Raw Intel

The U.S. Navy is upgrading the communications suite on the E-6B Mercury, an airborne nuclear relay aircraft, even as the service moves forward with the E-130J Phoenix II, the platform eventually set to replace it. Naval Air Systems Command published a presolicitation notice on May 1, 2026, announcing its intent to award a sole-source delivery […]View the full article

Every cruise missile, every fighter jet, every missile defense interceptor, and every military helicopter flying today depends on a class of magnets so powerful and so small that the weapons systems built around them would be unrecognizable without them. For most of the past two decades, almost all of those magnets came from China. Two […]View the full article

A mystery military aircraft draped entirely in white fabric was spotted at Japan’s Gifu Air Base on June 18, 2026, triggering immediate speculation across defense-focused social media about what the shrouded airframe might be and why it was being kept hidden in plain sight on an active flight line. The sighting was first posted by […]View the full article

The next major shift in military technology might not look like a stealth fighter or a hypersonic missile. It could look like a laboratory full of scientists trying to control particles so small and so strange that they can exist in two states at once, and the U.S. Air Force just paid one of its […]View the full article

Boeing has been awarded a $636.1 million modification to its ongoing contract to repair and supply components for the U.S. Army’s AH-64 Apache helicopter fleet, according to a Department of War contract announcement. The modification pushes the cumulative value of the underlying contract past $1.1 billion. The modification, listed as PZ0022 to contract W58RGZ-24-C-0028, covers […]View the full article

A long-endurance surveillance drone built by Maryland-based Platform Aerospace was spotted taking off from a Jordanian air base used by U.S. forces on September 13, 2026, according to flight-tracking data shared by an open-source intelligence account. The MenchOsint described it as the first known sighting of the aircraft, known as Vanilla, operating from Jordan. The […]View the full article

The U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division has started fielding the M2A4E1 Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the first Bradley version fitted with an active protection system designed to destroy incoming anti-tank missiles, rockets and drones before they hit the vehicle. The division said in a social media post that its 6th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, is receiving […]View the full article

China and South Korea completed a 10-day joint maritime law enforcement patrol in the Yellow Sea fishing zone the two countries share under their bilateral fisheries agreement, with the China Coast Guard ship Changshan and the South Korean fisheries guidance vessel Mugunghwa 42 sailing together. Over more than 210 hours at sea and more than […]View the full article

So you hate the Littoral Combat Ship? Looking for that Frigate alternative? How about a frigate based on a modern, mature, evolved design? Look no further than South Korea. The Navy plans to launch six 5,600-ton "mini-Aegis'' destroyers between 2019 and 2026 in an effort to help facilitate coastal and blue-water operations, the service said Tuesday. The plan was unveiled in a report submitted to a National Assembly inspection of the Navy at the Gyeryongdae military compound in South Chungcheong Province. The medium-sized KDX-IIA destroyers equipped with SPY radar and close-in weapon systems will be a core part of the Navy's strategic mobile fleet led by 7,6…

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $724 million contract modification for the Aegis Weapon System (AWS). Under the follow on contract, the contractor will conduct full development and lifecycle engineering for the Aegis Weapon System (AWS) fielding for cruisers, destroyers and Aegis Ashore configurations. The AWS contract will support the following efforts: Aegis Baseline 5.4.1 (Ballistic Missile Defense 4.2) development; BL 9 (BMD 5.X) development; Aegis BMD In-Service support; BMD ground and flight test support; modeling and simulation support; Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Test Complex combat system engineering, testing, site support, modernization, technical and logistics …

Americas The US Air Force has secured funding to buy the first of six new E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communication Node aircraft. The press release from the 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs says the BACN Program Office is expected to award the contract by end of March, and the aircraft to be delivered by the end of June. The five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity agreement also includes funds for research, development, testing and evaluation, and integration of existing and future payloads. The contract also provides support for infrastructure contained in or connected to the BACN system and associated ground stations, controls, and ancillary or support equi…

Every few years I repost this little bit from 2005. It is time again. I'll add the commentary I put with it in 2013 and have slightly modified some personal items to keep it up to date. In a culture where more often than not, all your neighbors are really just transients - they move in an out every few years, chasing whatever they are chasing. Their families are scattered hither and yon; few really related to anyone. I've wondered for awhile what impact the reality of the rolling, self-imposed Internally Displaced Persons has had on our nation - perhaps causing us to miss something. Is it a net-gain, or a net-loss? Well, perhaps I am projecting; I have always thought…

Americas The Department of Defense (DoD) has launched a multi-party project to ramp up its hypersonic weapons testing capacity. The Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonics Test Bed (MACH-TB) project will develop an affordable ground and flight test bed that leverages “commercially-available launch vehicles for hypersonic payloads,” contractor Dynetics said. The US Air Force has completed a series of ground and flight acoustic tests for its F-15EX fighter aircraft at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The trial was the first for the air force’s F-15 with the GE-129 engine. Test administrators aimed to establish a baseline of sound data to update the information on noi…

Americas E-3 Sentry, #75-0560, is the first of the 31 AWACS that will be retired by Tinker Air Force Base. The base hosts veterans who worked on the plane to pay a final visit before it is flown off next week. The US Air Force has retired its last MC-130H Combat Talon II, #89-0280, after […]View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin won an $98 million deal to provide for the development of production engineering change proposals, retrofit engineering release reports, investigations and subcontractor support for investigations and qualifications in support of increasing the life of F-35 aircraft parts for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and non-Department of Defense participants. Work will be […]View the full article

Americas As Operation “Midnight Hammer” got underway on Saturday, a group of B-2 bombers took off from their base in Missouri and were noticed heading out toward the Pacific island of Guam, in what experts saw as possible pre-positioning for any U.S. decision to strike Iran. But they were a decoy. The real group of seven bat-winged, B-2 stealth bombers flew east undetected for 18 hours, keeping communications to a minimum, refueling in mid-air, the U.S. military revealed on Sunday. As the bombers neared Iranian airspace, a U.S. submarine launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles. US fighter jets flew as decoys in front of the bombers to sweep for a…

The U.S. Air Force’s 500th F-35A Lightning II fighter jet arrived at the Florida Air National Guard’s 125th Fighter Wing in Jacksonville on July 9, 2025, marking a milestone in the service’s transition to fifth-generation airpower. The aircraft is one of the first three F-35As permanently assigned to the wing, known as “the Thunder,” and […] The post U.S. Air Force marks 500th F-35A delivery first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

South Korea is moving forward with the construction of its national satellite navigation infrastructure, selecting Jeju Island as a hub for the Korean Positioning System (KPS). The Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) and Jeju Province signed an agreement on September 22 to establish ground-based facilities that will support the operation and management of the system. According […] The post South Korea builds its own GPS-style navigation system first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The Z-20T assault helicopter, developed by China’s Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC), was featured in flight demonstrations at the 7th China Helicopter Exposition in Tianjin after making its first public appearance during a military parade on September 3. The aircraft, developed by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), combines airlift capabilities with integrated firepower in […] The post China shows armed Z-20T helicopter in action first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Russia’s state defense conglomerate Rostec says the Uralvagonzavod plant has delivered another batch of TOS‑1A “Solntsepyok” heavy flamethrower systems to the Ministry of Defense. The delivery was announced ahead of the country’s Day of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops, a date often used by Moscow to highlight equipment tied to these units. According to […]View the full article