Raw Intel

Home is thousands of miles away on the other side of the great Pacific Ocean. A deadly and relentless enemy is challenging ships and sailors for every island, cove, sea and shipping lane. There is no time – or yardspace – for damaged ships for travel home for repairs or resupply. Large shore facilities and ports anywhere near the fight are either under enemy control, or too dangerous and damaged to be useful. How can the US Navy fight and win under these circumstances? We know the answer. We’ve been here before. How can the war games of a century ago, and the war they helped win less than two decades later, help us today as we face another rising power in the Wester…

As we see our nation start to emerge from COVID-19 isolation, I have read a bit about "young" people feeling they have lost a year, they can't catch up ... etc. If you are, like my kids, in the young adult category - ignore that crap. Everyone has a headwind right now, but you in other ways don't have time to wallow. You don't have all the time in the world; now is your time. You can do more today than people twice your age. Ignore anyone who says otherwise because of your "limited" experience. Perhaps it was a bit much to move the age to have a beer to 21 from the legal adult age of 18. Perhaps it was a bit off to allow young adults to stay on their parent's i…

Are you ready for this fight in your Navy? As we have covered here in previous Thursdays, the CNO is an enthusiastic supporter of one of the primary advocates of the divisive "anti-racism" socio-political philosophy - Ibram X. Kendi. The CNO created conditions where the Diversity Maoists will take the his support as top cover to take their divisive and sectarian secular religion in to your workspace. What is "anti-racism?" I highly recommend that everyone read the letter by Paul Rossi, at least at the time he wrote the letter, a teacher at Grace Church High School in Manhattan. “Antiracist” training sounds righteous, but it is the opposite of truth in advertising.…

Americas Raytheon won a $243.2 million contract modification for one AN/TPY-2 Radar (Radar #13) to support Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Battery #8. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $1,244,567,329 from $1,002,297,329. The THAAD missile system is an easily transportable defensive weapon system to protect against hostile incoming threats, such as tactical and theatre ballistic missiles, at ranges of 200km and altitudes of up to 150km. Work will take place in Massachusetts. Estimated completion date is December 31, 2024. The future USS Mobile, the US Navy’s next Independence-class littoral combat ship, will be commissi…

Americas A second F-15EX has arrived at Eglin Air Force Base and the aircraft will be flown by the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron. This is also the final F-15EX delivery to the US Air Force for FY21. The F-15EX will make its exercise debut at Northern Edge 2021. The two F-15EXs and testers from the 40th Flight Test Squadron and 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron will work together in integrated developmental and operational test, effectively expediting the test timeline. Northrop Grumman won a $2 billion deal for sustaining engineering support and program management support services for the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) propulsion subsystem. The deal with a…

Another sad week for those who wish New Zealand was a better partner for the West ... but she has a history here. What is even more sad is that it appears this time it is for little more than money over human rights. Not much more. Details over at USNIBlog. Come on by and give it a 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=a5orce93csQ:-LXibg_aIWc:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=a5orce93csQ:-LXibg_aIWc:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=a5orce93csQ:-LXibg_aIWc:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds…

Americas The US Navy announced the start of its first manned and unmanned capabilities exercise on April 19 at Naval Base San Diego. Executed by the Navy’s 3rd Fleet, “Unmanned Battle Problem 21” will “generate warfighting advantages in integrating multi-domain manned and unmanned capabilities into the most challenging operational scenarios,” ist says in a statement. Unmanned systems, including the MQ-9 Sea Guardian and MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicles, Sea Hunter and Sea Hawk unmanned surface vessels and small and medium unmanned undersea vehicles with modular payloads will be involved in exercises. The USS Oakland, the Navy’s newest littoral combat ship, was fo…

COVID-19 gifted the USA a window that, if we are smart, we will take advantage of. I think this may even understate the advantage we have and need to leverage. As I will cover tomorrow at my post at USNIBlog, China is making inroads in our traditional areas of influence at weak points, we need to work just as hard. h/t ISEAS. 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=PMdf6sbEJL8:3AZx5H0MNQk:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=PMdf6sbEJL8:3AZx5H0MNQk:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=PMdf6sbEJ…

Americas The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded three contracts this week to design a nuclear thermal propulsion system that will operate above low Earth orbit in 2025. General Atomics, Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin are the prime contractors for the deal, according to a DARPA new release. The Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program has the potential to achieve rapid maneuver in space, which has been challenging because current electric and chemical space propulsion systems have drawbacks in thrust-to-weight and propellent efficiency, respectively, according to the agency. MBDA will equip the Royal Canadian Navy’s new Canadian S…

There is something going on more than the usual spring maneuvers in Russian occupied Ukraine. The below from Der Spiegel is in Crimea ... so not an easy jump further in to mainland Ukrainian territory ... but ... still. Moscow has been relocating military units near the Ukraine for weeks. Trains with tanks, howitzers and transporters are also rolling into the Crimea, annexed by Russia . A huge new army camp has arisen in the east of the Black Sea Peninsula, as satellite images available to SPIEGEL show. About 30 kilometers from the town of Marfivka near the coast, the Russian military has gradually built a makeshift base, as this animation shows. If the area was …

