Raw Intel

Oh, he's only a 20-yr BM1. Didn't even graduate from High School. Snuck in to the Navy at 16 even.Really? Define "only."What more can I say but what is in his Medal of Honor citation? JAMES E. WILLIAMS BOATSWAIN'S MATE FIRST CLASS UNITED STATES NAVY U.S. Navy, River Section 531, My Tho, RVN Mekong River, Republic of Vietnam 31 October 1966 for service as set forth in the following Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. BM1 Williams was serving as Boat Captain and Patrol Officer aboard River Patrol Boat (PBR) 105 accompanied by another patrol boat when the patrol was su…

U.S. sailors lift a missile on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility, Aug. 31, 2013. The sailors, ordnancemen, are assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323. U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Apprentice Kelly M. Agee View the full article

An F-22 Raptor takes to the sky during a demonstration of air dominance over Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., April 11, 2015. The event featured members of the F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team, the Air Force aerial demonstration team, the Thunderbirds, and the U.S. Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Javier Cruz View the full article

Our military failures of the last half century have not been at the Tactical or for that matter the Operational level. They have been failures at the Strategic and POL/MIL levels, We have to accept that there is something wrong with not just who we select as our senior uniformed and civilian leaders, but how we educate them, and how we designed the system they work in. For today's post, let's just touch on one segment of the education portion; our war colleges. As our war colleges started to focus less on their part in the practice of war and instead pursued the pleasures and practices of colleges, our military has been less successful at war and have adopted some of the …

Do you get a little worried when people seem to be a bit overexcited at the prospects of such a large percentage of our fleet being unmanned in the near future? Are you worried that too few hard questions are being asked and answered? Me too. Head on over to USNIBlog and help ask more hard questions. 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=OZhvXGLvdIc:OGIWOlg6xDM:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=OZhvXGLvdIc:OGIWOlg6xDM:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=OZhvXGLvdIc:OGIWOlg6xDM:V_sGLiPBpWU http:…

In the last couple of years, as the phrase "Great Power Competition" has grown in use, more often than not people use it to mean "China and Russia" not together, but to imply that - at least at sea - they are both growing to challenge the USN. I'm sorry, but if the future is what you are building today, Russia does not fit that bill. That is my take over at USNIBlog. Come on by and give it a ponder with me. View the full article

I am going to anonomize this as I don't want every to tease this COS. Those who have been in the rodeo awhile will be able to narrow down who this is .... but .... Shipmate has to be thinking to himself, "I am a senior Captain in the world's largest navy. I have a respectful record of service at peace and war. I am the Chief of Staff at a significant command with oversight of thousands ... nay ... tens of thousands if you count in right ... and ... sigh ... sequestration can bite me." From: [redacted] CAPT [redacted] , N01Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 17:30 To:[redacted] _ALL_[redacted] Subject: STAFF BUDGET REDUCTION Staff, I am sure that you all hav…

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $13 million contract modification for repair services for the RQ-4 Global Hawk and MQ-4C Triton. The Global Hawk and the Triton are both high-altitude surveillance aircraft. The Navy MQ-4C differs from the Air Force RQ-4 mainly in its wing. While the Global Hawk remains at high altitude to conduct surveillance, the Triton climbs to 50,000 ft to see a wide area and can drop to 10,000 ft to get further identification of a target. The Triton’s wings are specially designed to take the stresses of rapidly decreasing altitude. Work will take place in California, Utah, Virginia, New Mexico, Missouri, Ohio, New York, Kansas and Maryland. Estimated …

LT B .... gird your loins. View the full article

What was that about not being able to fight once knocked down in plate armor again? View the full article

Tiger HAP & HAC (click to view full) Eurocopter’s Tiger had always had a very odd setup in that it came in two seemingly incomplete versions (HAP scout and HAC/UHT anti-tank), whose respective deficiencies severely limited multi-role flexibility and hence exports. The new Tiger HAD (Helicoptere Appui Destruction) variant fixes those deficiencies, and looks set to become the default version for new-build EC665 Tiger exports. The HAD project began in December 2005, as the EU’s OCCAR organization for armament cooperation signed a formal contract in Bonn, Germany and set out initial procurement numbers for Spain. This was followed by the French DGA’s announcing the res…

Americas The US Air Force’s Special Operations Command (AFSOC) has taken the Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept one step further by having the MQ-9 operate in a simulated base situated behind enemy lines. Field 6 at Eglin Air Force Base was used for the simulation. A team of airmen secured Field 6 after arriving on board an MC-130J and cleared it for the MQ-9 to land and take off. The flight operations of the MQ-9 were carried out using Satellite Communications Launch and Recovery so that no Launch and Recovery Element was required at the site. “We did this by using a small team, landing at a simulated forward operating base, refueling and continuing to fly the mission…

