Raw Intel

Americas Hamilton Sundstrand won a $60 million requirements contract for the repair of the constant frequency generator used on the V-22 aircraft in support of the weapon replaceable assemblies and shop replaceable assemblies programs. The V-22 Osprey is a joint-service, medium-lift, multimission tilt-rotor aircraft. The aircraft operates as a helicopter when taking off and landing vertically. The nacelles rotate 90° forward once airborne, converting the aircraft into a turboprop aircraft. Work under the contract will take place in Illinois. Estimated completion will be by September 2026. Midnight Sun-Centennial Kirratchiaq won a $19 million deal for providing Simplified…

Both history and common practice show that the most fundamental role of a major power’s naval forces is to “show the flag.” The world’s premier naval power has additional responsibilities if it wishes to remain the premier power; command of the seas. From material condition of our ships to failures of basic seamanship, the last few years have signaled that whatever we are doing, it isn’t being done in the best service of the nation or its Navy. As we face an accelerating challenge from the People’s Republic of China at sea, do we need a fundamental re-look at how we run our Navy? Our guest this Sunday from 4-5pm Eastern to discuss this and related topics he raises in the …

Industrial capacity feeds logistics. Logistics win wars. Logistics is math. Math is unforgiving to the complacent. If you are looking for early lessons of the Russo-Ukrainian War, there are two that need to be underlined today. Lesson 1: Don’t Fall for the Short War Fallacy: This is a known fallacy throughout human history, but every generation must be reminded of it, sometimes more than once. At peace, people will find reasons – either phycological or financial – to promote the promise of a short war either through their superior ideas or exquisite weapons. Good people desiring good things are easily seduced by this peace-time siren’s song. The Russians thought that the…

Americas Raytheon won an $8.4 million deal, which provides for software product updates and qualification testing for the CV-22 Silent Knight Radar (SKR) Joint Services Vertical Lift Aircraft Experimental (JVX) Avionics System Software (JASS) instrumentation build, the SKR JASS Functional Requirements Document (FRD) 8 port forward, and the SKR JASS FRD 9 port forward in support of the V-22 Joint Program Office. Work will take place in Indiana. Expected completion will be in May 2024. The Canadian Ministry of National Defence has contracted Quebec-based Logistik Unicorp to deliver operational clothing and footwear to the Canadian Armed Forces. The agreement covers more th…

A regular topic of conversation here and on Midrats (it came up quite a bit on Sunday’s podcast with Jerry Hendrix), is the lack of discussion in the public space about the importance of a strong Navy to our republic’s economic and military security. Sure, inside our salons, slack channels, and email threads we talk to each other a lot, but we seem to have a hard time getting our message out to the general public. Sunday night’s 60-Minutes was an exception to the rule. There is a lot of credit to go around here. First of all, you have to give credit to the 60-Minutes team fronted by Norah O’Donnell and lead producers Keith Sharman and Roxanne Feitel. This two-segment effo…

Americas Avioss won a $15.7 million deal, which procures organizational and intermediate level peculiar and common support equipment for the V-22 program in support of the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will be performed in Miami, Florida, and is expected to be completed in August 2028. No funds will […]View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems won a $34,142,015 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-plus-incentive-fee type modification to exercise options for AEGIS development and test sites operation and maintenance at the Combat Systems Engineering Development Site, SPY-1A Test Facility and Naval Systems Computing Center. This contract involves Foreign Military Sales to several countries. Work will be performed […]View the full article

Americas BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services won a $138.5 million deal, which provides engineering services, installation engineering, equipment integration, overhauls, design engineering for airborne capabilities, test and evaluation, user and maintainer training, and on-demand operational support in support of various airborne capabilities for a variety of manned and unmanned airborne platforms for the Navy. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Maryland, and is expected to be completed October 2030. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competed; one offer was recei…

Four years ago to the day, I posted the below, and did last year. As a matter of fact, I just changed “Three” to “Four” and adjusted the title from 3rd to 4th. Everything else is the same because I am still have not worked this out. There are a lot more subscribers to CDRSalamander now than then, so I want to bring it back in part for them, but on the main because, to use my dear readers as therapy, I’m not over it. As many have asked, where is the accountability? Do the people responsible have no shame? Is there nothing demanded by honor for failure, or has our system of incentives and disincentives promoted to the highest positions of people who have a value system and …

