Raw Intel

Americas Canada has awarded GM Defense a contract to deliver 90 Light Tactical Vehicles (LTVs) for the army. The $25.9 million deal covers 54 personnel and 36 cargo variants of the LTV. It will also supply training, logistics support, technical manuals, and spare parts sourced from other local companies. Additionally, this agreement offers an option for up to 18 more LTVs depending on the army’s requirements in the future. The first five systems are expected to arrive in Canada this month. The US Air Force has conducted the final flight of the T-1 Jayhawk medium-range trainer jet, marking the aircraft’s retirement after three decades. The aircraft flew from Joint Base San…

Rightfully, over the last week there’s been a fair bit of chatter about TLAM going to Ukraine. The United States is considering Ukraine’s request to obtain long-range Tomahawk missiles for its effort to push back against Russian invaders, Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has asked the United States to sell Tomahawks to European nations that would send them to Ukraine. Vance said on “Fox News Sunday” that U.S. President Donald Trump would make the “final determination” on whether to allow the deal. ISW, where the above graphic came from, had a solid thread over at X on the implications, but it could use a little bit of a wet b…

The U.S. Army has unveiled what it describes as a scalable and low-cost production effort for first-person-view (FPV) drones. On August 7, 2025, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment (2CR) displayed a mass lineup of drones at Balli Army Airfield in Germany, underscoring how rapidly deployable unmanned systems are becoming integral to battlefield operations. According to the […] The post U.S. Army displays FPV drone production in Germany first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

French President Emmanuel Macron announced the deployment of three Rafale fighter jets to Poland in response to recent Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace. The move is part of a broader effort to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank and demonstrate unity among European allies. “I have decided to deploy three Rafale fighters to help protect Polish […] The post France sends Rafale fighters to Poland first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

American defense startup XDOWN has introduced a new compact drone aimed at frontline troops, positioning the STUD as a low-cost, rapidly deployable unmanned system built for multiple battlefield roles. Founder and chief executive Alexander Balan unveiled the platform alongside newly released images and footage showing a prototype in testing. In a statement posted with the […]View the full article

Americas General Dynamics Electric Boat won an $878 million deal in support of the planned Virginia Class submarines SSN 812 and SSN 813 and in furtherance of the Navy’s commitment to the health and stability of the industrial base. Work is expected to be completed by September 2033. Fiscal 2024 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $658,500,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity. Dassault Aviation has announced the launch of a new unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) programme as part of the future Rafale F5 standard. The …

Italy has been a laggard in defense spending for a while. Although Italy claims, through some accounting tricks, to reach 2% of GDP, in reality, she is at ~1.5%, which still amounts to about $34 billion—right between Poland and Australia. Italy is not a 3rd-tier economy. So, let’s accept that Italy will be Italy. She won’t get to 5% of GDP on defense like some will (Poland for instance). We should give her some credit, and she decides to match the USA at ~3% of GDP. With the numbers we have on our cocktail napkin that would get us another …. $34 billion? A doubling? No, that is too optimistic. We can’t realistically expect that. We are talking about Italy here. We can’t …

Three American defense companies have been selected to compete in the Phase II qualifier of the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance Program in June 2026 at Camp Grayling, Michigan, putting them in contention for a share of a program that aims to deliver more than 300,000 drones to U.S. forces by 2027 under a total budget of […]View the full article

Americas The US Army has officially closed its M10 Booker armored infantry support vehicle program, which had been set for full-rate production. The termination appears rooted in the tank’s design, which was conceptualized as a light, air-deployable system that eventually evolved into a heavier, less agile platform. The resolution comes after the US Department of Defense’s planned shift to a “leaner, more lethal force,” a large part of which is diverting investment priorities from “outdated, redundant, and inefficient” programs to modern initiatives. Swedish defense company Saab has announced a strategic partnership with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems to develop air…

Footage broadcast on Chinese state television has revealed new training exercises featuring unmanned ground vehicles armed with rocket launchers. According to observer of Chinese military developments Jesus Roman, the exercises involved an armored infantry squad from the 83rd Group Army, part of the Central Theater Command. The unit conducted semi-urban assault drills using Type 08 […] The post China tests new ground drones with rocket launchers first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

