Raw Intel

One of the great frustrations about the military operations of the last few years has been the lack of storytelling. Both the usual suspects in the media and the insular turn in the military’s PAO apparatus of the last decade and a half are to blame. That is why about all you see are second-tier stories about whether the Army or Navy can put on better impromptu beach airshows or not, or worse—whatever the Pentagon Press Corps™ in exile feels like writing about that only interests their knitting circle socio-political fetishes within a Lime Bike ride of their 5th-floor apartment in Alexandria. You have to look elsewhere, unless you’re willing to be content with lazy and u…

The U.S. Army has awarded a $10 billion contract with a potential 26-year term to overhaul how it trains new helicopter pilots, shifting initial flight instruction at Fort Rucker, Alabama, to a contractor-owned, contractor-operated model. M1 Support Services L.P., based in Denton, Texas, won the firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, beating out 10 other bidders after the […]View the full article

UCAS-D/ N-UCAS concept (click to view full) The idea of UAVs with full stealth and combat capabilities has come a long way, quickly. Air forces around the world are pursuing R&D programs, but in the USA, progress is being led by the US Navy. Their interest is well-founded. A May 2007 non-partisan report discussed the lengthening reach of ship-killers. Meanwhile, the US Navy’s carrier fleet sees its strike range shrinking to 1950s distances, and prepares for a future with fewer carrier air wings than operational carriers. Could UCAV/UCAS vehicles with longer ranges, and indefinite flight time limits via aerial refueling, solve these problems? Some people in the Navy…

There is a lot of wishcasting when it come to talking about "the next war." A lot of money is to be made in peace selling a vision of what people desire the next war to be; a fast war, an easy war, a war fought on our ethical spectrum with the weapons we like, on a timescale that works best for us. History teaches that war does not work this way. No one gets the next war exactly right, but some get it partially right. That is why you need to be suspicious of single points of failure or any cult-like following of concepts or personalities that make this historically hard seem easy. There is one thing that you can count on when it comes to big or even medium wars; they …

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 …

This week I want to return to our topic from last week, the critically important case presently with the US Supreme Court, Students for Fair Admission v. President and Fellows of Harvard College & the University of North Carolina. I'm going to bring out an extended pull quote from the Amicus Brief of Veterans for Fairness and Merit. You can read it all at the prior link, but this is coming from pages 27-28. It makes so many of the points we have been making here for the last 18-years about the raw and unfair racialist policies our military practices in general, and our service academies do in particular. We have said for years to all who would listen that these sect…

Americas Boeing won a $116 million hybrid deal for Apache logistics support. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2025. Fiscal 2024 Army working capital funds in the amount of $116,703,697 were obligated at the time of the […]View the full article

Americas Emirati defense contractor EDGE Group has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Brazilian Navy to jointly develop and deploy naval anti-drone systems. The agreement will provide the framework for developing autonomous surface and aerial defense systems that meet the needs of Brasília’s naval forces. Brazilian Navy Admiral Edgar Luiz Siqueira Barbosa and EDGE Managing Director and CEO Hamad Al Marar formalized the agreement at the Euronaval defense exhibition in Paris. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded RTX’s BBN Technologies to develop a tool to boost its digital defenses. The contract supports DARPA’s Compartmentalizat…

Americas Teledyne FLIR Defense’s Black Hornet 4 drone has been approved for the US military’s Blue UAS List after meeting cybersecurity requirements under the National Defense Authorization Act and passing verification by the Defense Innovation Unit. The listing grants Authority to Operate and allows government agencies to deploy the system for official use. Middle East & Africa There is speculation that Iran might retaliate for the US’s strikes on its nuclear facilities by closing the world’s busiest oil shipping channel, the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important shipping routes, and its most vital oil transit choke point. Bounde…