Captain Lindsey S. McCarthy, USN giving a hot wash-up to the crew after USS Newport News (CA-148) and USS Lynde McCormick (DDG-8) engage shore batteries in North Vietnam 19 December 1967. Interesting this if you go to the YouTube page, comments from crew members and their families in the years since 2013 since I first posted it. 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=QKrxdM53SkM:OICxYQQy4NA:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=QKrxdM53SkM:OICxYQQy4NA:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=QKrxdM53SkM:…

Americas General Electric Aviation won a $21.1 million contract modification, which procures 4 T408-GE-400 turboshaft spare engines and various spare engine parts in support of CH-53K Lot 5 low rate initial production aircraft. The CH-53K is the United States Marine Corps’ (USMC) heavy lift replacement for the CH-53E. The most powerful helicopter in the Department of Defense, the CH-53K is a new-build helicopter that will expand the fleet’s ability to move more material, more rapidly throughout the area of responsibility using proven and mature technologies. The T-408 engines are more powerful and more fuel efficient than the T-64 engines currently outfitted on the CH-53E…

Americas Ball Aerospace won a $9.7 million contract of the B-2 Antenna Electronics Unit. The B-2 is a low-observable, strategic, long-range, heavy bomber capable of penetrating sophisticated and dense air-defense shields. Work will take place in Colorado. Expected completion date September 16, 2026. Lockheed Martin has announced that the LMXT is being built in response to the US Air Force’s KC-Y Program. The new tanker builds on the design of the Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT). Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor and works directly to implement US Air Force-specific requirements within the LMXT. The plane will be equipped with a fully automatic boom a…

The new administration told you that their team was tan, rested, and ready and the Global Posture Review was going to set a firm new direction in line with the natsec SuperFriends bringing new eyes, new outlooks, and bold actions to address the challenge of the third decade of the 21st Century. Well. If you were hoping that the much vaunted “the adults are in charge” brigade would give you some hope, take a seat. If you bought the hype that we were adjusting with some urgency facing the gaping maw of The Terrible 20s, the flexing power of China, and the general disjunction of people, resources, and policy in the fractured, COVID-infused underpinnings of our national secu…

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $17 million modification, which adds scope to provide for the production, delivery, and installation of Link 16 Crypto-Modernization/Hybrid Beyond Line of Sight capabilities on 15 E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye (AHE) is the newest variant of the E-2 aircraft platform. It features a state-of-the-art radar with a two-generation leap in capability and upgraded aircraft systems that will improve supportability and increase readiness. Work will take place in Florida, Virginia, Illinois, California and New York. Estimated completion date is May 2023. The US Air Force, the US Navy, and the US Marine Corps will have an a…

A little over a decade ago, we coined "The Terrible 20s" to describe what we saw as the challenge we are experiencing now. A point I made then still applies; if you want a preview of the USN in a decade, look at the Royal Navy today; Look at what the Royal Navy is dealing with today, and it isn't a stretch to see similar challenges for ourselves. Look and learn - and perhaps we can mitigate the pain. Have you seen the absolute state of what the Royal Navy is looking at towards the end of this decade? From the summary report of the recent report out of the House of Commons, “We’re going to need a bigger Navy;” Towards the end of the decade in 2027–28 the Navy will begin …

Many of our NATO allies have their own concerns in the Pacific independent of the USA's, with significant territorial possessions and economic interests from the African Indian Ocean coast to the Eastern Pacific. When they do good and responsible activities there, we get a nice secondary security benefit. France always seems to want to have an outsized presence on the international scene, and they are making a new play for more influence in the Indo-Pacific theater. We should welcome that. Via The Diplomat: Largely by virtue of its considerable strategic real estate in the mega-region, in the Pacific as well as the Indian Ocean, Paris is increasingly becoming the par…

Americas Northrop Grumman Systems won an $9 million deal for the manufacture of initiating propellant used on the MK48 heavyweight torpedo. This contract includes a three-year ordering period with no options. All work will be performed in Elkton, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by November 2025. Weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,203,980 will be issued for delivery order N00104-22-F-ZN01 that will be awarded concurrently with the contract and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. In July 2017, Northrop was awarded a $50.1 million contract to manufacture 45 torpedo transducer array and nose shell assemblies for the heavyw…