Americas The US Naval Research Laboratory has demonstrated that its electric unmanned aerial vehicle dubbed Hybrid Tiger can stay airborne for 24 hours using multiple power sources. “The flight was effectively a performance test in worst-case conditions: temperatures falling below zero degrees Celsius, winds gusting to 20 knots, and relatively little solar energy as we approached the solar solstice Dec. 21,” Richard Stroman, one of engineers involved in the testing, said. Daytime power come from solar panels integrated onto the wings and high-pressure hydrogen fuel tank and fuel cell system provides nighttime power. The drone also had algorithms in its flight control soft…

Sometimes, Midrats is like a VLS cell; you don't know what you have until ... wait ... bad analogy... but you get the concept. Today for the full hour, come join us for a classic Midrats melee ... we take on all topics as they come in to range. I'm sure we'll cover the latest Black Sea happenings, interesting justifications for more DDG in Rota, and WESTPAC always makes and appearance. 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 join us for a Midrats free for all. Open topic, open chat, open phones. If you use iTunes, you can add Midrats …

Does this guy look badass enough for you? You have no idea. In the summer of 1897 tribesmen of the North-western frontier of India (now a part of Pakistan) began attacking and intimidating British forces in the area. The Indian Government decided that the unprovoked attacks by the Afridis and the Orakzais tribesmen could not go unpunished and decided that a show of force in Tirah, the tribe’s summer home, was appropriate. Accordingly, Sir William Lockhart was ordered out from Britain and appointed to command a force of 32,882 officers and soldiers. The intention was to advance into the Chagru valley on 20 October but the Alikhel tribesmen had seen the preparation of …

Americas Oshkosh Defense and BAE Systems will deliver prototypes of the US Army’s next Cold Weather All-Terrain Vehicle, the companies announced. The National Advanced Mobility Consortium, which is an alliance of defense contractors and research organizations involved in providing the US government access to technology developers, narrowed its choice down to the two companies. BAE Systems announced that its Beowulf vehicles were chosen. According to a statement, the vehicle has a modular design and can be reconfigured for multiple missions, such as logistical support, disaster and humanitarian relief, search and rescue, and other missions as required. Oshkosh Defense’s pr…

Though I have a ton of stuff for a normal DivThu, not today. I'm still working through some Afghanistan issues. I had another post as a companion to yesterday, but after letting it sit overnight, I decided to delete it. Like all good Sailors, when things are a bit off ... consult the nearest chart/map. There is comfort and knowledge ... and stories ... in charts/maps. I'll let the Front Porch extend the commentary from here. 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=P3lmKQ0b2TA:BpFMXddPvXQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/bl…

Americas Bell Boeing won a $143.2 million delivery order from the US Navy for the logistics and repair support of MV-22B, CMV-22 (Navy) and CV-22 (Air Force) Osprey components. The Navy is planning to use the CMV-22 variant as a replacement of the Grumman C-2 Greyhound for carrier onboard delivery. The service marked a milestone last November, when a CMV-22B conducted the first carrier landings, take-offs and refueling on the USS Carl Vinson. COD deployments should begin sometime later this year. All work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas. Work is expected to be completed by December 2025. The Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Command Test Center C-130 Hercules …

We picked Option A it appears. I remember when we thought about Option C and believed Option B was too long. I have extended thoughts on the Afghanistan withdraw announcement today over at USNIBlog. It's been a long time coming ... but regular readers here know that. Come on by and give me your thoughts. 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=A_rxYai-AN4:JiIqTl4iUrM:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=A_rxYai-AN4:JiIqTl4iUrM:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=A_rxYai-AN4:JiIqTl4iUrM:V_sGLiPB…

Americas The US Navy announced a successful live-fire exercise of its Rolling Airframe Missile from the littoral combat ship USS Charleston on Monday. The launching of the SeaRAM missiles from the San Diego-based vessel was a part of exercises involving all of the ship’s weaponry, and occurred on Thursday, the Navy said. SeaRAM missiles, also known as RIM-116 RAM missiles, are lightweight, quick-reaction missiles designed to defeat cruise missiles and asymmetric air and surface threats. Equipped with Phalanx search-and-track radar and Electro Optic sensor, 11-missile pods are carried within launchers aboard the ship. The US Marine Corps (USMC) will acquire a pair of Gene…

The Navy's hate-hate relationship with its fleet of small ships would be a comedy if it were not so tragic. As recorded here in the opening years of this blog, one of the greatest errors of the last 40-yrs was the Navy's retreat from its exceptional riverine force it learned it needed the hard way in Vietnam. At the end of the 1990s, we disestablished the vestige of this once great capability in the Navy Reserve just a half decade before they would be desperately needed in Iraq. Untold numbers of American and allied personnel were killed and maimed because we invaded a nation whose central geographical feature were two great rivers that we could not, for years, gain e…

Americas The US Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Test Center (AATC) is planning to modify two KC-135s to equip them with a new communications, sensors and defensive pod. While tentatively called the Gladiator Pod, it is expected to enter flight testing on a few KC-135s in 2023. AATC intends to pack communication, defensive, and sensor technologies inside the shell of a Multipoint Refueling System (MPRS) Pod. The MPRS consists of a single refueling pod mounted on each wing of a KC-135 to support probe and drogue refueling. The communication systems that will be packed inside the Gladiator Pod will allow the KC-135 to act as a data node and host on the Advanced Battle M…