Raw Intel

Americas The United States Department of the Navy is seeking diver and unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) detection and tracking technologies. The department wants the technologies to augment seabed and port security, supporting detection, tracking, and fire control, a department solicitation notice stated. The department’s desired mission packages — including subsystems, equipment, and software — fall […]View the full article

Americas Boeing won a $24.5 million contract for C-17 Globemaster III Global Enhancements. This contract provides for studies and quick reaction tasks, integrated software and hardware upgrades, and other required services. Work will be performed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and is expected to be completed by December 1, 2031. This contract was a sole source acquisition. The US Navy has awarded Raytheon a $736-million contract to produce AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles in the upgraded Block II variant. The latest variant features enhanced hardware for improved performance and long-term reliability. Work will be carried out at various locations across the US and is e…

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $188.5 million modification, which exercises options to provide continued logistics and test support, and continued field service representatives technical support, as well as supports reach-back engineering support to ensure that the MQ-4C Triton air vehicle are mission-capable for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance missions in support of the Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Work is expected to be completed in May 2026. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. The US Army has teamed with Uber and Lyft for a ride-sharing program to boost transportation access for soldiers an…

Photographs circulating on Chinese social media appear to show what analysts believe may be a new missile defense system known as the HQ-29. The images, posted on local platforms, captured a six-axle transporter carrying two large missile containers during a rail transfer, prompting speculation about Beijing’s next step in developing long-range air and missile defense. […] The post China’s HQ-29 missile defense system seen in new imagery first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The U.S. Army is training with a new class of tactical drone capable of performing both surveillance and strike missions, as part of its push to accelerate small unmanned aircraft systems integration across frontline units. According to imagery from Fort Hood, Texas, soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division conducted drone operations on September 17, 2025, […] The post U.S. Army fields new tactical drone at Fort Hood first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

As Western armies adapt to lessons from the war in Ukraine, France’s 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment has begun training its soldiers to use shotguns against small aerial threats, including low-cost FPV drones. “In an environment of constant aerial threat, the regiment is expanding its counter-drone capabilities,” the French military unit said in a recent statement. […] The post French army adopts hard-kill tactics for drone threats first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Thales and Universal Communication Systems Co. Ltd. (UCS) have signed a contract to upgrade the Royal Thai Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, HTMS Chakri Naruebet, with a modern Integrated Platform Management System. The agreement was announced at the opening of the Defense & Security 2025 exhibition, marking a new phase in a cooperation between Thales and […]View the full article

South Korea’s Marine Corps is set to introduce its first vessel since the force was founded. The Marine Corps and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said on the afternoon of the 11th that they will hold a launching ceremony for the High-Speed Combat Boat (HCB-001), named Marlin, at the Gangnam Shipyard in Saha-gu, Busan. According […]View the full article

Russia has announced a record increase in its export weapons portfolio, with First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov stating on Friday that Moscow now holds $70 billion in signed defense contracts. Manturov delivered the figures during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, marking the largest reported volume of foreign military orders in Russia’s history. According […]View the full article

Ukrainian defense manufacturer Inguar Defence has developed a new pickup variant of its Inguar-3 armored vehicle designed specifically for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crews, the company announced this week. The new configuration, described by the manufacturer as an “Inguar-3 Pickup for UAV crews,” was developed “in strict compliance with the operational requirements defined by Lasar’s […]View the full article

Israeli Steadicopter announced on March 9 that it signed a services agreement with the U.S.-based company flyAlchemy to support operational deployment and evaluation of its Black Eagle 50E rotary unmanned aerial system in the United States. The agreement is intended to enable flight demonstrations, customer evaluation programs, and mission development activities aimed at introducing the […]View the full article

The Israeli Air Force struck Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps helicopters at two Tehran-area aviation facilities, with the Israel Defense Forces releasing footage of the attacks showing the destruction of Mi-17 series helicopters at Fat’h Heliport in Karaj, west of the Iranian capital. Aviation analyst Babak Taghvaee confirmed the scope of the strikes, identifying the targeted […]View the full article

A Ukrainian company has built a heavy electric robotic ground vehicle designed for the kind of terrain and threat environment that the war in Ukraine has made grimly familiar — and the Mamont prototype addresses the battlefield realities that off-the-shelf systems were never designed to handle. Armolab, a Ukrainian developer, has unveiled the Mamont — […]View the full article

Japan’s Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi flew to Chitose Air Base in Hokkaido on May 23 to watch his pilots rehearse one of the most demanding routine missions in the Japanese military: launching fighter jets on emergency intercept against Russian military aircraft approaching the country’s airspace. After the drill, standing before reporters at the northernmost major […]View the full article

Words matter. Clarity matters. Consistency matters. I don’t think anyone has been happy with how we describe “drones”, “unmanned”, or the cringy reactionary-woke “uncrewed” phraseology. Don’t even get me started with the “kamikaze drone” and other such kludges. OK, I may be nine months late to the game, but it appears we may be moving past the awkward and tiresome, “Do we call it unmanned, uncrewed, or something else that starts with a ‘u’? I’m tired of being yelled at.” stage. Have you noticed something seeping into the…drone?…space recently? From what I can tell—and if you can find earlier official uses please let us know in comments—what brought this acronym to the fr…

Ukraine’s military appears to have carried out its first mass simultaneous strike using converted light aircraft that function as reusable, remotely piloted bombers, with Serhii Sternenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Defense Minister, publishing photos showing at least ten of the modified planes armed with Soviet-designed high-explosive bombs and describing the image as one worth calling […]View the full article

A pre-revenue air taxi startup has bought its way into the defense drone business, and Boeing is the one that sold it the keys. Archer Aviation, the Silicon Valley company racing to put electric flying taxis over American cities, announced Monday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire three Boeing subsidiaries in a […]View the full article

Americas Alabama Shipyard won a $17.9 million deal for a 76-calendar day shipyard availability for the regular overhaul and dry-docking of USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11). The T-AKE 11 is a Lewis and Clark Class Dry Cargo Ship. The ship delivers ammunition, provisions, spare parts, potable water and petroleum products to US Navy and other navy ships at sea, allowing them to remain underway and combat ready for extended periods of time. The contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the total contract value to $19,278,302. Work will take place in Mobile, Alabama, and is expected to be completed by March 20, 2021. The Wake Island Airfield, regarded as a…

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $3.6 billion deal for Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) operations, sustainment and support. The contract provides for research, development, test, and evaluation, integration and operations and sustainment for existing and future payloads contained in or connected to the BACN system and associated ground stations or controls, ancillary equipment, support equipment and system integration laboratories. BACN is a US Air Force airborne communications relay and gateway system housed in the unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk, another Northrop Grumman product, to receive and distribute battlefield communications. It is designed to increase …

Many of our NATO allies have their own concerns in the Pacific independent of the USA's, with significant territorial possessions and economic interests from the African Indian Ocean coast to the Eastern Pacific. When they do good and responsible activities there, we get a nice secondary security benefit. France always seems to want to have an outsized presence on the international scene, and they are making a new play for more influence in the Indo-Pacific theater. We should welcome that. Via The Diplomat: Largely by virtue of its considerable strategic real estate in the mega-region, in the Pacific as well as the Indian Ocean, Paris is increasingly becoming the par…