The U.S. Army has awarded contracts to AeroVironment and Edge Autonomy to rapidly deliver the first Long-Range Reconnaissance (LRR) unmanned aircraft systems. The systems selected — AeroVironment’s P550 and Edge Autonomy’s Stalker Block 35X — are Group 2 drones designed to provide Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition (RSTA) at the maneuver battalion level. According to […] The post U.S. Army taps AeroVironment, Edge for new recon drones first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

British fighter jets have flown their first NATO air defence mission over Poland, a move aimed at reinforcing the Alliance’s eastern flank after Russian drones violated Polish airspace. The Royal Air Force said the Typhoon fighters, operating under NATO’s Eastern Sentry mission, patrolled Polish skies to deter and defend against aerial threats. Two Typhoon jets […] The post British Typhoons patrol Polish skies first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

China has presented a new hybrid vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) concept aircraft, dubbed the 6T H-VTOL, during the 7th China Helicopter Exposition in Tianjin, which concluded on Sunday. The aircraft was developed with high-altitude operational demands in mind and is being positioned as a future platform for logistics and utility missions in remote or […] The post China debuts hybrid tilt-rotor at Tianjin expo first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The State Department has approved a potential Foreign Military Sale to Germany for Standard Missile 6 Block I and Standard Missile 2 Block IIIC systems, along with associated equipment and support, at an estimated cost of $3.5 billion. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has delivered the required certification notifying Congress. According to the announcement, […]View the full article

My apologies to regulars here, but in the last year or so I have felt the need to remind new arrivals about my stance with regards to Ukraine and Russia as new readers tend to make incorrect assumptions. My record is clear back to 2014: I stand firmly with the Ukrainian people’s desire for independence and self-determination. I am not a Russia-accommodationalist. Yes, yes, yes, to all the issues with Ukraine since independence. I have written for well over a decade about their issues with corruption, etc…but that has little to do with the issue at hand. As I mentioned on an episode of the Midrats Podcast in the months before the February 2022 invasion by Russia, Ukraine …

Northrop Grumman has demonstrated a secure testing environment for radiation-exposed microelectronics under DARPA’s ASSERT program, the company announced on January 13, 2026. According to Northrop Grumman, the achievement is part of DARPA’s Advanced Sources for Single-event Effects Radiation Testing (ASSERT) effort, which aims to create compact laboratory alternatives to heavy-ion test facilities. The company said […]View the full article

The United States Department of War awarded Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control a $50,5 million contract modification on Feb. 12, 2026, supporting continued procurement of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) and Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM), according to an official contract announcement. The modification (P00012) applies to a previously awarded contract identified as FA8682-24-C-B001 for […]View the full article

American Rheinmetall recently demonstrated its Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (counter-UAS) Ultra-Short Range Air Defense solution during a live-fire event at Big Sandy Range, where the system was tested against small drone targets. The demonstration included the integration of the remote weapon station onto GM Defense’s Infantry Squad Vehicle-C (ISV-C) platform. According to information released by American […]View the full article

France’s Air and Space Force has successfully carried out its first anti-drone missile test from an MQ-9 Reaper, using a Hellfire missile to engage an aerial drone target. The test took place on April 2 at the military range on Île du Levant in southern France, the service said in a statement released Wednesday. Conducted […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy just spread a contract worth up to $650 million across eight small American boatbuilders to keep its fleet of rigid hull inflatable boats stocked for the next decade. Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington awarded eight separate contracts on April 30, collectively valued at $325,9 million at the base level and stretching […]View the full article

As opposed to taking this moment to celebrate, once again, the success of Italian-Americans in the face of widespread discrimination, it appears the signal went out to dirty up General Christopher LaNeve, USA, acting Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and by all appearances should be nominated to take that position, pending Senate confirmation. This isn’t something done by some rando anon typing away on X or Substack, but in the pages of The Wall Street Journal by a serious journalist we’ve known for a long time, Lara Seligman and her co-author who, no offense, I don’t know from Adam’s off-ox, Dan Lyon. If you are not familiar with the good General, Lara & Dan’s article …