Raw Intel

Airbus Helicopters Inc. has been awarded a $115.4 million contract to build up to 12 more UH-72B Lakota helicopters for the U.S. Army, the Department of War announced Aug. 14. The contract covers the helicopters themselves, designated the MBB-BK 117 D3, along with jettisonable cockpit doors, air conditioning system installation, engine inlet barrier filters and […]View the full article

A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III landed at Camp Davis South, part of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, marking the first time the heavy-lift aircraft has touched down there in more than 20 years. The roughly 140-ton jet, longer than half a football field, landed alongside Canadian C-130 transports to support […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy has awarded Ursa Major two contracts worth a combined $137 million to develop and qualify solid rocket motors for two new missiles: a small air-to-air missile for fighter jets and a ship-launched interceptor meant to eventually replace the Standard Missile family. The Colorado company announced the awards on Oct. 5. The larger […]View the full article

The Turkish Naval Forces used HAVELSAN’s Barkan unmanned ground vehicle to support amphibious raid and urban warfare training and then to evacuate simulated wounded personnel during TURNAs-2026, the service’s unmanned maritime systems exercise under way in the Gulf of Antalya and the eastern Mediterranean from Oct. 19 to 27, the Naval Forces Command said. The […]View the full article

Successor Class (click to view full) “We are committed to working towards a safer world in which there is no requirement for nuclear weapons… However, the continuing risk from the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and the certainty that a number of other countries will retain substantial nuclear arsenals, mean that our minimum nuclear deterrent capability, currently represented by Trident, is likely to remain a necessary element of our security.” — UK SDSR, 1998 Britain has a big decision to make: do they remain a nuclear weapons power, or not? In an age of collapsing public finances and an uncertain long-term economic future, the money needed to design new nuclear…

When you take the 30 Year Shipbuilding Plan published last December, throw in the desired decommissioning of the first four LCS and the very good chance that we will have to decommission all the Freedom Class LCS early due to a fatal design flaw in the combining gears ... and then mix in what the communist Chinese are building ... Well ... here are the Terrible 20s in all their horror. Come on over to USNIBlog and ponder the numbers with me. 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=uXjO5PiHges:KPfTylzdbTA:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.c…

Americas L3 Communications Integrated Mission Systems won an $18.9 million contract, which provides non-recurring engineering and material to develop and qualify the degraded visual environment helmet mounted display and processor capability for integration into the Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey aircraft. The MV-22 Osprey’s mission for the US Marine Corps is the transportation of troops, equipment, and supplies from ships and land bases for combat assault and assault support. Work will take place in Texas, Illinois, California and Alabama. Expected completion will be in December 2024. The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) has announced a decision to reduce the number of KC-390 tran…

I guess this is submarine week at CDR Salamander, because right after the Wednesday post, the Anglosphere decided to wake everyone up; Joint Leaders Statement on AUKUS SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 STATEMENTS AND RELEASES As leaders of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, guided by our enduring ideals and shared commitment to the international rules-based order, we resolve to deepen diplomatic, security, and defense cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, including by working with partners, to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. As part of this effort, we are announcing the creation of an enhanced trilateral security partnership called “AUKUS” — Austra…

Bit by bit, you can start to see the role of lasers in naval warfare. While much of the conversation is about how we can use them, over at USNIBlog while pondering the latest tests, I'm starting to wonder ... how much thought are we putting in to how to counter and protect ourselves from incoming fire? Come by and ponder with me a bit. 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=4uL7FvJb2B4:YB2Hb5GsRKU:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=4uL7FvJb2B4:YB2Hb5GsRKU:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=4uL…

Americas The US Space Force wants to send a satellite to the moon in order to help detect, track and identify artificial objects operating there. A draft Request for Proposals was published recently for the spacecraft, called the Cislunar Highway Patrol System (CHPS) satellite. The satellite will expand the Space Force’s space domain awareness by one thousand times. The Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate will be in charge of developing CHPS. The Defense Department (DoD) is ending a study on how to streamline and better protect its vast array of often incompatible ground terminals for satellite communications to introduce some changes next y…

