Raw Intel

The U.S. Air Force published a request for information on May 20, seeking industry proposals to design and build a new external weapons pylon for the B-52 Stratofortress bomber capable of carrying munitions up to four times heavier than anything the current hardware can handle. The notice, issued by the Air Force Life Cycle Management […]View the full article

A supersonic bomber that Russia uses to launch cruise missiles at Ukrainian cities came down in a field near the Siberian city of Svirsk on Monday, adding another hull to a list of losses that the Kremlin can ill afford and has no practical way to replenish. Russia’s Aerospace Forces confirmed that a Tu-22M3 long-range […]View the full article

The company that helped supply Ukraine’s front lines with cheap, mass-produced attack drones just announced it is racing to build the exact opposite: a drone built specifically to hunt and kill other drones. Neros Technologies posted a video on July 10 showing early testing of what the company calls Bandit, a counter-unmanned aircraft system, or […]View the full article

A South Korean tank crew scrambled out of their vehicle and ran for safety early Thursday after flames broke out inside one of the military’s frontline main battle tanks during a live-fire training exercise just a few miles from North Korea, though officials confirmed nobody was hurt. A K1E1 tank operated by South Korea’s Army […]View the full article

Sierra Space has signed contracts with undisclosed national security and commercial customers to fly payloads aboard the first mission of its Dream Chaser spaceplane, the company announced, adding new passengers to a debut flight that has already been delayed for years. Dream Chaser is a reusable, uncrewed spacecraft designed to land on a runway like […]View the full article

Americas Boeing won a $1.7 billion contract modification for Lot Six production of KC-46 aircraft, subscriptions and licenses, and G081 flat file. The contract modification provides for the exercise of an option for an additional quantity of 12 KC-46 aircraft, data, subscriptions and licenses, and G081 flat file being produced under the basic contract. According to Boeing, this is the sixth production lot of the tankers and is designed to bring new capabilities and operational flexibility to the Air Force and other customers. The KC-46 is a multirole tanker, designed to refuel allied and coalition military aircraft compatible with international aerial refueling procedures…

I’m not sure where today’s Midrats will take us. Our co-host is getting a little underway time, so this will be just you and me. As the initial stage of the collapse of Kabul unfolded last weekend, a lot of Midrats loyalists reached out to me to ask, “Where is this week’s Midrats?” In hindsight, perhaps I should have brought up a show, but last Sunday was just not a good time to put a microphone in front of me,. By Monday I was ready, and my posts last week covered much of the thoughts bouncing around my head then. Today from 5-6pm Eastern we’re going to free-form this together. The chat room is open for questions or points of order, and the studio phone line is open as w…

Under the prior Democratic administration, we saw seabags full of personal and institutional capital - not to mention a lot of actual capital - expended on the farcical "Great Green Fleet." As it is with all non-value added political vanity projects (remember "Lean-In Circles"), the Navy doesn't keep them across administrations because they are just foolish and wasteful in addition to being just domestic policy objectives and personal positioning on the Navy's dime. With the Biden Administration, the Gaia cult has returned and sadly the present SECNAV feels that he needs to make another run with the same talking points supporting a neo-pagan doomsday cult that has been wa…

There is a long and not so glorious tradition of the US Military being used - both their people and their money - by politicians to pursue non-military agenda items either due to ideology or in order to take advantage of one of the military's unusual characteristics: we follow orders. Leverage that feature/bug with the deep well of institutional good will those in uniform have ... and you can see why all sorts of pet projects/agenda items/supporter payoffs are spot-welded on to DOD. The neo-pagan religion of "climate change" (no different than moon worship as it is always there, always will be there, cannot be stopped or encouraged to any significant degree by mortals) is…

You can't grow a Navy if you can't find a place for the people you have today to work. You won't even be able to recruit them. People decide to join the military or a whole raft of reasons from the honorable to the random to the undefinable. A significant number of those reasons are word of mouth from friends or family who are already serving. Once in, keeping a productive climate where the demanding nature of the military adds enough stress and frustration is a hard balance. It is often based on the degree servicemembers feel their command/service "has their back" and is trying to provide the most basic support so the servicemember can do the job they joined to do. Ever…

Americas Raytheon won a $28 million deal for design agent and engineering support services for the Rolling Airframe Missile upgraded MK 31 Guided Missile Weapon System Improvement Program. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $282,551,290. This contract combines purchases for the Navy (74%); and the […]View the full article

Americas Boeing won a $9 million order, which provides follow-on integrated logistics and engineering support, in support of the Harpoon/ Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response Missile System and Harpoon Launch Systems for the Navy and various Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will be performed in St. Charles, Missouri; St. Louis, Missouri; and Yorktown, Virgina, […]View the full article

Americas Rockwell Collins, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been awarded a $13.7 million contract to help maintain and improve the communication systems on KC-135 aircraft. The project includes adding a second radio to the planes for better communication. The work will take place in Cedar Rapids and at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, and is expected to be finished by March 22, 2027. The Air Force is providing $7.35 million from its 2023 research and development budget to start the project. The contract is managed by the Air Force Lifecycle Management Center’s Legacy Tanker Branch at Tinker Air Force Base. The US Navy’s USS Toledo (SSN 769) has returned to service after…

Archer Aviation says it is accelerating production of its Midnight electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, with a near-term goal of achieving an output rate of 50 aircraft per year across roughly 700,000 square feet of manufacturing and test facilities. The company reported Tuesday that aircraft built during this new product introduction phase will […] The post Archer ramps up production of its electric aircraft first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Russian military forces have released footage they claim shows the destruction of a previously unreported Ukrainian air defense system equipped with APKWS (Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System) rockets, according to imagery and descriptions published by Russian sources. The incident reportedly took place 50 kilometers from the frontline, where a Zala reconnaissance drone identified what appeared […] The post Russian drone hits unknown Ukrainian air defense system first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The Portuguese Marine Corps recently completed a series of operational field tests on the Mosphera electric scooter to evaluate its suitability for reconnaissance and special operations missions. The update was shared by Romans Baumanis, Director of Export and Government Relations at Mosphera. In a statement, Baumanis said the trials included a wide range of terrain […]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 last two FbFs, we’ve looked at some of our favorite stories about auxiliary cruisers and armed merchantmen, and I almost added a third this week, but then I saw that it was just 15 months or so ago that I posted the story about the Komoran and HMAS Sydney—so that is too soon for a repeat. However, I recently heard a side story about that last battle that had missed my scan before. It may seem an unusual story for FbF, which is usually a story of incredible ships, crews, or individuals—but it still rings true. I offer for your consideration Able Seaman Thomas Welsby Clark, Royal Australian Navy. Every navy is full of such men. Clark was born in Brisbane on 28 January …

The Colombian Army has received 11 ASV M1117 Guardian armored vehicles into service, adding to 145 units already deployed across multiple regions as part of the force’s modernization program, the army said. According to the army, the newly incorporated vehicles are intended to support military operations in areas assessed as highly complex, improving security, mobility, […]View the full article

The United States Army has deployed M1296 Stryker Dragoon infantry carrier vehicles to South Korea, with the armored vehicles arriving at the port of Busan as part of a rotational deployment, according to a service statement. The deployment introduces a heavier-armed Stryker variant equipped with a 30mm cannon designed to increase combat capability for U.S. […]View the full article