Raw Intel

Last Friday, we got an answer to one of the questions we had after the CANX of the Constellation FFG: what next? TWZ has a good summary of the hard data in the above video. “Last month, with the concurrence of the Commandant [of the Marine Corps] and the Chief of Naval Operations, I approved the LSM design selection [of] the LST-100 landing ship transport, a roughly 4,000-ton ship with a range of more than 3,400 nautical miles that gives us the right balance of capability, affordability, and speed to field.” The baseline LST-100 design is approximately 328 feet (100 meters) long, some 52.5 feet (16 meters) wide, and can reach a top speed of 15 knots, according to Damen. …

Turkish-built Ejder TTZA 6×6 armored personnel carriers were unveiled for the first time during a military parade held in Damascus celebrating the fall of the Assad regime, marking the public debut of the vehicles in Syrian service. The parade, staged by the new authorities in Damascus, featured multiple examples of the Ejder TTZA—short for Taktik […]View the full article

South Korea has finalized a new production contract for its K600 Rhino obstacle-clearing combat engineering tank, marking the first time the vehicle will be supplied directly to frontline Army units and the Republic of Korea Marine Corps. According to an announcement carried by Yonhap News, Hyundai Rotem said on December 9 that it signed a […]View the full article

A Russian An-22 heavy-lift military transport aircraft has crashed in the Furmanovsky district of Ivanovo Region, according to initial reports from Russian media. The incident occurred on December 9 and involved a military aircraft identified as an An-22 “Antei.” The aircraft reportedly carried seven crew members at the time of the crash. Their status remains […]View the full article

Nine Chinese and Russian military aircraft briefly entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) on Tuesday, prompting the South Korean Air Force to dispatch fighter jets as a precautionary response, according to the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The JCS said two Chinese military planes and seven Russian aircraft entered the KADIZ sequentially […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy has recovered an F/A‑18F Super Hornet and an MH‑60R Seahawk from the seafloor after both aircraft were lost in separate mishaps off the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) on October 26, 2025. According to the Navy, the two aircraft suffered accidents within a half‑hour of each other. The recovery operation was completed on […]View the full article

The U.S. Department of State has approved a potential Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Belgium for up to 240 Hellfire missiles, along with a broad package of support equipment and services, at an estimated cost of $79 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced that it has delivered the required certification notifying […]View the full article

The United States Navy has awarded Saronic a $392 million production contract to rapidly deliver drone boats under the Other Transaction Authority (OTA) framework. Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan said nearly $200 million of that total has already been obligated, as the service pushes forward with a new model of fast-paced, open-competition procurement […]View the full article

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has released a new recruitment video featuring a robotic dog armed with an assault rifle. The promotional clip, published this week by the SBU, includes footage from tactical training exercises in which a quadrupedal unmanned ground vehicle, resembling a robotic dog, is seen maneuvering indoors and firing a rifle. […]View the full article

A Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet was lost during a combat mission on December 8 in the eastern region of the country, the Ukrainian Air Force confirmed in a public statement. “At noon on December 8, 2025, in the eastern direction, during the execution of a combat mission in a Su-27 aircraft, the senior navigator of […]View the full article

It has been driving me a little nuts the last couple of days, seeing all the gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes about the new National Security Strategy (NSS), not having the time to read it. I mean, come on Sal, it is only 29 pages. I promised a few people I would start the week with my thoughts on it, so after we finished our Midrats Podcast with Bryan McGrath, I decided to give it a read. Really people, take a powder. As I’ve been doing with most of the documents like this the last couple of decades here, let’s look at the word cloud: This…is actually a pretty good representation of its relative macro concerns. Before I dive in to some specifics, there are two l…

Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has signed a new contract with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) to deliver PROTECTOR remote weapon stations (RWS) for use on several Swedish Army platforms, including the CV90 (local name Stridsfordon 90) infantry fighting vehicle. According to a company announcement issued on December 8, the contract is valued at over […]View the full article

Germany’s armed forces (Bundeswehr) have placed another order with Rheinmetall for 120mm tank ammunition. According to a statement from Rheinmetall, the new order falls under the extended framework agreement signed in July 2023. “The new order is worth several hundred million euros,” the company said, though it did not disclose the exact value or quantities. […]View the full article

The Republic of China Navy (Taiwan) has issued a public request for a naval suicide drone system and associated control infrastructure. The request, dated December 8, 2025, outlines the Navy’s interest in developing or acquiring unmanned surface vessels (USVs) capable of high-speed, long-range autonomous missions under contested conditions. According to the notice, the project falls […]View the full article

Detailed 3D renders of Russia’s long-abandoned experimental T-95 main battle tank project—also known as “Object 195”—have surfaced online, offering an unprecedented look at the advanced design once pursued by the Russian military-industrial complex. The renders were created by 3D artist Gustiiz3D using an original set of technical blueprints that recently appeared on Western platforms. According […]View the full article

The Royal Thai Army has launched a military operation to reclaim Thai sovereign territory in Sa Kaeo Province, following reports of increased Cambodian troop movements and heavy weapons deployments along the border. The operation was carried out by the Burapha Task Force under the First Army Region Command. According to a report from the Royal […]View the full article

Thailand’s Army has claimed that Cambodian forces launched a BM-21 rocket strike targeting a civilian village in Buriram Province amid a sharp escalation in cross-border fighting, with multiple fronts now active along the Thai-Cambodian border. In a press briefing on December 8, Maj. Gen. Winthai Suvaree, spokesperson for the Royal Thai Army, said Cambodian troops […]View the full article

Two Russian military airmen were killed in an incident involving the unexpected activation of an ejection system while their aircraft was parked in a shelter, according to Russian defense blogger Ilya Tumanov, the founder of the “Fighterbomber” Telegram channel. “Yesterday, in one of the bomber aviation regiments, the ejection system was triggered on a plane […]View the full article

The United States Air Force has ended the operational presence of the UH-1N Huey at Yokota Air Base in Japan, marking the conclusion of more than four decades of continuous rotary-wing operations across the Pacific theater. On December 3, 2025, Airmen from the 730th Air Mobility Squadron and the 22nd Airlift Squadron at Travis Air […]View the full article

The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has formally canceled its prototyping initiative for the Lightweight Machine Gun–Assault (LMG-A), a next-generation automatic weapon once expected to replace or supplement the aging Mk46/Mk48 and possibly the M249 SAW in special operations units. In a notice published December 7, the SOF Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics–Kinetic Requirements (SOF […]View the full article