Raw Intel

A Chinese-manufactured VT-4 main battle tank operated by the Royal Thai Army has reportedly suffered severe damage during intense frontline combat, according to information shared on a Thai-language social media page. The report states that the VT-4 tank was damaged while conducting a direct fire mission against Cambodian military positions in a heavily contested frontline […]View the full article

The Royal Thai Army has signed a follow-on contract with China North Industries Group Corporation (NORINCO) for additional VN1 8×8 wheeled armored vehicles during a delegation visit to Beijing on January 11, according to official information released by the Royal Thai Embassy. The signing took place at NORINCO headquarters in Beijing and was attended by […]View the full article

Russia has concentrated at least 15 Su-57 stealth fighter jets at the Dzyomgi air base in the Khabarovsk region, about 280 kilometers from the Chinese border, according to satellite images published by the AviVector project and reported by the Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi. Satellite imagery dated February 9 shows 15 Su-57 aircraft parked in the open […]View the full article

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Monday that its air defense systems intercepted 754 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones within a 24-hour period, describing the number as one of the largest reported drone engagements since the start of the war. The statement was released through official Russian military channels and included additional claims that other incoming weapons had […]View the full article

Elbit Systems said Monday it has secured a $750 million contract to supply its Precise & Universal Launching System, known as PULS, to the Hellenic Armed Forces under a defense agreement between Israel and Greece. The award, first flagged in a December 2025 announcement, gives Greece a new long-range rocket artillery capability at a time […]View the full article

The United States Army has delivered its first Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) equipped with a 30mm cannon to the 1st Cavalry Division, marking the initial fielding of a more heavily armed variant of the platform, the division confirmed in a recent announcement. The first new combat vehicles have been received by the division’s units as […]View the full article

The U.S. Department of War’s use of artificial intelligence has exploded by 1,775 percent over the past year, jumping from roughly 80,000 users to approximately 1.5 million across a workforce of more than 3 million personnel, the department’s top technology official disclosed at a special operations conference in Tampa, Florida. Emil Michael, undersecretary of war […]View the full article

Top Flight Aerostructures, a Georgia parts manufacturer, won two indefinite-delivery contracts from the Defense Logistics Agency to build wing components for the B-1 bomber fleet. One contract has a maximum value of $53.1 million for trailing edges, the other up to $23.4 million for wing tips, with completion dates in mid-June 2029. Both awards came […]View the full article

German defense giant Rheinmetall has secured a contract worth just under €1 billion (roughly $1.1 billion) for its role in overhauling how the British Army trains its soldiers, part of a broader £2 billion (approximately $2.7 billion) government program that will replace traditional live exercises with a blended system of virtual, synthetic and data-driven training […]View the full article

A Ukrainian company that built its drone-detection network by listening for the sound of incoming Shahed attack drones has tried something its own engineers had never planned for, and it worked well enough to change how the technology might be deployed across NATO’s eastern flank. Zvook, a Ukrainian defense and space manufacturing company headquartered in […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force has awarded four manufacturers a combined $149 million to build metal cases for large bunker-busting bombs, splitting the work across small forging and machining shops rather than a single prime contractor. Superior Forge and Steel of Lima, Ohio; Ellwood National Forge of Irvine, Pennsylvania; Faxon Machining LLC of Cincinnati, Ohio; and […]View the full article

Polish state-owned radar maker PIT-RADWAR has signed a contract to start rebuilding its plant in Czernica, near Wrocław, the first step in a nearly 90 million zloty (about $23 million) investment that the company links to Poland’s new counter-drone program. The first stage is worth nearly 21 million zlotys (about $5.5 million) before tax, and […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force has raised the ceiling on Raytheon’s life cycle support contract for the GBU-53/B StormBreaker, also known as the Small Diameter Bomb II, by $350 million, bringing the total potential value of the deal to $950 million. The modification lifts the contract from $600 million and extends work at Raytheon’s plant in […]View the full article

Maybe it's Baghdad Bob. Sump'n. Here is a problem; a free press relies on honest information from government sources and industry in order to produce stories. The press also should make sure and have the right reporters focus on the right areas. When you have government sources living in PPTland, industry in full Bu11sh1t Bingo mode, and the press is full of restaurant and theater critics - I guess you git howlers like this from The Australian. They carry three helicopters and special forces units with armoured vehicles that can roll off a ramp into action, while fast gunboats can be launched from the stern. All at once? On bank holidays too? Does it …

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $138.8 contract modification, which adds scope to continue the development of pilot training device software to align the F-35 air system with continued capability development. Additionally, this modification provides for testing and continuous re-certification activities for dual capable F-35 aircraft as Block 4 capabilities are developed, matured and fielded in support of the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and non-Department of Defense (DOD) participants. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft. Just recently it was reported, that by the end of …

I know that seems like a rather high bar to meet, but after a quarter century, TQL may have met its match. Details, if you can believe them, are over at USNIBlog. Come by and behold the madness. 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=Ehtqiu1HydE:TRdoLYDABgk:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=Ehtqiu1HydE:TRdoLYDABgk:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=Ehtqiu1HydE:TRdoLYDABgk:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=Ehtqiu1HydE:TRdoLYDABgk:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner…

Americas Sikorsky won a $35.3 million deal to procure long lead items for full-rate production, Lot 7, CH-53K aircraft. The Ch-53K Super Stallion can be fielded from amphibious assault ships for the transportation of personnel and equipment. It can be operated from austere and remote forward operating bases. Estimated completion is in December 2022. Work will take place in Connecticut. Raytheon won a contract for the repair of three ALE-50 towed decoy system components in support of the F/A-18E/F aircraft. The deal includes a five-year base period with no options. The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is the US Navy’s primary strike and air superiority aircraft. It is an updated ve…

The next questions is, who will throw their hat in the ring with them? From De Telegraph; The Netherlands has offered mine hunters to clear the way for grain ships from Ukraine. "If we can play a role, we are happy to do so," Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said at the NATO summit in Madrid. The Netherlands has offered Turkey, which mediates in the matter, help to clear the sea mines on the shipping routes. Then Russia and Ukraine will have to agree on a so-called maritime corridor, emphasizes Ollongren. Neighboring NATO member states such as Romania and Bulgaria are also in principle more eligible to supply minehunters, insiders say. The Koninklijke Marine has a half-d…

We have not had the chance to dig up LCS and gibbet it at the entrance of the harbor recently, so let's take a nice overview by Sam about the healthy churn between the Executive and Legislative Branches of government to see how it looks in the light of 2022; As part of the FY 2023 submission, the Pentagon proposed cutting warships from the Navy’s battleforce – including six cruisers, four Whidbey Island/Harper’s Ferry-class amphibious Dock Landing Ships, nine Littoral Combat Ships as well as Montford Point and John Glenn. The youngest ship on the list, USS St. Louis (LCS-19), commissioned in 2020. Years before LCS hull-1 was commissioned, we tried to warn the Navy what …

It is with nations as with people; they will show you what they value by what they spend their money on. Details always matter in a budget, but with inflationary pressures unseen in decades, a significant land war in Europe, and an accelerated naval challenge by the People’s Republic of China, the actual buying power of a budget and where you spend it matters more than usual. Few are better positioned to explain the bold faced concerns with the 2024 Defense Budget to navalists than our friend Bryan McGrath, returning again for a guest post that will bring you up to speed. Over to you Bryan. Last week, the Biden Administration delivered its 2024 Defense Budget to Capitol …