Raw Intel

Sponsored: Cyber security firm CyberCatch will host a free webinar on November 18 to review current threats and soon-to-be-required compliance requirements. View the full article

USN MH-60S test (click to view full) Hellfire I/II missiles are the USA’s preferred aerial anti-armor missile, and are widely deployed with America’s allies. They equip America’s helicopter fleets (AH-64, AH-1, OH-58D, MH-60S/R), AH-64 and S-70 helicopters flown by its allies, and even Australia and France’s Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopters. Range is officially listed as 9 km/ 5.6 miles. While Hellfires lack the fast-jet launch capabilities – and correspondingly extended maximum range – of the UK’s MBDA Brimstone missiles, Lockheed Martin’s missile has made big inroads as the world’s high-end helicopter-launched missile. It has also carved out unique niches as tripo…

Americas Boeing won a $24.1 million contract modification, which exercises an option to procure additional software builds to provide correction of deficiencies, to include software enhancements or improvements, engineering analyses and evaluations, and integration and test activity in support of the P-8A Increment 3 Acoustics Multi-static Active Coherent Enhancements program. The Poseidon’s increment 3 focuses on a network-ready open-systems electronics architecture and network-enabled weapons for existing P-8A aircraft. The Poseidon is a militarized version of the Boeing 737 single-aisle jetliner, while the much-older P-3 is a militarized version of the Lockheed Martin …

Americas The US Navy took delivery of the newest Virginia-class fast-attack submarine Montana (SSN 794) on Monday. Montana (SSN 794) completed sea trials last month. It is the third of the 10-ship group of Virginia-class submarines known as Block IV. Virginia-class submarines displace 7,835 tons, with a hull length of 377 feet and a diameter of 34 feet. They are capable of speeds in excess of 25 knots and can dive to a depth greater than 800 feet, while carrying Mark 48 advanced capability torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles. Overhaul Support Services LLC won two contracts in support of the CH-47 Chinook. swashplates. A $15.8 million deal ist to overhaul aft control s…

Today let's look not at tactical, operational, or even strategic challenges. No, let's instead look at the political, bureaucratic, and industrial structures that exist to enable everything else. There is a lot of money floating around the USA's defense budget and yet in the post-Cold War period no one feels we are making progress. On the naval surface side of the house, the promised future seems to underperform (LCS), be stillborn (DDG-1000), never arrive (CG(X)), or become limping testimony of institutional arrogance (FORD). On the land side, any attempt to move beyond Cold War era platforms fail to transition past prototype from self-propelled howitzers to amphibious a…

One of the things that will get my eye twitching faster than about anything else is when someone responds to a question or concern with a, "Well, in our wargames ... " Bullshit. That may work for civilians or under-briefed lawmakers who lack the depth in military matters, but anyone who has run or been part of a wargame knows that you can design one to give you the outcomes you want. Planning assumptions etc ... it is all flexible. Wargames, done right, don't tell you the future, but they do help inform gaps in your OPLAN, thinking, or expectations of the enemy ... and shortfalls you might have. At the POLMIL level - where our most senior uniformed and civilian leaders l…

Americas According to the Defense Post, the US Army is developing its new Command Post Integrated Infrastructure (CPI2) to enhance operability across the battlefield. CPI2 is a mobile command platform that is able to rapidly “tear down, move, and stand” command and control (C2) capabilities, helping the army achieve its top communications priorities while reducing […]View the full article

Americas The Swiss Federal Office for Armaments (armasuisse) has started delivery of 22 decommissioned F-5E/F Tiger II fighter jets to the United States. The first aircraft was picked up by the United States Marine Corps (USMC) on March 18 from Emmen Air Force Station aboard a Lockheed KC-130J transport aircraft. The sale, finalized in 2020, […]View the full article

Americas The US Army has chosen Picogrid’s Legion software to address a persistent challenge on the battlefield: connecting military systems that struggle to communicate effectively with one another. The platform ingests data from a range of sources, including legacy equipment, modern sensors, and weapon systems, and integrates it into tools like the Tactical Awareness Kit (TAK), the army’s primary coordination app. This results in a more complete, real-time view of the battlefield that supports both faster decision-making and tighter coordination among dispersed units. In a bid to fast-track the deployment of battlefield-ready AI, Lockheed Martin has launched a virtual p…

