Raw Intel

Americas The State Department announced it has reached a $13 million settlement with US defense contractor Honeywell International over allegations it exported technical data concerning fighter jets and other military vehicles to foreign countries, including China. The settlement resolves 34 charges the State Department leveled against the company for disclosing dozens of engineering prints showing dimensions, geometries and layouts for manufacturing parts for aircraft, gas turbine engines and military electronics. The 174th Attack Wing is working with multiple Pentagon contractors and academic researchers to establish new capabilities for the MQ-9 Reaper drone aircraft,…

How many ships can a US Army division afford to lose when crossing the Pacific? You know, the ships that will carry their equipment and munitions? Have we thought this through? I'm pondering over at USNIBlog. Come on over 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=QDpqhuD2OL0:cOjkkhf0Eiw:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=QDpqhuD2OL0:cOjkkhf0Eiw:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=QDpqhuD2OL0:cOjkkhf0Eiw:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=QDpqhuD2OL0…

Americas Oshkosh Defense announced a three-year extension of its contract with the US Army on Monday to build heavy vehicles, valued at $146.8 million. The deal calls for modernization of vehicles in the US Army and US Army Reserve Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicle, also known as FHTV, fleets, which include 354 Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks, or HEMTT, and Palletized Load System, or PLS, trucks, as well as the construction of new PLS trailers. The FHTV fleet is designed to accommodate many mission packages, allowing it to support multi-domain operations as the battlefield continues to evolve, according to the company. Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems wo…

Latest updates: Battle for Oshkosh: Will FHTV re-bid copy FMTV mistake? THAAD on HEMTT (click to view full) In 2009, with its bridge buy of FMTV medium trucks in place, and initial awards for the potential JLTV Hummer replacement designs underway, the next order of business on the US Army’s agenda was a new Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicles multi-year contract: FHTV-III. That multi-billion dollar FHTV-III contract has been awarded – not as a re-compete like FMTV, but as a single-source solicitation. Oshkosh has provided the core of this capability for over 20 yeas now. Its Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTT) and their 13-ton payloads are the mainstay of …

One little nugget I’ve said too much that last week or so is that to many in the national security nomenklatura – especially in DC – the process is the product. The measure of effectiveness isn’t the ultimate delivery of useful kit to the fleet, but adherence to the process. Billions upon billions of dollars can be made for years and POM-cycles on end getting ready to think about possible things that might be of some use … maybe. We wind up with dead end programs that produce nothing. No one really is held to account. At the end of the day you have to do one of two things: 1. Like with the fail to transition that was ZUMWALT, you have to restart the legacy ARLEIGH B…

Americas A former US Marine Corps (USMC) V-22 test pilot has urged the US Army to select the Defiant-X as its next helicopter instead of the V-280. Scott Trail says based on the Army’s mission objectives, the compound helicopter is the better choice and cheaper solution. Lockheed Martin won a $663.7 million contract modification for Hellfire II missile production. The Hellfire II air-to-ground missile system (AGMS) provides heavy anti-armor capability for attack helicopters. It is a 100lb class air-to-ground precision weapon delivering multi-target capability and precision strike lethality. The Hellfire II missile is in service with the armed forces of the US and 16 othe…

One aspect of the Afghanistan conflict that I think will stick in time's craw the hardest is what we allowed Pakistan to do. I was lucky enough to be at the table at C5F when this all kicked off - one of the many quiet O4s in the back of the room watching and listening as the big guys got us ready for what was to come. From almost day-1, a regular refrain - besides looking for sidearms and chem gear for all the terrorists with mustard gas mortar shells that intel told us could show up any day from Iraq ... ahem ... - was how we could not let Pakistan be for Afghanistan what Cambodia and Laos was for the North Vietnamese. "No safe havens!" we told ourselves literally…

Americas The project manager for the US Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft(FLRAA) says the final request for proposal is to be released this summer. Col. David Phillips said the final document will not have any major changes relative to the draft proposal that was release late last year. Raytheon won a $16.5 million deal for the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) program for Gordian Knot (GK) application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) life-of-type buy. This effort provides for a life-of-type procurement of GK ASIC in support of production and sustainment through the AMRAAM program of record. The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, …

E-7A Wedgetail over New South Wales (click to view full) The island continent of Australia faces a number of unique security challenges that stem from its geography. The continent may be separated from its neighbors by large expanses of ocean, but it also resides within a potential arc of instability, and has a number of important offshore resource sites to protect. Full awareness of what is going on around them, and the ability to push that awareness well offshore, are critical security requirements. “Project Wedgetail” had 3 finalists, and the winner was a new variant of Boeing’s 737-700, fitted with an MESA (multirole electronically scanned array) radar from Northr…

OK, it is the day after May Day ... but that's close enough for government work. As the entire maritime world this week decided to pick up on some Midrats favorites - poaching the Army's budget and making the Taiwanese porcupine a bit more imposing - could there be a better time for another Sal & Eagle One green range? Open topic, open chat room, open phones. We'll cover the waterfront and invite you to come on board for a broad ranging discussion of national and maritime security issues. 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. This Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern come jo…