BAE Systems Land & Armaments, York, Pennsylvania, has been awarded a $12,2 million contract modification to support ongoing Bradley A4 production for the U.S. Army. According to the Department of Defense announcement, the modification (P00001) to contract W912CH-25-F-0096 brings the total cumulative value of the contract to $668,442,599. The Army Contracting Command at Detroit Arsenal, […] The post U.S. Army extends Bradley A4 production first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

New Delhi is reassessing a plan to buy at least two squadrons of Russia’s Su-57 fighter, not primarily for stealth but to close a shortfall in long-range strike and beyond-visual-range engagement, according to reporting from The Print. The report says India is weighing a proposal from Russia that would follow the earlier MiG-series and Su-30MKI […] The post India eyes Su-57 for long-range strike role first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

A Ukrainian defense company, CENTRE ZAKHYST, has announced the successful development and combat testing of its ODIN counter-unmanned aerial systems, a domestically produced solution designed to intercept attack drones, according to a statement released by the company. CENTRE ZAKHYST said the system has been implemented in combat conditions and tested both at training grounds and […]View the full article

It is only fitting that we do an update this last Friday of July of one of my favorite FbF that I have referred to often over the years. I first mentioned the subject of the FbF on the OG Blog 19 years ago. Finally, a decade ago, I gave her story its own FbF. I’ll do that again today, but first things first. Earlier this month, Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan made the following announcement: During the Battle of the Coral Sea in World War II, Chief Petty Officer Oscar V. Peterson heroically saved 123 sailors aboard USS Neosho by manually closing critical steam-line valves while unprotected amid smoke and flames. He suffered severe burns and died six days later. He wa…

LIG Nex1 has been selected to lead South Korea’s next-generation Cheongung-3 surface-to-air missile development project, edging out rival Hanwha in a competitive bid for what is being described as a cornerstone of the country’s future air defense strategy. According to information confirmed by the defense industry on July 28, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) […] The post LIG Nex1 to build South Korean next-gen air defense system first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, Russia is accelerating efforts to transform Iranian-designed Shahed drones into jet-powered, remotely controlled weapons aimed at devastating cities and overwhelming air defenses, according to a new report from UNITED24. The Shahed drone, first developed in Iran and transferred to Russia in 2022, has become one of the Kremlin’s most […] The post UNITED24: Russia adds remote control to Shahed drones first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Sadly, not everyone subscribes to the Midrats Podcast, I wanted to build off part of yesterday’s podcast on the latest developments in the US Navy’s drone programs. My big takeaway is that the surface force—and the subsurface drone programs as well—are not going to (or more likely be allowed to) repeat the same mistake for our Navy and the nation made when the pointy-nosed people at NAVAIR killed the promise that was the X-47B a dozen years ago. Though my desire is for ‘more faster’, when I take a deep breath and step back, on balance, this leaves me quite happy with the plan. Joseph Trevithick over at TWZ has a great summary of the state of play. The Naval Sea Systems Co…

Three members of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force were killed Tuesday morning when a shell detonated inside a tank during a live-fire exercise at the Hijudai training area in Oita Prefecture, southwestern Japan. The incident, one of the most serious training accidents to affect the GSDF in recent memory, also left a fourth soldier seriously wounded. […]View the full article

A U.S. Army intelligence aircraft was tracked flying over the Black Sea on Sunday, conducting a surveillance mission in support of U.S. defense operations, according to publicly available flight data. Data from Flightradar24 showed the aircraft, operating under the call sign BRIO66, flying racetrack patterns off the coast of Romania near Constanța before heading southeast […]View the full article

Americas General Dynamics has made a new version of its Pandur 6×6 combat vehicle that can now fight against things in the air. This new version is called the Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD). It has some new features: a special turret called RIwP that can be controlled from inside the vehicle, a radar that can spot things in the sky and follow them, a big gun that can fire 30mm bullets, and eight spots to launch Stinger missiles that can shoot down aircraft. This new Pandur can now protect soldiers from threats both on the ground and in the air. Booz Allen Hamilton and Shield AI have announced a partnership aimed at enhancing US military uncrewed systems capab…