Raw Intel

Americas Raytheon Missiles and Defense won a $35.7 million deal for the procurement of AEGIS modernization (AMOD) kits for Navy DDG 51 Class destroyers and for the government of Japan under the Foreign Military Sales program. The Navy’s Aegis Modernization program provides updated technology and systems for CG 47 Class Aegis guided missile cruisers and DDG 51 Class Aegis guided missile destroyers. The DDG 51 Arleigh Burke destroyers provide multi-mission offensive and defensive capabilities. They can operate independently or as part of carrier strike groups, surface action groups, amphibious ready groups, and underway replenishment groups. Work will take place in Massachu…

Redacted to protect the ... well ... you know. The answer appears to be, "In the finest traditions of the Naval service." Side note: you can add this to your file that, yes, what the Admiral is interested in, the Fleet will be interested in. It matters. That is why, in the end, if you are happy or unhappy with our Navy ... that is where you start to look for answers to the question, "why?" 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=EK3z1xbOwFA:e3zsmdfORs8:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=EK3z1xbOwFA:e3zsmdfORs8:-…

Most people do not realize that one of the largest Pacific nation, if you measure by territorial seas, is France. She has a lot to lose in a world where fleets of hundreds of Chinese fishing boats in fleet movements go from place to place, strip mining already stressed fishing resources. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday France and South Pacific nations would launch a South Pacific coastguard network to counter "predatory" behaviour, which an adviser said was aimed at illegal fishing, as China expands its maritime reach. The United States and allies including France, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, are actively expanding their activity in the Pacific…

Americas The MQ-9 in service with the US Air Force has carried out an Automatic Takeoff and Landing Capability (ATLC) test and the drone is now cleared for Agile Combat Employment operations. A specialized launch and recovery crew is no longer required when the MQ-9 land and the unmanned air vehicle can now be diverted to a foreign field where it has never been before. The test was carried out by the 556th Test and Evaluation Squadron on July 8. On the first day, the drone was flown from Creech to Cannon air force base using satellite control. Kitty Hawk’s Heaviside aircraft has obtained airworthiness approval by the US Air Force, allowing the aircraft to enter its next …

Americas Sikorsky Aircraft won a $26.9 million contract modification for UH-60M Foreign Military Sales green aircraft. UH-60 Black Hawk is a multi-mission helicopter developed by Sikorsky that has been operational in the US Army since 1978. Work will take place in Connecticut. Estimated completion date is June 30, 2022. Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin JV won an $8.6 million modification to support Javelin engineering services. The Javelin is a man-portable anti tank missile. Raytheon is responsible for the command launch unit (CLU), missile guidance electronic unit, system software and system engineering management. Lockheed Martin is responsible for the missile seeker,…

If it is early summer in the Black Sea, it is time for the annual Ukrainian hosted international exercise Sea Breeze. Why is this exercise important, who came along, and what does it tell us about the state of the Ukrainian Navy, maritime security in the contested eastern Black Sea, and some interesting responses from the Russians? Recently returning from the exercise and joining us for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern will be returning guest, Captain Chris Rawley, USNR CAPT Rawley is the Reserve Chief of Staff for US. Naval Forces Europe and Africa. Over his 29 year career, he has deployed to the Persian Gulf, Western Pacific, Iraq, Afghanistan, and across…

Five years ago, an exceptional American Army NCO from WWII passed away, Technician 5th grade (E4) from the 103rd Infantry Division, awarded the Bronze Star by the USA and Légion d'honneur from France. He lived 102 years, and with him passed the last war chief of the Crow Tribe. A great American, Joe Medicine Crow; According to Crow tradition, a man must fulfill certain requirements to become chief of the tribe: command a war party successfully, enter an enemy camp at night and steal a horse, wrestle a weapon away from his enemy and touch the first enemy fallen, without killing him. Joe Medicine Crow was the last person to meet that code, though far from the windswe…

Americas The Navy awarded 600 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contracts (MACs) to businesses in multiple locations across 29 of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia for future competition of support service requirements to be solicited by Department of the Navy activities under rolling admissions of the SeaPort Next Generation (SeaPort-NxG) multiple-award contract vehicle for engineering support services and program management support services in 23 functional areas. The government estimates the Navy will procure $5 billion worth of services annually through task orders issued under SeaPort-NxG. Each multiple-award contract has a base p…

Americas The KC-46A has gotten its first Interim Capability Release (ICR) mission set, the approval to use its Centerline Drogue System. Air Mobility Command commander Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost gave the greenlight on July 9. The decision provides more daily “taskable” operational capabilities to the various services. “This decision reflects a risk-informed, data-driven, constraint-analyzed approach to releasing KC-46A operational capabilities to the joint force,” Van Ovost was quoted as saying. The US Army awarded Raytheon approximately $321 million for Stinger missile production. The FIM-92 Stinger is a man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) that operates as an infra…

On the tarmac at Andrews. I just don't know. A few more comments at USNIBlog, but not that many more. Come for the pic, stay for the ponder. 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=CL-Lu2JGRtA:dr_96jSjVPg:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=CL-Lu2JGRtA:dr_96jSjVPg:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=CL-Lu2JGRtA:dr_96jSjVPg:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=CL-Lu2JGRtA:dr_96jSjVPg:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/CL-Lu2JGRtAView the full arti…

