Raw Intel

The United States Army has accepted its first delivery of the XM8 carbine from SIG Sauer. The first delivery, announced on Friday, includes the carbines along with accessories, spare parts, and contractor support, marking the first production handoff of the new carbine variant. The XM8 is a shorter and lighter version of the M7 rifle, […]View the full article

A NASCAR team just rolled a six-wheeled military platform onto the Modern Day Marine show floor — and it already has a Lockheed Martin missile test on its resume. Richard Childress Racing Enterprises, LLC, known across motorsport as the organization behind one of NASCAR’s most storied racing programs, brought its 6-Wheeled Adaptable Platform to Modern […]View the full article

The Netherlands is overhauling its entire fleet of 200 Boxer armored vehicles with new drone-killing weapon stations, updated IT systems, and critical spare parts fixes, hartpunkt reported, citing a Dutch Ministry of Defense announcement. The upgrade program covers vehicles that entered Dutch service starting in 2013, making the oldest units now more than a decade […]View the full article

A Canadian startup has completed the design of what it describes as the first all-electric motorcycle purpose-built for military intelligence and reconnaissance missions, and the vehicle is now ready for trials with the Canadian Armed Forces, bringing a platform that operates below 50 decibels of acoustic noise, survives temperatures from minus 45 degrees Celsius to […]View the full article

OpenWorks Engineering, a counter-drone specialist based in Northumberland, England, announced this week that it recently attended an industry-focused counter-unmanned aircraft systems, or C-UAS, event at the British Army’s Larkhill Garrison, where the company demonstrated its Vision Pace targeting system to defense and security partners. Larkhill sits on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire and has served as […]View the full article

The Pentagon’s most futuristic research arm has put out a call for a missile that can outrun and outsmart the very air defenses that increasingly threaten American pilots and ships. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon office famous for turning science fiction concepts like stealth aircraft and self-driving cars into real military hardware, […]View the full article

Polish defense technology company FlyFocus unveiled a new precision loitering munition called TASACK on September 8 at MSPO 2026, the international defense industry exhibition in Kielce, Poland, positioning the system as a lower-cost, easier-to-operate alternative to conventional first-person-view attack drones. The 15-kilogram (33-pound) aircraft can fly up to 110 kilometers (68 miles), carries a 5-kilogram […]View the full article

GBU-53/B, aka. SDB-II (click to view full) The 250 pound GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb gives American fighters the ability to carry more high-precision GPS-guided glide bombs, without sacrificing punching power against fortified targets. The initial award to Boeing was controversial, and the Darlene Druyun corruption scandal ultimately forced a re-compete of the Increment II development program. Whereas the initial GBU-39 SDB-I offered GPS-guided accuracy in a small and streamlined package, the goal of the GBU-53 SDB-II competition was a bomb that could hit moving targets in any weather, using a combination of guidance modes. For the SDB-II competition, Boeing found itsel…

Americas Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) cut the first steel plate for use on the US Navy’s fourth ship of the Gerald R. Ford Class aircraft carrier Doris Miller (CVN 81) on Wednesday at its Newport News Shipbuilding division, marking the beginning of its construction. Doris Miller is the second ship of the two-carrier contract award HII received in January 2019 for the detail design and construction of the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers; Enterprise (CVN 80) being the first ship of the contract. The head of US Space Force says the nascent military branch has grown into a “warfighting force” after meeting key milestones. Army Gen. James Dickinson, US Space Com…

Americas The Brazilian Air Force achieved a major milestone in the effort to modernize its air combat capability with the beginning of the delivery phase of Saab F-39E Gripen multimission fighters. The first six series-produced Gripen E aircraft have left the factory to begin the delivery phase. The aircraft were unveiled on Wednesday, November 24 at Saab’s facilities. The aircraft for the Brazilian Air Force will arrive in Brazil by sea at the port of Navegantes in the middle of December. Boeing won a $212.6 million contract modification for six MH47-G renew rotary wing aircraft and eight spare shipsets in support of US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). The Boeing …

Americas Northrop Grumman Systems won a $20.5 million contract modification, which provides additional labor and material to incorporate production engineering change proposals that modify MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system production assets (B13-B15) to an Integrated Functional Capability 4.0 multiple intelligence configuration for the Navy. Work will take place in California, Virginia, New York, Utah, Wisconsin, North Dakota and various other locations within the continental US. Expected completion is in April 2023. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. The US Air Force will swap the A-10 mission computer with a new on…

Americas Boeing won a $18.7 million order to procure the long lead components and parts in support of MH-47G rotary wing aircraft. The MH-47G aircraft provides US Special Operations Forces heavy assault, rotary wing aircraft support. This contract action supports a requirement for replacement of the aging fleet of remanufactured MH-47G aircraft that has airframe […]View the full article

Americas Raytheon won a $50 million deal for right-sized hardware and software integration of the Small Diameter Bomb II onto the F-35B and C platforms. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by October 31, 2024. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force […]View the full article

Americas Ecuador’s foreign minister said the country did not plan to send Soviet-era weapons to Ukraine after the president’s vow to do so sparked a spat with Moscow over banana and flower exports. “Ecuador will not send any war material to a country that is involved in an international armed conflict,” Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld told […]View the full article

Americas Northrop Grumman has inked a $244-million deal with the US Space Force (USSF) to build advanced relay ground stations in the US and UK to expand the coverage of critical missile warning and tracking satellites. The ground stations will support the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) program, which seeks to establish satellite constellations that detect and track missile launches and potential attacks. The US Army has taken delivery of its fourth CH-47F Chinook Block II heavy-lift helicopter from Boeing as part of a contract signed in 2021. The deal, which ordered nine aircraft, is part of the army’s goal to modernize its airborne transpor…

Azerbaijan’s Navy has for the first time publicly showcased its Turkish-made “Salvo” unmanned surface vessel (USV), signaling a new phase in Baku’s maritime capabilities amid growing regional security concerns in the Caspian Sea. The debut of the armed drone boat came during recent naval exercises and was noted by Baku-based policy analyst Fuad Shahbazov, who […] The post Azerbaijan unveils armed naval drone first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

At the Changchun Air Show, China publicly displayed for the first time a J-6 fighter aircraft that has been converted into a drone, marking a rare appearance of the retrofitted Cold War-era jet in unmanned form. “This aircraft is modified based on the J-6 fighter jet, with the removal of cannon weapon systems, external fuel […] The post China converts Cold War jet into combat drone first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Japan’s Ministry of Defense has announced the shipment of an additional 30 Self-Defense Forces (SDF) vehicles to Ukraine. According to a release issued by the ministry on October 14, the shipment includes 28 “1/2-ton trucks” and two high-mobility vehicles, intended for personnel and cargo transport. The latest delivery brings the total number of SDF vehicles […] The post Japan sends 30 more military vehicles to Ukraine first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The Armed Forces of Haiti have taken delivery of new armored vehicles intended to support mobility and security missions as the country continues efforts to counter gang violence and improve territorial stability. According to Haitian military officials, several Senator RAM MRAP armored personnel carriers were handed over on November 8 as part of a government […]View the full article

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. …