Raw Intel

U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers from the 307th Bomb Wing, based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, arrived in the United Kingdom on September 11, 2025, to take part in Cobra Warrior 2025, a multi-nation air combat exercise hosted by the Royal Air Force. The large-scale exercise, designated CW 25-2, is led by […] The post U.S. sends heavy bombers for NATO drill first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Two United States Air Force B-52H Stratofortress bombers carried out another long-range patrol along the coast of Venezuela this week, maintaining a pattern of sustained American bomber activity in the southern Caribbean. The flight, tracked in real time by open-source aviation observers, took place at a distance of roughly 80 kilometers from Venezuelan airspace. The […]View the full article

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV-7 has released footage of a previously unseen air defense system during a recent live-fire training exercise in the Gobi Desert. The system, likely a short-range air defense platform, was shown launching surface-to-air missiles in what appeared to be high-precision strike tests. The new complex features a modular launcher mounted on a […]View the full article

Like I said in Monday’s post, Having a wide variety of inefficient and underutilized bases and facilities scattered around is a feature, not a bug. The future is unknown and an impatient lover. Do not test, taunt, or take her for granted. Reactivate more bases. Smart people in hard jobs with limited resources are doing their best to improve the odds in the place we have neglected almost as much as the Caribbean, the Pacific. Via Carter Johnson in a superb article in Newsweek: Across sleepy and remote islands in the Pacific, U.S. military engineers are working around the clock to revive strategically important airstrips that American troops first built under fire over 70 y…

The United States Army has awarded GM Defense LLC an $18 million contract for the delivery of 121 Infantry Squad Vehicles (ISV), along with anti-lock brake system and electronic stability control kits and vehicle storage covers, according to an official contract announcement. GM Defense, based in Detroit, Michigan, received the firm-fixed-price contract with a value […]View the full article

The United States Air Force has awarded Boeing a ceiling $900 million contract to sustain and support the T-38C Talon avionics system, extending support for one of the service’s core pilot training aircraft through March 31, 2036. The contract, awarded to Boeing’s St. Louis, Missouri, operations on March 31, 2026, covers total life-cycle support for […]View the full article

The U.S. Marine Corps awarded a $9.5 million contract to a British defense company to procure compact radio frequency jammers capable of neutralizing small drones — and the urgency language attached to the award signals that this is not routine procurement. Marine Corps System Command in Quantico, Virginia, awarded the $9,515,508 firm-fixed-price and cost reimbursement […]View the full article

U.S. Marines demonstrated a new airborne drone relay tactic during a recent exercise, using UH-1Y Venom utility helicopters as flying command posts to extend the range and lethality of first-person view strike drones well beyond what ground operators can achieve. Marines with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 169, Marine Air Group 39, and 3rd Marine […]View the full article

In what Air Force officials described as the earliest such integration in modern test history, an operational test pilot flew the B-21 Raider alongside a developmental test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in California, signaling that America’s next-generation nuclear bomber is transitioning from proving it can fly to proving it can fight. The flight […]View the full article

A Greek Air Force fighter pilot pulled off a landing gear failure Thursday afternoon that could have ended very differently, bringing an F-16 down on its belly at Zakynthos airport after the jet’s wheels refused to extend during a routine training flight. The Hellenic Air Force confirmed the emergency landing occurred around 1:45 p.m. local […]View the full article

The U.S. Army has put more money behind a flying bomb that can circle over a battlefield for an hour, watch its target the entire time, and abort the strike mid-flight if something looks wrong, one day after the weapon proved it could pass every test the Army threw at it. Mistral Inc. and Uvision […]View the full article

Ukraine has received its first RCH 155 wheeled howitzers, according to German Aid to Ukraine (GAU), an independent tracker of military assistance to Ukraine, which said September 5 it had confirmed the delivery through a source outside political and industry circles. The system arrives roughly four years after Germany first pledged it, in September 2022. […]View the full article

Sweden will send JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets back into NATO’s air defense mission over Poland from October, where they will help protect the hub in the country’s southeast that funnels military and civilian aid into Ukraine, Defense Minister Pål Jonson said on Sept. 30. Most of the aircraft will fly from bases in Sweden, […]View the full article

Epirus’ Leonidas high-power microwave weapon, which knocks out drones by frying their electronics, has been added to the Pentagon’s online counter-drone marketplace, making it easier for U.S. military units and other federal agencies to buy the system. The California-based company said Leonidas met the criteria for inclusion in the Counter-UAS Marketplace run by Joint Interagency […]View the full article

LAW M72: A4, A5, A6/7 (click to view full) The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico is ordering up to $136.5 million worth of M72A7 Light Weight Anti-Armor Weapon (LAW) systems and trainers from Nammo Talley Defense in Mesa, AZ to replenish stockpiles. The M72A7 LAW is a man-portable, shoulder-launched rocket designed to destroy armored vehicles and covered enemy fighting positions. The M72A7 LAW meets the needs identified by the Marine Corps in 2004 for a shoulder-launched rocket. The Marine Corps required a weapon system with the capability to defeat targets such as covered enemy fighting positions (bunkers, urban structures) or light armored vehicles that …

The following letter is being circulated and is for members of the United States Naval Institute. I can guarantee that I intend to discuss this topic quite a bit over the next month. All, I am writing to you--fellow members of the U.S. Naval Institute--to urge that you vote against the proposed change of the USNI mission statement that is being mailed out with the March issue of the Proceedings magazine. The current statement is refined from the original, 1873 mission written at the establishment of the USNI (see below). I believe that USNI members who believe in the principles of our 138-year-old professional organization should strongly object to three wo…

Today is the day to let a vital part of American society know that we appreciate them. Mostly for the tasty, albeit overpriced cofee, but also for not caving in to anti-gun zealots. Many people who love guns and coffee particularly appreciate Starbucks. In the 12 states with unfettered rights to “open carry†a gun, including Virginia, and the 16 others that are mostly open carry, Starbucks has rebuffed attempts by gun control activists to keep guns out of the national coffee shop chain. So on Friday, 2-22 (for the Second Amendment), gun rights supporters are holding “Gun Owners Support Starbucks Day,†and will be drinking their joe while openly packing their …

Americas Sikorsky Aircraft won a $21.2 million contract modification, which increases scope and provides aircraft maintenance in support of the CH-53K data transfer unit and defensive electronic countermeasure system replacement phase three flight test. The CH-53K will replace the CH-53E, and its job with the Marines will include moving heavy equipment and supplies from ship-to-shore in support of amphibious assault and subsequent operations ashore, as well as lifting troops. Work will take place in Maryland, Florida and Virginia. Estimated completion is in June 2022. Lockheed Martin won a $584.8, which adds scope to provide system integration engineering for the develop…

Americas Boeing won a $50 million modification, which exercises options to procure eight P-8A Increment 3 retrofit A-kits, to include associated special tooling in support of anti-submarine warfare capabilities upgrades for the Navy. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida; and St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed in July 2026. Fiscal 2023 […]View the full article

Americas The US Army recently launched a Tomahawk cruise missile from the Mid-Range Capability (MRC) system. The live-fire test follows the Lockheed Martin system launching an SM-6 missile earlier this year, confirming its full operational capability, the US Army revealed. Lockheed delivered the first of four MRCs, also called the Typhoon Weapon System, in December […]View the full article