The rest of your fleet has left you behind. The enemy is everywhere. You have little defensive or offensive weapons - and you are painfully slow - but you have your ship and your Sailors and your mission, which at this point, is simply to survive. What do you do? Well ... never underestimate a Dutchman; The ship was based at Surabaya in the Netherlands East Indies when Japan invaded in 1941. Following the Allied defeats at the Battles of the Java Sea and Sunda Strait in late March 1942, all Allied ships were ordered to withdraw to Australia. Abraham Crijnssen was meant to sail with three other warships, but found herself proceeding alone. To escape detection by Japan…

Americas Saguaro Business Solutions won a $67.3 million contract for aircrew training and courseware development. This contract provides all personnel, equipment, tools, materials, supervision, and all other items and services that are required to perform 552 Air Control Wing E-3 Aircrew Training and 752nd Operations Support Squadron and Reporting Center support at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. Estimated completion date is April 30, 2026. Bell Textron won a $8 million deal, which provides engineering and technical field services for the H-1 aircraft to include airframes, avionics, electrical power plant systems and associated equipment, on and off-site proficiency tra…

The GAO has a report out on LCS maintenance. A long running concern here has been the intentional, and borderline criminal, neglect of maintenance Navy-wide in general. The LCS program, from the manning CONOPS to maintenance has been one long example of bad ideas made flesh by an entire generation of pigheadedness. In 2021, we have good people in hard jobs doing the best they can with the dog's breakfast of a class of ships they were given - and yet we can't seem to build anything straight connected to this crooked timber. We should have stopped building them long ago - but we will have to make do with what we have. If you want to, rage read the whole thing ... but I…

In a way, we do. Not only is it our top threat, is also is the one we have full control of to fix. Details and ponderables over at USNIBlog. Come by and soak it 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=jXeTpt9BvI0:5OR-xKYulYw:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=jXeTpt9BvI0:5OR-xKYulYw:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=jXeTpt9BvI0:5OR-xKYulYw:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=jXeTpt9BvI0:5OR-xKYulYw:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/jXeT…

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $22.5 million contract modification, which adds scope to provide support required to establish the common reprogramming tool development network and selection of a service-oriented architecture for the development of enhanced reprogramming tools. This is essential for all standing labs in support of the F-35 aircraft for the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and non-Department of Defense participants. Work will take place in Texas and Florida. Estimated completion is in December 2021. The US Navy has demonstrated that it can use a swarm drone to destroy a surface target during the recently concluded Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem (…

Americas Rolls-Royce won a $21.8 million contract modification, which exercises an option to provide depot repair of T56-A-427 engines utilized on E-2 Hawkeye aircraft, to include repair of the power section, torque meter, gearbox and accessories in accordance with Navy depot manuals and approved repair practices. The Hawkeye is an s an American all-weather, carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. Work will take place in Texas, Canada and Indiana. Expected completion date is January 2022. The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford completed Combat Systems Ship’s Qualifications Trials, a milestone in validating its defenses, the US Navy said. The five…

Our Navy has a problem, or a series of problems, and everyone knows it. It is a problem of long standing that manifests itself in a variety of ways. Our inability to design warships, or properly maintain the ones we have, is one example. Our shrinking carrier airwings - in aircraft numbers and range - is another. Not unrelated to the issues on the pointy end is the groaning weight of staff bloat and a top-heavy leadership structure. Our self-selected elite - in uniform and out - have failed us. The system and structure that motivates, rewards, and encourages them share the blame, but mostly this is a people problem. As such, the cure will have to come from people. Cong…

Americas The Canadian government has taken the first step in allocating funds for modernizing the North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD). “This funding will enable the enhancement of all-domain surveillance of our northern approaches and renewed investment in continental defence more broadly,” said the spokesperson for Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan. The US and Canada created NORAD in the 1950s to protect North America from a Soviet nuclear attack. Strings of radars and air bases were built to detect and stop incoming missiles and bombers, and placed under a unique joint command. All of the 57 active US Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers were indefinitely grounded this week…

One of the most compartmentalized areas, rightfully, in the national security apparatus involve the electromagnetic spectrum. Has been true for most of the last century. Radar, radio, and now IP based systems - they all can either be used to find or reveal your side or the other's location. "War winning technology" is perhaps an overused phrase, but some of these capabilities seem to be close to that. Some are hidden in plain sight, others with elaborate cover stories, some hidden in riddles and spin. One thing I keep telling myself as I type out my thoughts almost every day, is to remember that what I once knew is with each passing year very dated, and even when in the…

Americas Boeing won an $89.6 million deal, which provides systems and software engineering and sustainment support services, to include analysis, design, implementation, integration, testing, prototyping, prototype installation, and maintenance for development and test laboratory capabilities in support of modernizations and improvements to software and associated hardware capabilities for the P-8A aircraft. Seventy-eight percent of work will be conducted in Seattle, Washington, while 12 percent of it will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri. The remaining 10 percent will be held in Huntington Beach, California. The Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Maryland, a…