Raw Intel

The Pentagon is rapidly expanding U.S. military capabilities tied to Operation Southern Spear, a mission that began as a counter-narcotics effort but is increasingly focused on pressure against Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Images that surfaced online this week show Combat Search and Rescue and other U.S. military aircraft arriving in Puerto Rico, signaling a sharp […]View the full article

As you may have noticed, I’ve been hesitant to write anything about the latest unrest in Iran for a whole host of reasons/excuses, but part of it is simply not wanting to get too far ahead of my skis desiring something that would truly be a world-changing event. It would be a change that would alter the landscape so dramatically that I’ve become so used to, that it is hard to view the “what’s next?”. I was barely a teenager when the world and our nation were subjected to another monumental error by the Carter Administration and the West (mostly the French) — the betrayal of the Shah and the people of Iran. Of course, the Iranian people had agency here. As was the habit …

Everyone who has been to sea has this nightmare. A U.S. warship and a Navy supply vessel collided during refueling Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. Southern Command told Reuters in an emailed statement on Thursday. The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Truxtun and the Supply-class fast combat support ship USNS Supply collided during a replenishment at sea, said the statement from the Southern Command, whose areas of responsibility include Central and South America and the Caribbean. It did not specify the location of the collision. The video is…something to behold. I have heard that the USS Gettysburg was on the other side when this took place, but was not dam…

You have to be careful about assumptions, especially those you grew up with that are comforting, convenient, and once seemed so real, so solid, that they just were part of the landscape. They just, were. For over a century, there was one jewel in the special relationship between the United States of America and her mother country, Great Britain. That jewel was the Royal Navy. From the convoys and battleship divisions of the Great War, to Five Inch Friday off the Al Faw almost 90 years later, we always knew that there was another highly capable navy out there we could rely on—the Royal Navy and her Commonwealth. During the interbellum, when the U.S. Navy was on par with th…

The U.S. Air Force has published a solicitation announcing its intent to award a sole-source contract to Boeing for the remanufacture of a critical guidance component inside the AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile, keeping the nuclear-capable weapon operational for nearly another decade. The solicitation, posted April 6, 2026, by the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center […]View the full article

An Israeli AI defense company has cleared a major operational hurdle for its drone detection system. Axon Vision, listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the ticker AXN and headquartered in Israel, announced on April 30, 2026, the successful completion of operational demonstrations and evaluation activities for its EDGE ClearSky drone detection system. The […]View the full article

Israeli defense electronics giant Elbit Systems announced on May 26 that it has secured a $1.4 billion contract from an undisclosed European customer to modernize that country’s military across multiple capability domains over the next five years, one of the largest single defense contracts the company has publicly announced. The customer’s identity remains confidential, but […]View the full article

The U.S. Army ordered 8,936 DAGIR-V1 laser systems to support the M7 rifle’s fire-control program, and the company building them happens to be a family-owned business that got its start making night vision gear five decades ago. B.E. Meyers & Co., a Redmond, Washington manufacturer, announced it has been awarded a contract to deliver the […]View the full article

You have to give the People’s Republic of China (PRC) credit for consistency. They like islands. On Sunday’s Midrats Podcast, we touched on this rather brazen act that would be laughable if not serious. The Batanes Islands, which are covered by the so-called maritime delimitation talks between Japan and the Philippines, are legally China's sovereign territory and form a natural geographic extension of China's Taiwan island. China should take corresponding actions to assert its sovereignty over the Batanes, the Global Times learned from Chinese experts and scholars at a symposium. The academic symposium on the sovereignty issue of the Batanes Islands was convened at Jinan…

The U.S. Navy awarded BAE Systems a $149.8 million contract to overhaul USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship that turned back from deployment in 2024 after a rudder failure just 10 days out of port. BAE Systems Maritime Solutions in San Diego will perform the maintenance, modernization and repair work during a fiscal 2027 selected […]View the full article

Yemen’s Houthi movement seized the Red Sea port city of Mocha on Thursday, forcing government-aligned forces to withdraw and pulling the Iran-backed group closer to full control of the Bab al-Mandeb strait. Four Yemeni government military sources told Reuters that Houthi fighters took the city after hours of fighting, while a separate military official told […]View the full article