The Royal Navy has awarded the University of Plymouth a contract to supply a C-Enduro Unmanned Surface Vessel integrated with Robosys Automation’s VOYAGER AI software, enabling advanced over-the-horizon data-gathering operations. Robosys Automation, a developer of maritime autonomy systems, announced the agreement alongside the University of Plymouth, highlighting that the vessel—named Bauza—will be equipped with the […] The post Royal Navy awards contract for AI-powered unmanned vessel first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

When people think of the U-boat war in the Atlantic, they think of the North Atlantic: cold, windy, grey, foreboding. Three of the best movies on the topic, The Cruel Sea, Das Boot, and Greyhound, only reinforce this view. There was a lot more to the war than that. Far from sideshows, other theaters were critical points in the Axis’s attempt to choke supplies to Europe. Gaylord T. M. Kelshall’s superb book, The U-Boat War in the Caribbean, does the best job in pointing out that theater from the mouth of the Mississippi River to where our focus is today. There was also the Southern Atlantic and African theaters. How much of the war was fought there? Here’s a map where U-b…

Türkiye plans to allocate over $51 billion to defense and internal security in 2026, according to the Clash Report. Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz said in remarks to parliament that the government has set aside ₺2.155 trillion ($51.4 billion) for defense and internal security-related expenditures. The combined amount represents about 11.4 percent of Türkiye’s total projected […] The post Türkiye to raise defense budget in 2026 first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Saudi soldiers are training alongside U.S. Army units in California in a milestone event for the two countries’ long-standing military partnership. According to the Army, troops from the Royal Saudi Land Forces are conducting operations at the National Training Center (NTC) during Rotation 26-02 at Fort Irwin on November 7, marking the first time a […]View the full article

Cambodian military forces have captured a Thai Army BTR-3E1 armored vehicle near the Thai-Cambodian border, marking the first confirmed battlefield trophy of the latest phase of fighting between the two countries. Photos circulating on social media show soldiers from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces posing alongside a BTR-3E1 infantry fighting vehicle after it was abandoned […]View the full article

Epirus released video on January 13 showing its Leonidas VehicleKit high-power microwave system disabling a fiber-optic guided unmanned aerial system during a December 2025 live-fire demonstration at a U.S. government testing site. The company said the demonstration represents the first documented instance of weaponized electromagnetic interference defeating a fiber-optic controlled drone. According to Epirus, the […]View the full article

The UK-built HYDRA-400 ultra heavy-lift drone has successfully completed its first flight, according to a report by The Daily Express, drawing interest from the British Army and several NATO partners. The aircraft, developed by Hampshire-based manufacturer Hybrid Drones, is described as a first-in-class ultra heavy-lift uncrewed aerial vehicle capable of lifting up to 400 kilograms. […]View the full article

Germany has overtaken China to become the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter, according to a new global weapons transfer report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The annual assessment reviews major conventional weapons transfers worldwide during the 2021–2025 period and shows Germany moving ahead of China in total export volume. The shift reflects […]View the full article

I have no idea what to do with this statement from the President of the United States earlier today. This is not what I would recommend. It can be read about six different ways, and the most charitable one would be, “Take the President of the United States seriously, but not literally.” That isn’t what I am going to focus on today. Nope. In this space, I am accountable to myself and my loyal readers. On March 2nd, I put this on the table. While I approve of what we’ve done so far, I am going to put a marker down.My support is based on what we see this beautiful March 2nd, 2026. If this degenerates into another long, drawn-out conflict where we put boots on the ground, my…

The U.S. Marine Corps needs roughly 40 amphibious warfare ships to sustain its goal of keeping three Marine Expeditionary Units deployed simultaneously, and it currently has 32. That gap, laid out publicly by Marine Lt. Gen. Jay Bargeron at the Modern Day Marine exhibition in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, frames one of the most consequential […]View the full article

The Netherlands sent more than 60 Toyota Hilux pickup trucks to Ukraine, dispatching them by rail for use by Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Force Command, the branch of the Ukrainian military that operates the country’s drone forces and has become one of the most consequential fighting formations in the war against Russia. The Dutch Ministry of […]View the full article