Americas Collins Aerospace won a $22.4 million contract for High Fidelity Visual Display Systems required to support the F-35 Joint Simulation Environment. The contractor will deliver, install, and provide training for the visual display systems. Work will be performed at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada; Edwards AFB, California; and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and is expected to be completed July 31, 2023. The F-35 Lightning is a stealthy, supersonic multirole fighter developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and programme partners from the NATO and US allies. Work will take place at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada; Edwards A…

Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) along with Congressmen Jim Banks (R-IN), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), and Mike Gallagher (R-WI) commissioned a study by Lieutenant General Robert E. Schmidle, USMC, Ret. and Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, USN, Ret. on a series of issues familiar to regulars here and on Midrats. It was released on Monday and at only 22 pages is an easy read, the aptly titled, "A Report on the Culture of the United States Navy Surface Fleet" is a compact summary you should take time to read in full. What does it use as the basis for its review? 77 unique and formal interviews were conducted with Navy personnel via an extensive hour-long process to establish a common c…

Americas Shipyards could suffer if the US Navy does not order additional Arleigh Burke Class destroyers, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was told this week. Hicks visited Bath Iron Works in Maine, a General Dynamics subsidiary founded in 1884 whose primary customer is the US Navy, and the Naval Sea Systems Command’s Portsmouth, Naval Shipyard, to discuss a decrease in orders for Navy destroyers, the Pentagon said. According to the Eglin Air Force Base, the US Air Force successfully detonated a hypersonic missile warhead for the first time this week. The Drive reported that the prototype warhead, designed for the in-development Air Launched Rapid Response Weapon, …

Ship inactivation, are, in a way, sad things to see. Especially for those who served on them, these ships represent untold hours of dedication, hard work, love, sacrifice, and memories of long, boring watches and flashing rushes of adrenaline. Each story is unique, but in aggregate they tell other, perhaps more meaningful stories about the naval service they represent, and the nation they serve. For those focused on capability, the question should always be twofold; 1) Are we commissioning more or less of what are are decommissioning?; 2) Are we going to have more capabilities tomorrow than we have today? For those focused on the Navy's stewardship of the taxpaye…

Americas Huntington Ingalls won a $17.5 million deal to support maintenance and modernization on USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) with special incentives to include ship alterations and propulsion plant maintenance during fiscal 2021 planned incremental availability at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is a nuclear powered aircraft carrier. According to the Navy, it provides a wide range of flexible mission capabilities, to include maritime security operations, expeditionary power projection, forward naval presence, crisis response, sea control, deterrence, counter-terrorism, information operations, security cooperation and counter-proliferation. W…

India’s new surface-to-air missile, the Akash, successfully struck an airborne target towed from a remote control aircraft in late November. The weapon is designed to hit aircraft up to 25 km away with a 55 kg warhead. Reuters: India Test-Fires Akash Missile Update July 12/21: IAF Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) signed a contract worth $67 million to provide Akash missiles to the Indian Air Force (IAF). A formal contract was signed by the Indian Ministry of Defense and BDL on July 8. Akash is a medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile (SAM) system developed by the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and produced by BDL. February 15/2017: India’s Defence…

Sal and EagleOne are back after July 4th with a full plate of catching up to do on the waterfront from ghosting Afghanistan, Japan & Taiwan's awkward natsec flirting, the INDOPACCOM J2 isn't all that happy with what he's discovered west of Wake, and the ever popular question, how many years is a 30-yr CG good for. Join us live if you can and roll in with your preferred topic in the chat room or call the switchboard number right here on the showpage. If you use iTunes, you can add Midrats to your podcast list simply by clicking the iTunes button at the main showpage - or you can just click here. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://…

As the D-Day invasion was ongoing, the German Navy sortied what they could to try to drive the allies back across the channel. The most feared were the French based U-boats. Please read the whole thing, but here is a nice summary of one of the under-told stories of WWII, Coastal Command. On night. One crew. Two U-boats. Fullbore. “G-George” droned on through the night. Men drank coffee from thermos flasks, kept the chatter to a minimum, scanned the endless sea and began to feel the numbing weariness set in that came with these long over-water patrols. But adrenalin shot through their bloodstreams like amphetamine just after 2 a.m. when Foster announced on the intercom…

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $3.9 billion deal for Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile ground subsystems support. This contract provides for sustaining engineering, maintenance engineering, test and assessment, modification of systems and equipment, software maintenance, developmental engineering, production engineering, repair and procurement. The LGM-30G Minuteman III is a three-stage, solid-fueled, intercontinental-range ballistic missile. The Minuteman III is the sole land-based component of the US nuclear triad. Estimated completion date is July 6, 2039. The US Air Force detonated a warhead for its hypersonic weapon, Lockheed Martin AGM-183A Air-laun…

Remember, as they are mostly a military contractor, indirectly you are paying for this. From the irreplaceable Christopher Rufo; Beginning last summer, Raytheon launched a critical race theory-inspired training program called Stronger Together, encouraging employees to “becom[e] an anti-racist today.” Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes supported the campaign by signing an Action for Diversity & Inclusion statement, promising to “promote diversity” and “cultivate meaningful change for our society,” then asking all Raytheon employees to sign the pledge and “check [their] own biases.” ... Raytheon asks white employees to deconstruct their identities and “identify [their] privile…