Russia’s new Shturm uncrewed tank failed in its first major outing, losing its control link again and again during the Tsentr-2026 strategic exercise and finally getting stuck in mud, even with a human driver at the controls. The remotely operated vehicle, built on a T-72 tank chassis, repeatedly dropped the radio link that connects it […]View the full article

A drone strike sank a merchant ship carrying Ukrainian and Azerbaijani sailors off Romania’s Black Sea coast on Oct. 23, 2026, killing one crew member and leaving three missing, prompting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to condemn what she called another Russian escalation in the Black Sea. The Comoros-flagged Khoryv sent a distress […]View the full article

We don't do politics here ... but we do touch on how politics can impact national security issues ... so here we go! Why has national security almost been a non-issue this election? What to expect if Trump gets a second term. What and who will come to the front if Biden is elected. What will drive the challenge regardless of who gets elected? Come join us for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern as we discuss this and more with an open chat room and open phones if you want to join in. It will be an open topic, open phones free for all ... so if you think our topics are bogus, bring your own! If you use iTunes, you can add Midrats to your …

Americas The Air Force, along with with partners Lockheed Martin and Boeing, completed work on the last of 247 planes in the F-22 Structural Repair Program, officials at Hill Air Force Base in Utah announced on Wednesday. Structural modifications, made by the 574th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron of the Ogden Air Logistics Complex, to the F-22 Raptor added flying serviceability of the fighter plane by an estimated 8,000 hours, according to the Air Force. Lockheed Martin won a $11.4 million deal, which provides engineering and logistics services in support of the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft program to monitor and manage fatigue and obsolescence issues and op…

Is our nation's military as poorly maintained and lacking in self-respect as we seem to be from Kabul to the high seas? What messages are we sending? I'm pondering a long standing critique of mine over at USNIBlog today ... something more important now than ever. Come on by and give it a read. 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=JqG1mdM07lg:F-5p4aR4qRk:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=JqG1mdM07lg:F-5p4aR4qRk:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=JqG1mdM07lg:F-5p4aR4qRk:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feed…

With the Russo-Ukrainian War in its 3rd week, everyone is starting to see a new normal emerging in Europe, our alliances, and global posture. What are the assumptions time has left behind, what concepts are playing out well, and what surprises at sea and ashore have been a surprise? What will the next phase look like? This Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern EagleOne and Sal are bringing back the melee format with an eye on Ukraine. Open topic, open phones, green range ... bearings free. Join us live if you can, but it not, you can get the show later by subscribing to the podcast. If you use iTunes, you can add Midrats to your podcast list simply by clicking the iTunes button at t…

Americas The US Air Force contracted Boeing with $14.5 million for KC-135 engineering sustainment services. The contract modification provides for recurring engineering services for sustainment of the KC-135 aircraft for one option year. Work will take place in Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama and Florida. Estimated completion date is March 31, 2022. Tactical Air Support won a $265.3 million deal, which provides non-recurring engineering, inspection, modification, and block upgrade efforts for 16 F-5E and six F-5F Tiger II aircraft from a Swiss Confederation configuration to a Navy/Marine Corps N+/F+ configuration. Additionally, this contract procures eight block upgrade retrofi…

The last 13-months has seen a scenario few in NATO’s uniformed or civilian leadership either predicted, or for that matter, though was possible. How has the alliance reacted, grown, succeeded, or shown cracks under the pressure of the growing war in Ukraine as it moves it to its second year? Returning to Midrats for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern will be Jorge Benitez, Associate Professor of International Relations at the Marine Command and Staff College in Quantico, Virginia. He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He specializes in NATO and transatlantic relations, European politics, and US national security. He previously served a…

Americas Leidos has awarded CAE a deal to supply a Full Flight Simulator (FFS) for the US Army’s High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES) program. HADES seeks to enhance the service’s aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (A-ISR) capabilities by replacing existing ISR aircraft fleets that have been operational since the Cold War. CAE will […]View the full article