Raw Intel

A Ukrainian Air Force Il-76MD heavy transport aircraft was tracked on Oct. 12 flying out of Sharurah, a Saudi town in Najran Province near the border with Yemen, in a rare appearance of a Ukrainian military cargo plane in the south of the kingdom. Flight-tracking data shared by the open-source account Egypt’s Intel Observer shows […]View the full article

The DOT&E FY2011 Annual Report (PDF) is out, and I noted that Wired is focused on the LCS report (PDF). The reason the Wired article on LCS reads like it's reaching for straws to find news in the LCS report is because the DOT&E FY2011 Annual Report on LCS lacks new information. The DOT&E report basically details exactly what ADM Pandolfe told everyone at Surface Navy Association conference - in January of last year (in 2011). Hard to get worked up about issues openly discussed over a year ago. What I did find interesting about the report is that the report heavily focuses on the MIW module problems, but only one aspect of the module - the airborne pieces e…

As regulars here know, from the start of the blog - and a decade earlier IRL - one of my core stands is that we are long past the need for having large formation of maneuver forces based overseas in now rich and ready allies. Besides unit rotations, occasional exercises to practice surge, and combined training and logistics facilities, everyone needs to come home. As a maritime and aerospace power, we need to be home based, but postured for forward deployment of land forces to support allies and interests. We are a mercantile republic, not an empire. It has been a lonely vigil, and I know many of the respected and wise members of the Front Porch disagree with me, but …

Americas The Department of Defense awarded contract options this week to two companies to create a final prototype for a transportable advanced nuclear microreactor. BWXT Advanced Technologies and X-energy, both of which won contracts last year to develop portable nuclear reactors, will continue that work under the new options, according to a Pentagon press release. The teams are working under a Strategic Capabilities Office initiative called Project Pele. One of the two companies may be selected by the Pentagon to build and demonstrate a prototype once design review and environmental analysis are finished early next year, according to the Pentagon. The Missile Defense A…

Americas The Navy awarded 600 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contracts (MACs) to businesses in multiple locations across 29 of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia for future competition of support service requirements to be solicited by Department of the Navy activities under rolling admissions of the SeaPort Next Generation (SeaPort-NxG) multiple-award contract vehicle for engineering support services and program management support services in 23 functional areas. The government estimates the Navy will procure $5 billion worth of services annually through task orders issued under SeaPort-NxG. Each multiple-award contract has a base p…

This month when you say "tender" I am not thinking about a tender Turkey. I am not thinking about tender mercies. Nope. If we are really concerned about winning the next great Pacific war ... we need to grow up and get ready. Details over at USNIBlog. Tell me where I'm wrong. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=bQxRG1Fxo3I:eAmgwEpvilw:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=bQxRG1Fxo3I:eAmgwEpvilw:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=bQxRG1Fxo3I:eAmgwEpvilw:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f…

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $14.5 million contract modification to exercise options for Machinery Control System production shipsets in support of both the DDG 51 modernization program and the DDG 51 new construction program. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by June 202. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington DC, is the contracting activity. Sikorsky Aircraft won a $12.3 million modification, which exercises an option to provide production system engineering and program management support in support of CH-53K low-rate initial production. Work will take place in Connecticut. Expected completion will be in May 2023. The Nava…

Americas The US Air Force has awarded machine learning-based health developer Sparta Science a small business innovation research deal to identify early signs of sub-concussive brain injury in airmen. Data gathered from the research will assist experts in developing a capability to recognize the impacts of repeated exposures to subconcussive blasts. According to Sparta, results […]View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $74 million deal for the AH-64 Apache Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor Performance Based Logistics program. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida, with an estimated completion date of December 31, 2024. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Raytheon a $10-million contract to design […]View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin got an extra $18.8 million to keep providing engineering and maintenance at Pearl Harbor for MK48 torpedoes. This is an addition to an existing contract. The work should be done by February 2026. The Navy is paying for it with $3.3 million in funds that must be used this year. The Naval Sea Systems Command is in charge of the contract. The Intermediate Maintenance Activity at Pearl Harbor typically processes about 300 torpedo maintenance actions per year. These maintenance activities include failure analysis, cleaning, rebuilding components, testing, and configuration changes to ensure the torpedoes meet reliability and availability standards for…

While following a series of posts on X by Dr. Phil Weir about the last couple of decades’ struggle in the Royal Navy’s frigate programs, I remembered a 2011 post of mine about the 2011 foolishness in Libya that, in a way, read like an OG FbF ... and figured, let's bring the story of HMS Liverpool (D92), a little more than a year before her decommissioning to the Front Porch so we can see the proper use of a main gun for all the new readers. Often here we have comments about how, "nAvAl GunZ uR oBSolEt3" ... well, of course they are not — as the recent events in the Red Sea against attack drones proved. Let's head off the coast of Libya ... and do so with a 2011 mindset; …

Saudi Arabia has become one of the first countries in the world to acquire laser-based air defense systems, purchasing China’s SkyShield integrated counter-drone system to protect key sites and expensive air defense assets such as the Patriot from drone attacks. But operational experience in the kingdom’s harsh environment has revealed serious limitations. The SkyShield system […] The post Saudi military slams Chinese laser weapon first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

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 Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) has been placed on its highest level of operational readiness, with all soldiers and Coast Guard officers ordered to return to their bases by this evening. According to a memo circulated to service members, the TTDF has been moved to State One Alert Level, the top posture of […]View the full article

The Swedish Air Force says its quick-reaction alert fighters identified a group of Russian long-range aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea on Thursday, as Moscow carried out a training mission involving Tu-22M3 bombers and escorting fighters. In a post published by the Swedish Air Force, the service stated: “Swedish QRA identified Russian Tu-22 bombers escorted […]View the full article

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense on Monday reported detecting dozens of Chinese military aircraft and naval vessels operating around the island on the first day of abruptly announced Chinese military exercises. In a statement, the Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of China (Taiwan) said the activity was observed as the People’s Liberation Army […]View the full article

One of the Patriot air defense systems operated by Ukraine’s Air Force has destroyed more than 140 Russian ballistic missiles, according to the Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi, citing the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The same system has intercepted nearly 250 aerial targets in total since entering combat service. According to the […]View the full article

The United States Air Force has awarded Top Aces Corp., based in Mesa, Arizona, a $33 million contract to provide F-16 instructor pilot training for partner-nation pilots in Argentina, according to a contract announcement released by the service. Work under the agreement is expected to continue through June 30, 2029. The training program is intended […]View the full article

L3Harris Technologies today said it had begun high-volume production of its VAMPIRE counter-unmanned systems at a new facility in Huntsville, Alabama. The company said the production line is designed to meet growing demand from the United States and allied forces for systems capable of countering drone threats. Counter-drone systems such as VAMPIRE are being fielded […]View the full article

The U.S. Army has selected Teledyne FLIR Defense’s Rogue 1 loitering munition for its Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (LASSO ) program, giving Infantry Brigade Combat Teams a man-portable precision strike weapon capable of destroying tanks and armored vehicles at ranges exceeding 12 miles without requiring a vehicle, launcher, or external support infrastructure. The […]View the full article