Raw Intel

Roshel, one of North America’s leading armored vehicle manufacturers, has confirmed the delivery of its Senator Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) to a U.S. law enforcement agency in Guam — expanding the company’s footprint to one of the most remote U.S. territories and a key strategic location in the Indo-Pacific. “Our next delivery is of the […]View the full article

The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) is continuing its evaluation process before making a final decision on whether to acquire surplus F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets from Kuwait, despite reports claiming the deal had been abandoned. RMAF chief General Datuk Seri Muhammad Norazlan Aris, in comments to the New Straits Times, rejected speculation that the plan […] The post Deal not dead: Malaysia still assessing Kuwaiti F/A-18s first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Thailand and Cambodia exchanged heavy artillery fire on Friday as a rapidly intensifying border conflict entered its second day. The Royal Thai Army reported shelling in multiple areas, including Ubon Ratchathani and Surin provinces, and confirmed it had launched strikes in response to attacks from Cambodian forces. According to a statement from Thailand’s Second Army […] The post Thailand deploys tanks, jets in border showdown first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

For the first time in history, the United States Air Force has selected a NATO partner nation to provide pilot training. On August 22, the Italian Air Force and the U.S. Air Force signed an agreement that will bring American pilot trainees to the International Flight Training School (IFTS) in Decimomannu, Sardinia. The “Concept of […] The post U.S. Air Force pilots set for training in Italy first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

KNDS France has renewed its commitment to Les Forges de Tarbes under a new long-term agreement aimed at supporting the accelerated production of 155mm artillery ammunition, as France continues to adapt its defense industry to a wartime economic footing. According to a press release from KNDS France, the company signed a three-year Long Term Agreement, […]View the full article

One topic I didn’t expect us to dive into on yesterday’s Midrats with Dean Cheng was the growing nuclear capability of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Once the show was over, I figured I needed to pull Rebeccah Heinrichs’s article from Friday up from my ‘read later’ tab. She gives a solid review of the state of play and offers three suggestions, two of which I generally endorse, and the third a firm non-concur. First, let’s review the table she sets. Just three years ago, China denied it was rapidly building up its nuclear arsenal. In 2022, Fu Cong, then the director-general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s arms control department (now China’s permanent representat…

United States Army paratroopers from the 11th Airborne Division conducted a mass tactical airborne operation in Hokkaido, Japan, in late January 2026 as part of North Wind 26, a bilateral winter training exercise with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, U.S. Army Japan confirmed. The operation took place at Hokudai-en in northern Hokkaido and involved soldiers […]View the full article

North Korea has publicly displayed a new mobile anti-tank missile system for the first time, showcasing it as part of its annual “Defence Development 2025” exhibition in Pyongyang — an event that leader Kim Jong Un described as a presentation of the country’s “results” in modernizing and expanding its military capabilities. The exhibition featured a […] The post North Korea develops new mobile tank hunter first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Japan’s 2025 defense expenditures have reached their highest level in postwar history as Tokyo continues to expand its military capabilities in response to what officials describe as an increasingly severe security environment in East Asia. The Ministry of Defense reports that the country’s base defense budget for the 2025 fiscal year totaled ¥8.7 trillion (around […]View the full article

South Korea is pushing forward with sweeping enhancements to its KF-21 Boramae fighter program, aiming to transform the domestically built aircraft into a full fifth-generation stealth platform. The plan includes internal weapons bays, advanced radar-evading materials, and a next-generation engine developed entirely in-country. According to South Korea’s 2026 defense budget proposal, the government is allocating […] The post South Korea to turn KF-21 into 5th-gen stealth jet first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Pakistan’s Army has introduced the FATAH-IV, a new ground-launched subsonic cruise missile with enhanced range and precision, according to the Clash Report. The FATAH-IV has a stated range of 750 kilometers, a reported accuracy of five meters, and travels at approximately 0.7 Mach. The missile weighs 1,530 kilograms and carries a 330-kilogram warhead, making it […] The post Pakistan debuts new cruise missile first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Theseus, a San Francisco-based innovation startup focused on GPS-denied navigation, said it successfully completed a long-duration test flight of its Micro Visual Positioning System over central Florida. The company said its Micro Visual Positioning System completed a 5-hour, 22-minute flight covering about 564 kilometers during a March test in central Florida. Ian Laffey, chief executive […]View the full article

Saudi soldiers are training alongside U.S. Army units in California in a milestone event for the two countries’ long-standing military partnership. According to the Army, troops from the Royal Saudi Land Forces are conducting operations at the National Training Center (NTC) during Rotation 26-02 at Fort Irwin on November 7, marking the first time a […]View the full article

I published this two decades ago on the OG Blog. As the subject of this has been making the rounds as of late, I’ve decided to plant this flag firmly in the ground here on Substack. Especially in the popular press, “hero” is a word thrown around way too much. Often it is applied to those who make no real sacrifice or effort, or those who parade around Our Fallen like some gibbeted prop in an obscene political street theater. It is a shame. There are real heroes out there. Most of the time they don’t wear a uniform. The vast majority of the time, they aren’t Americans. Now and then, they are Germans from the mid-1900s. Hey, whodathunk—they might even be Christian. Bravo …

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $26 million contract to provide Foreign Military Sales (FMS) support for Ukraine’s F-16 fighter program, the Pentagon announced. The contract will fund the creation of country-specific technical orders tailored to Ukraine’s fleet of Fighting Falcons. The agreement, issued as a firm-fixed-price and time-and-materials contract, falls under […] The post Lockheed wins $26M Ukraine F-16 support deal first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

OK, hold on…you might have suffered the same yawn that I did when reading news about our old girl NIXIE… U.S. Navy budget documentation released last week is adding a series of new capabilities to the current AN/SLQ-25 Nixie countermeasures suite, including a new hard-kill capability via deck launchers, set to be deployed to over 168 different front-line ships in coming years. …until you got to the second clause. I know some of you are thinking, “Oh, we can talk about hard kill now?” Then, in the next paragraph by Carter Johnson at Naval News, this sexy little creature wanders on stage, The hard-kill weapon, known as the Mk58 Compact Rapid Attack Weapon (CRAW), is expecte…

The United States Army confirmed in an official release that it deployed “wooden tanks” during the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC) Rotation 26-01 at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, on Nov. 6, 2025. The service referred to these systems as an “opposing force tank simulation set,” describing them as an effective and economical tool to support […]View the full article

Well, I was wrong Tuesday afternoon. I mean, we have been doing a bit of shooting at drug runners. A bit. Like many Sailors of my generation, I spent roughly a year of my life in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific chasing drug runners around. At some point around the turn of the century, we started shooting out their engines or even boarding their semi-submersibles. As such, even with the new deployment we discussed a bit last week, when word came out, I thought we were just picking up old habits. Well, that was not this. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have some new ROE. This is new, significantly new. I also don’t think this is a one-off. President Trump pretty much…

Ukrainian long-range one-way attack drones have carried out some of the deepest strikes of the war so far, hitting critical industrial sites deep inside Russian territory — more than 1,700 kilometers from the Ukrainian border — in what Kyiv officials say demonstrates a rapidly advancing domestic drone capability. Unmanned systems struck two major targets in […] The post Ukrainian long-range drones hit targets deep inside Russia first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The development of Türkiye’s first fifth-generation fighter aircraft has reached a new phase – the second KAAN prototype has entered the system integration stage. According to Ulusavunma, the two new prototypes—currently undergoing advanced assembly—are being built with improved internal systems, drawing from flight data collected during the two successful test flights of the initial P0 […] The post Turkey makes progress toward KAAN jet production first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article