U.S. Marines and Swedish amphibious troops conducted joint island assault and reconnaissance drills this month as part of Exercise Archipelago Endeavor 2025, reinforcing their interoperability and advancing future littoral combat tactics. According to the U.S. Marine Corps, Marines from Alpha Company, 2d Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2d Marine Division, were inserted aboard Swedish CB90 fast […] The post U.S. Marines and Swedes train for island warfare first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The Japanese Ministry of Defense is exploring the potential for low-cost, easily mounted drone munitions as part of a broader effort to expand its unmanned capabilities and accelerate the deployment of scalable, mass-produced strike systems. According to an October 14 announcement by the Ground Staff Office, the Ministry has issued a formal Request for Information […] The post Japan eyes cheap drone bombs for mass deployment first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Yes, I know. In America this is Veterans Day. I’ve written before about my conflicted thoughts on some aspects of how we observe it, and I won’t dwell on it again. Yes, we have the very American Memorial Day that, too, modernity has warped a bit. The older I get, the more a long-standing feeling gets stronger with me. It has always been there, but in my years seconded to NATO and serving with the British, I really started to feel that, yes, they have the right idea. An unnecessary, avoidable, and devastating war that America only had a sniff of. In a spasm that really was the West at war with itself for reasons soon overcome by events and forgotten, it destroyed the old w…

The U.S. Army has completed the retirement of its legacy aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance turboprop fleet, ending more than five decades of continuous service as it pivots toward a jet-based future built around the High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System, or HADES. For more than 50 years, aircraft such as Guardrail, Airborne Reconnaissance Low-Multifunction […]View the full article

Elbit Systems announced on January 12, 2026, that it has signed contracts worth approximately $275 million to supply an advanced airborne self-protection electronic warfare suite, including its Direct Infra-Red Counter-Measure system, to an unnamed country in the Asia-Pacific region. The company said the work will be carried out over a five-year period. According to Elbit […]View the full article

The United States Army Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCoE) at Fort Benning launched the first pilot of the Robotic Autonomous Systems Leader Tactics Course (RASLT) on Feb. 10 as part of Army-wide Transforming in Contact initiatives. The three-week course is designed to prepare Army leaders for future conflicts in which autonomous and robotic systems will […]View the full article

Two newly built Type 055 large destroyers, identified as hull 109 Dongguan and hull 110 Anqing, made their first official appearance during naval training operations, increasing the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s fleet of the 10,000-ton-class warships from eight to ten. The vessels were shown conducting joint training at sea alongside other naval ships in footage […]View the full article

A U.S. Marine who trained alongside Republic of Korea Marines on the new K808 White Tiger wheeled armored personnel carrier during Korean Marine Exchange Program 26.1 at Suseong-Ri, South Korea, in March 2026, offered a firsthand comparison of the South Korean vehicle against the American-made Stryker and Light Armored Vehicle platforms he had trained on […]View the full article

BAE Systems has started delivering a GPS receiver that the U.S. military has needed for years — a field-installable, M-Code capable replacement for the Defense Advanced GPS Receiver that slots directly into existing mounts without touching a cable, a wire, or a line of vehicle software. The company announced on April 28, 2026, that its […]View the full article

Russia fired a nuclear-capable ballistic missile at the Kyiv region for the first time on the night of May 23-24, 2026, striking an industrial zone near Bila Tserkva, a city of 200,000 people sitting just 80 kilometers south of the Ukrainian capital. The launch was confirmed by Yurii Ihnat, head of communications for the Ukrainian […]View the full article

SummarySal discusses recent geopolitical developments including Iran’s negotiations, US military operations, UK military decline, Ukraine’s resilience, and global strategic shifts. This episode offers insights into current international security dynamics and future implications. Chapters00:00 Introduction and Context of the Iranian Conflict 02:55 Goals an… Read more View the full article