Raw Intel

Americas Foster Miller won a $10.7 million contract modification to exercise Option Year One for production, engineering support and post production support of the MK 2 Man Transportable Robotic System (MTRS) series systems and Talon systems. The services under this contract cover the production of systems, depot level repair parts, initial spares kits, consumables, repair parts and approved accessories. Engineering support services such as configuration management, engineering enhancements, reviews, reporting and shipping are also included. The MTRS MK2 provides a man-transportable capability to remotely perform reconnaissance. Estimated completion will be by March 2026.…

We opened Midrats last Sunday with a question to our guest Jimmy Drennan about what lessons he's taken so from from a maritime perspective during the Russo-Ukrainian War. This is a question I would like all of our navalists to think hard about. One constant we see throughout history is that small to medium wars will signal to you what you need to be ready for when the big war comes - and come it will. They always do. Well, yesterday another Midrats alumnus, Dr. James Kraska has a tightly written overview of some takeaways for him, and as always with Kraska's work ... his observations deserve close consideration. The setback for Russia was apparently tied to the oldest of…

Americas A US Navy warship intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile using software-upgraded SM-6 missiles in a recent trial. The test, conducted in cooperation with the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA), aimed to demonstrate the capability of the USS Daniel Inouye in detecting, tracking, and engaging a medium-range ballistic missile target. The US Air Force’s 71st […]View the full article

Americas BAE Systems Technology won a $67 million deal to exercise fiscal 2024 options to provide support services for the US Trident II D5 Strategic Weapon Systems program, the Attack Weapon System program, and the Nuclear Weapon Security program. This contract award also benefits a foreign military sale to the United Kingdom. Work will be […]View the full article

Americas The US Army has awarded Bell Textron a contract to provide three 412 EPX medium utility helicopters as part of the agency’s foreign military sales program. The $37.7-million order will be delivered to an undisclosed recipient due to “potential customer sensitivities,” the US Army Cargo Helicopters Project Office told FlightGlobal. Concurrently, a US Department of Defense representative confirmed that the platforms will be distributed to more than one buyer. The US Coast Guard has shipped the modified MH-60T Jayhawk medium-range recovery helicopter to the Air Station Astoria in Oregon under its service life extension program. The modernized aircraft is part of an …

Americas Raytheon won a $2.6 million modification to procure test equipment and spares, and to exercise options for Evolved SeaSparrow Missile Block 2 Guided Missile Assemblies. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity. Huntington Ingalls won a $60 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-25-C-2127 for advance planning and long-lead-time material procurement to prepare and make ready for the accomplishment of the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) inactivation and defueling. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by March 2026. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy)…

Footage broadcast on Chinese state television has revealed new training exercises featuring unmanned ground vehicles armed with rocket launchers. According to observer of Chinese military developments Jesus Roman, the exercises involved an armored infantry squad from the 83rd Group Army, part of the Central Theater Command. The unit conducted semi-urban assault drills using Type 08 […] The post China tests new ground drones with rocket launchers first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

For a long time running, it has been an eye-rolling joke how off-the-rails, political, and nonsensical ship naming and classifications conventions have become. The classic example is from many of the navies in Europe where everything has to be a frigate. Even when clearly some are destroyers or even light cruisers: frigate. All over the place, civilian politicians who are high on the emotion and low on the reason scale of things—and are beset with almost no knowledge of sea power or naval history—think they can make everything soft-soft by not seeming too “belligerent” with their <checks notes> military. They are haunted by other generations’ ghosts and bad academi…

The Chinese Ministry of National Defense issued a sharp warning to Washington on Friday over provisions in the newly passed U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that include expanded military support for Taiwan, calling the move a provocative escalation that threatens regional stability. Speaking in Beijing, Defense Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang criticized the Taiwan-related elements […] The post China slams U.S. over Taiwan defense bill first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Romania will purchase nearly 300 Lynx infantry fighting vehicles from German defense company Rheinmetall, with part of the production planned to take place on Romanian territory. The deal was finalized following meetings between Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger and senior Romanian officials, including Minister of Economy Radu Miruță and Minister of Defense Ionuț Moșteanu, Euronews has […]View the full article

MatrixSpace announced today that it has been selected as the overall winner of the Defense Innovation Unit’s Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft System (C-sUAS) Low-Cost Sensing (LCS) Challenge, following live operational testing conducted during U.S. Northern Command’s Falcon Peak 25.2 exercise. The selection places MatrixSpace at the top of more than 115 submissions evaluated by the Defense […]View the full article

China moved three newly built Shuiqiao-class Landing Platform Utility barges, also known as invasion barges, through the Pearl River Estuary and into the South China Sea between January 11 and 15, 2026, according to new imagery and tracking data released by SynMax’s maritime awareness platform, Theia. Theia said the second batch consists of three self-propelled […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said its Alpha special operations unit destroyed roughly half of Russia’s Pantsir truck-mounted road-mobile air defense systems eliminated during 2025 operations, according to an official statement released by the agency. The SBU stated that fighters from the Alpha Center for Special Operations targeted Russian Pantsir surface-to-air missile and gun systems throughout […]View the full article

Taiwan’s Army carried out a drone combat training exercise on March 10, 2026, with the 58th Artillery Command’s unmanned aerial vehicle battalion conducting advanced operations using first-person-view attack drones in a simulated urban battlefield. The exercise introduced a training course described as “immersive drone operation advanced combined training,” allowing soldiers to practice reconnaissance, precision strikes, […]View the full article

Ukraine’s drone interceptor fleet destroyed more than 33,000 enemy unmanned aerial vehicles in March, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Wednesday — double the number taken down the previous month and the highest monthly total recorded since the program’s launch. Fedorov met with Ukrainian interceptor drone manufacturers to collect market feedback and determine next steps for […]View the full article

The U.S. Army is buying a precision wind tunnel for its primary measurement standards laboratory at Redstone Arsenal, a piece of scientific equipment whose specifications reveal exactly how seriously the service takes the accuracy of its own test and measurement infrastructure. The Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal published a solicitation on May 1, 2026, […]View the full article

Canadian armored vehicle manufacturer Roshel will debut three new military platforms at CANSEC 2026 in Ottawa, leading with a modular light utility vehicle that can convert from a standard unprotected configuration to a STANAG Level 2 armored vehicle in approximately two hours, offering NATO-aligned militaries a way to maintain battlefield-ready protected transport without sustaining large […]View the full article

Turkey has begun construction of a second naval replenishment and logistics support ship for the Portuguese Navy, marking a significant expansion of Ankara’s defense export portfolio into NATO’s maritime domain, Ulusavunma reported. STM, Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik, the Ankara-based state-affiliated Turkish defense technology company that serves as the prime contractor for the program, started construction of […]View the full article

Somewhere on the flight deck of a future U.S. aircraft carrier, a jet could be preparing to launch into contested airspace nearly 1,900 kilometers (1,151 miles) away, refuel itself mid-flight if needed, evade enemy threats, and strike a target, all without a single pilot strapped inside the cockpit. That’s the future the U.S. Navy just […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing a $75 million modification to buy initial spare parts for two VC-25B aircraft, the in-development replacement for the current Air Force One fleet. The modification brings the cumulative value of the underlying contract to $4.49 billion, up from $4.42 billion. The modification, listed as P00187 to contract FA8625-16-C-6599, […]View the full article