Funny, but I don't quite remember this twist from the shower scene in Starship Troopers; Via the irreplaceable Kristina Wong; The training slide offers a “vignette” instructing soldiers on what to do if they encounter a female soldier who identifies as male according to the Department of Defense’s personnel tracking system known as Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS), but has not surgically transitioned and still has “female genitalia.” The slide, titled “Soldier/Unit Training Barracks, Bathrooms, and Showers,” reads: Vignette: Following his transition from female to male (which did not include sex reassignment surgery) and gender marker change in DE…

Yes, in America - for some reason I simply do not agree with - we took what was for the rest of the West, Remembrance Day, and turned it in to Veterans Day. Yes, we have Memorial Day - which in the larger scheme of things is our "Remembrance Day" - but especially after living for years in Europe, I came to see the 11th of November as something else than what I grew up with. WWI was such a stupid and unnecessary war. The two empires that dragged the rest of the West and its auxiliaries in to this meatgrinder, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire, were destroyed by the end of the war. Their culture, empires, and dynasties disintegrated and disaggregated. The G…

Americas The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory won a $73.2 million modification which exercises options to provide design analysis, testing, procurement, and manufacturing of interferometric fiber optic gyros, accelerometers, and associated Trident II Strategic Weapon System guidance subsystem material. Work will be performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Pittsfield, Massachusetts; and Clearwater, Florida, with an expected completion date […]View the full article

USN MH-60S test (click to view full) Hellfire I/II missiles are the USA’s preferred aerial anti-armor missile, and are widely deployed with America’s allies. They equip America’s helicopter fleets (AH-64, AH-1, OH-58D, MH-60S/R), AH-64 and S-70 helicopters flown by its allies, and even Australia and France’s Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopters. Range is officially listed as […]View the full article

Americas The US Navy has provided upgrades to three Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers to extend their service life for 10 years from 2026 to 2029. Revealed by US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, the modernization will sustain the American surface fleet’s capability as the force and industry partners build more advanced platforms. Selected vessels under this initiative are the USS Gettysburg (CG 64), USS Chosin (CG 65), and the USS Cape St. George (CG 71), which were all built in the 1980s. As part of the Army’s quest to boost weapons production, it is reestablishing TNT production on US soil, inking a deal to build out a new facility in Graham, Ky. “For the first t…

Americas A new layer of AI-powered security is coming to US military bases. Texas-based LINEV Systems is deploying its BV6045 Weapons Detection Scanners to spot concealed guns, explosives, and other contraband before they slip past base security. Using dual-energy X-ray imaging and an automated detection process, the system can flag threats in real time, helping security teams respond faster and more accurately. Sierra Nevada won a $471.5 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost reimbursement terms for production, sustainment, and contractor logistics support of Degraded Visual Environment Pilotage System units …

Authorities in Colombia confirmed that a police Black Hawk helicopter was destroyed in a drone strike while carrying out a counternarcotics mission in the Antioquia region. According to officials, the UH-60 Black Hawk was transporting personnel to rural areas near Amalfi to eradicate coca crops, the raw material for cocaine production. As the helicopter hovered […] The post Colombian Black Hawk shot down by FPV drone first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Renishaw, a specialist in additive manufacturing, announced it will present its latest defense-focused manufacturing solutions at the Defense Manufacturing Conference (DMC) 2025 in Orlando, Florida, from November 17–20. The company will highlight how its technologies support aerospace and defense applications by improving efficiency, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness across critical systems, from aircraft components to suppressors. According […] The post Renishaw to showcase additive tech at DMC 2025 first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The United States Department of War has awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. an additional $453.9 million for the ongoing development of the Mk21A reentry vehicle, a central component of the Air Force’s future intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system. The contract modification (P00032), announced this week, increases the total value of Lockheed Martin’s work on the program […]View the full article

Elbit Systems said on Tuesday that Greece has taken a key step toward acquiring the Israeli company’s PULS rocket artillery system, after the Hellenic Parliament and the Government Council for National Security approved a dedicated budget for the program. In a statement issued from Haifa on December 16, 2025, Elbit Systems Ltd. said it was […]View the full article