. Made a commander on November 1, he was the commanding officer of USS Laffey during the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. The ship was struck by an 8-inch shell, which did not explode. Laffey broke up an attack by German E-boats on June 12 and bombarded Cherbourg on June 25. Becton was awarded a second Silver Star for his actions in June. Transferred back to the Pacific Theater, he received his third Silver Star for his handling of Laffey in support of the landing of the…

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $42.1 million contract modification, which exercises an option to procure ancillary mission equipment in support of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lot 16 production aircraft for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Foreign Military Sales customers, and non-US Department of Defense participants. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion is in December 2024. Sikorsky won a $37.7 million modification, which adds scope to procure 1,026 various spare parts for the CH-53K low rate initial production configuration aircraft. The CH-53K is the United States Marine Corps’ (USMC) heavy lift replacement for the CH-53E. The CH-53K comes with 63% fewe…

Americas General Dynamics won a $133.2 million deal for MK80 series general purpose tritonal bomb components. The Mark 80 series are the primary US GP bombs. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Illinois, is the contracting activity. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of December 31, 2023. Boeing won a $30,7 million modification, which exercises an option to procure 63 Distributed Targeting Processor – Networked (DTP-N) B-kits (32 for the Navy and 31 for the government of Australia); and 56 DTP-N A1-kits (32 for the Navy and 24 for the government of Australia), as well as DTP-N cyber security support data de…