Raw Intel

Raytheon, an RTX business, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Avio to establish a new solid rocket motor manufacturing facility in the United States. The companies said the site will operate as a vertically integrated merchant supplier, providing solid rocket motors for Raytheon and other customers. Under the agreement, Raytheon will have preferred access […]View the full article

Today, let’s pick up where we left off yesterday and return to a discussion of the Western Pacific. More often than not, things devolve into a discussion of island chains. They are easy to draw and explain—and the First and Second Island Chains have become an expected understanding of the geography of the area. Is this really the best way to think about it? Are we really looking at a neat and easy chain, or something a bit more complicated, difficult, resilient, and more open to opportunity for those who understand its true nature? Do you know who Lieutenant Colonel Earl Hancock “Pete” Ellis, USMC is? You should, we all should. His life story really needs a mini-series li…

Israel’s Axon Vision announced on January 12, 2026, that it received an order from Leonardo DRS for its new AI-based system designed for counter-unmanned aircraft missions, marking the first delivery under the companies’ expanding partnership. According to the company, the order is valued at approximately $350,000 and covers an initial batch of systems capable of […]View the full article

Raytheon announced today that it has successfully tested a non-kinetic variant of its Coyote counter-drone system, known as Coyote Block 3NK. The company said Coyote Block 3NK is a counter-unmanned air system capable of loitering and defeating drone swarms while using a non-kinetic payload intended to minimize the potential for collateral damage. According to Raytheon, […]View the full article

Israeli drone developer Aero-Sentinel confirmed on March 9 that it received a new silent unmanned aerial vehicle order from a returning customer in the United States, according to a statement posted by the company’s chief marketing officer. Ofir Avram, chief marketing officer at Aero-Sentinel, announced the order in a public message, saying the company’s systems […]View the full article

The rescue of the pilot and weapons sensor officer from the F-15E Strike Eagle that went down in Iran is—even with the limited information we have right now—an almost-unbelievable act in the history of the profession of arms. I am looking forward to the details to come out, but let’s let that work its way through the system. That isn’t what I want to focus on today. As always, let’s first look at the chart. Initial reports are that this was an “all hands on deck” operation where we sent every service but the Postal Service in to retrieve our last airman on the ground. That was pretty far inland. We have access to bases in every nation on the southern shores of the Persia…

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces are participating in Balikatan 26, the U.S.-Philippine hosted multinational exercise, and the capabilities they brought to the training reflect a force increasingly oriented toward the kind of joint, combined operations that the Indo-Pacific security environment demands. The Japan Joint Staff released imagery showing the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s US-2 amphibious aircraft conducting […]View the full article

A South Korean submarine completed the longest voyage in the history of South Korea’s submarine force, crossing 14,000 kilometers of open Pacific Ocean to dock at a Canadian naval base, and the timing was not accidental. Canada is weeks away from one of the most consequential military procurement decisions in its modern history, and Seoul […]View the full article

The French Army has placed an order for several thousand FN Evolys machine guns from Belgian manufacturer FN Herstal, marking a major production order for the FN Evolys since the weapon debuted five years ago. The deal was signed at the Eurosatory defense exhibition in Paris, with French Defense Minister Catherine Vautrin and Belgian Defense […]View the full article

Babcock International has finished building the last of 123 Jackal 3 high-mobility vehicles for the British Army, with the final vehicle, a six-wheeled Extenda variant, rolling off the production line at the company’s Devonport facility in Plymouth and now heading into testing before it joins the Army’s operational fleet. The Jackal has been a fixture […]View the full article

DroneShield, an Australian counter-drone technology company that has spent years building systems to detect and defeat hostile uncrewed aircraft, announced Tuesday the launch of RfRecon, a portable device designed to do something most current sensors cannot: not just detect radio frequency activity, but explain what it means, in real time, from a single handheld platform. […]View the full article

American Rheinmetall has won a $7.28 million contract to deliver 12 Mission Master SP autonomous ground vehicles and five amphibious kits to the U.S. Marine Corps, the company announced. The Defense Logistics Agency is managing the procurement, with ADS Inc. serving as prime contractor supporting the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. The vehicles will be used […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy has awarded Oceaneering International a contract worth up to $154.1 million to keep its Dry Deck Shelters working, the hangar-like chambers that let U.S. Navy SEALs leave and return to a submarine while it stays submerged. Oceaneering’s Marine Services Division in Chesapeake, Virginia, received a $24.3 million cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-type contract on […]View the full article

U.S. Navy engineers in California have tested a prototype camera system designed to spot a sailor falling overboard and alert the ship’s bridge automatically, throwing a 35-pound rescue dummy off the side of a decommissioned destroyer to see whether the cameras would catch it. The test took place on Aug. 14 aboard the Self Defense […]View the full article

So, I guess we need to talk about the STOUT. This is a regular topic here, so let's see what the navy has to say. The Arleigh-Burke class guided missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55) returned to Naval Station Norfolk today, marking the end of a nine month deployment to U.S. 2nd, 5th, and 6th Fleet areas of operation. In mid- January Stout’s crew departed Norfolk and operated under U.S. 2nd Fleet, taking part in the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) Carrier Strike Group’s (CSG) Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX), the final certification exercise prior to deployment. Upon successful completion and certification, Stout and the rest of the IKECSG immediately crossed…

Have you watched the “build a little, test a little, learn a lot” progress of SpaceX over the last few years? Like what Tesla has been able to do? Been impressed? Wondered why the USN hasn’t been able to bring a successful new warship online in two decades? Well … via Blake Stilwell at military.com we have a few rules from Elon Musk in a 2018 email that … well … I’ll let you read them; ...here are a few productivity recommendations: – Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time. Please get (sic) of all large meetings, unless you’re certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them…

Americas Sikorsky won a $48 million deal, which procures eight spare part and management and delivery of parts in support of the CH-53K low rate initial production configuration aircraft. The CH-53K can be fielded from amphibious assault ships for the transportation of personnel and equipment. Work will take place in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington, UK, Canada, California and North Carolina. Estimated completion will be in December, 2026. Rockwell Collins Simulation and Training Solution won a $17.6 million modification, which procures initial spare parts and aircraft common equipment to support the E-2D Hawkeye Integrated Training Systems flight, tactics, and mai…

Great and wonderful members of the Front Porch, especially those regular readers since 2004. As most of you may be aware of by now, I have been posting in parallel over at substack for the last few years. I did that for a few reasons. Mostly because of the coding, NMCI, facebook and other location may block blogspot as it can seem as if it is SPAM. Bad on blogspot, irritating to readers. Because substack is a "cleaner" code, no one has that problem...yet. Anyway, blogspot is owned by google and the last few weeks they have been pulling down some of my posts going back almost a decade for a variety of reasons. Many of them are because they contain pictures of ... military …

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…