Raw Intel

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $869.9 million contract modification, which adds scope for integrating mission and weapon systems capability development, including flight-test hardware, through system functional review to development test complete on the F-35A, F-35B, F-35C aircraft. Work will take place in Texas, New Hampshire, Florida, Maryland, California, Missouri and Arizona. Estimated completion will be in December 2026. The US Air Force and Boeing have concluded that delivery of the new Air Force One is now 17 months behind schedule. This means the transport will not be delivered by 2024. The delay was first reported by Breaking Defense, which says the information …

Over at The Tablet, Jeremy Stern has a real meaty article on “our” German problem. I lived in and around Germans for years and still try to get a grasp on what they want and why. As you would expect being that Germans contribute more to America’s DNA than any other group, there is a familiarity to Germans and Germany … but that only get you so far until you find yourself in an “uncanny valley” where you realize that you are not quite in sync with those around you. They are not us, and likewise…and that should be fine and good for everyone. America’s view of their relationship with Germany and what we think Germany’s relationship with Russia should be is just that – Americ…

Ever wonder how fast things can come at you in combat ... and how fast you have to react to survive? Simply stunning video from the shootdown of a Russian S-25 in Ukraine: No other aircraft has been so valuable - and no aircraft has been shot down more - than the SU-25 in this conflict. Many regulars here are very familiar with "time compression" in such situations. Time slows down a lot. If you have not experienced that, you may wonder how he is able to eject so fast to survive a direct hit at 200-meters (about 600'). Well, training is one, but time compression is another. This slow-motion video makes it a little closer to what it felt like to the pilot. RUS Su…

Americas Boeing won a $3.4 million deal for the procurement and delivery of 17 Lot 13 P-8A Multi-Mission Maritime Aircraft (14 for the government of Canada and three for the government of Germany), as well as associated non-recurring engineering. Work will be completed in March 2028. Foreign Military Sales customer funds in the amount of […]View the full article

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $60.2 million modification, which is to procure the non-recurring engineering, material, tooling, and labor required to complete the Integrated Functional Capability 4 change requests and engineering change proposals in support of the MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft System air vehicle B11 for the Navy. Work is expected to be completed February 2029. Fiscal 2025 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $60,249,668 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. The US Army is rethinking how it u…

Writing in The Strategist, defense analyst Ross Babbage argues that Australia must urgently develop independent, long-range strike capabilities to prepare for an era of heightened strategic uncertainty. He contends that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) cannot rely solely on U.S. guarantees and should pursue “very strong independent deterrence,” even against a major power adversary. Babbage […] The post Expert says Australia needs intermediate-range ballistic missile first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Japan’s Ministry of Defense has confirmed plans to station new electronic warfare units in Okinawa and Kumamoto, aiming to enhance deterrence in the country’s southwestern region amid growing regional tensions. According to Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, speaking at a press conference following a cabinet meeting on September 16, the new units will be deployed to […] The post Japan sets up radar-jamming units on frontline islands first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

As some of you are aware, I am forcing myself to finish General Kenneth McKenzie, USMC (Ret.)’s book on his tour as the Commander at CENTCOM, The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century. My opinion of his performance at CENTCOM is well known to readers. However, Tom Ricks subtly challenged me to read the book. I’ve compromised and checked it out as an audiobook. (spoiler: my opinion of his performance gets worse with each minute of the book). Anyway, in order to get through this before it ruins my early fall, I’ve sped the audio up to 1.25X speed to get through the remaining 2+ hours I have left. I’m at the point right before the Abbey Gate attack, and it …

General Dynamics NASSCO has received $1.7 billion to build two additional John Lewis–class fleet replenishment oilers for the U.S. Navy, the company said on November 10. The new funding covers the construction of T-AO 215 and T-AO 216 and continues the long-running shipbuilding effort that supports underway logistics for U.S. naval forces worldwide. According to […]View the full article

MatrixSpace, a Massachusetts-based developer of compact radar systems, has announced the launch of its Portable 360 Radar, a low-power counter-drone radar system designed to rapidly deploy in diverse operational settings ranging from public event security to military environments. In a release dated December 9, 2025, MatrixSpace said the system provides 360-degree panoramic surveillance coverage for […]View the full article

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) deployed a multi-weapon infantry configuration during recent training, as a widely circulated early-January photograph shows a PLA soldier carrying a Type 191 rifle, a 09 shotgun, a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher, and a quadcopter drone — a loadout that online users labeled a “Chinese super soldier.” Chinese outlet Observer Network […]View the full article

Russia’s state defense conglomerate Rostec has revealed a new unmanned marine system, the R-SAVER-1, at World Defense Show 2026 in Riyadh. According to Rostec, the R-SAVER-1 unmanned boat is being showcased publicly for the first time at the international defense and security exhibition, which opened on Feb. 8 in the Saudi capital. The company described […]View the full article

While the once-great Royal Navy continues to scour the piers for enough duct tape and bailing wire to get a destroyer underway, it appears that—literally—the entire French Navy is getting underway. As she has done before, she is moving east in response to another crisis in Lebanon where there are a lot of French citizens and the general disquiet in the Eastern Mediterrenean. This time, as a side-show to the Israeli-American conflict with Iran, as it appears a final move is going to be made against Hezbollah by the Lebanese. How much of the fleet? Well, it appears that if it can leave the pier, it is going. Via Cap-Hornier, Nearly the entire fleet is at sea: 19 of the 23 m…

Ukrainian defense forces struck the Sheskharis oil terminal in the port city of Novorossiysk, Krasnodar Krai, on April 6, 2026, hitting multiple locations across the facility in a drone attack that open-source analysts say has effectively halted export operations at one of Russia’s most strategically important petroleum hubs. Sheskharis is the terminal point for major […]View the full article

On April 14, teams from MBDA and Safran Electronics & Defense conducted the inaugural live test of THUNDART, a new long-range artillery rocket developed entirely within France, with support from the Directorate General of Armament Missile Testing division, known as DGA EM. The test took place at the Île du Levant test range and validated […]View the full article

Stealth technology has always been the exclusive domain of billion-dollar defense programs and classified government laboratories, built into aircraft through years of engineering work and applied through precision manufacturing processes that cost more per square meter than most countries spend on entire weapon systems. A Turkish startup is now claiming it solved the core problem […]View the full article

A small British company best known for catching drones in mid-air nets just landed a much bigger job: helping Australia’s military spot the things before anyone needs to catch them at all. OpenWorks Engineering said its Vision Guard system has been selected for evaluation under Australia’s Land 156 counter-drone program, part of the country’s $1.3 […]View the full article

The U.S. military has now named the exact weapon it used to make history over the weekend, confirming that three Saronic-built Corsair unmanned boats carried out the first combat strike ever conducted by American sea drones, slamming into a submarine and ship maintenance facility at Iran’s Bandar Abbas Naval Base. U.S. Central Command detailed the […]View the full article

Soldiers from two of the U.S. Army’s most closely watched combat divisions spent a week at an Alabama training range flying different drones head to head, then got to pick which ones actually make it into their units, according to a report from the Army’s Capability Program Executive Aviation. The evaluation, held at Clarke Range […]View the full article

A Ukrainian armored vehicle maker has built more than 600 BTR-4 troop carriers since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, working through repeated missile strikes on the country’s defense industry. The Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau, known as KhKBM, disclosed the production figure to a Militarnyi correspondent at the MSPO defense exhibition in Kielce, Poland. The […]View the full article