Raw Intel

The French Army’s 2nd Armored Brigade presented new combat systems shaped by battlefield lessons from the war in Ukraine during an Innovation Day held on January 15, 2026, in Bitche, highlighting France’s effort to rapidly adapt its ground forces to modern high-intensity warfare. The event focused on technologies developed by brigade regiments over nearly two […]View the full article

A Russian pro-Kremlin media channel released new footage this week showing what it claims is the combat use of a laser weapon against Ukrainian drones in Russia’s Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine, marking another public appearance of a Chinese-made directed-energy system in Russian service. The video, published on January 2026, shows a stationary […]View the full article

Russia’s Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said during an off-site meeting in Yekaterinburg that Ukrainian long-range drones now pose a direct threat to regions deep inside Russia, including the Ural industrial area. The statement reflects growing concern within Russia over the expanding range and effectiveness of Ukrainian strike capabilities, which are increasingly targeting infrastructure far […]View the full article

The United States Air Force has awarded DCS, based in Alexandria, Virginia, a nearly $100 million research and development contract to deliver advanced tools designed to model and predict mission-level operational effects across multiple warfighting domains, according to a contract announcement released Feb. 19, 2026. The $94,745,601 contract provides the Air Force with analytical capabilities […]View the full article

The United States Navy has approved Raytheon’s StormBreaker smart weapon for operational use on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighter, the company announced Feb. 20, 2026. The approval expands the Navy’s precision strike capability at a time when naval aviation forces are adapting to contested environments that demand engagement of mobile targets in poor visibility […]View the full article

Rostec has dispatched a new batch of T-90M, T-80BVM, and T-72B3M tanks to Russian forces, the state defense conglomerate announced on Sunday. The shipment, described by Rostec as incorporating lessons learned from combat experience and direct feedback from frontline troops, represents the latest in a continuous production flow that Uralvagonzavod has maintained throughout the war […]View the full article

Ukrainian defense company Inguar Defence has unveiled a new six-wheeled armored recovery vehicle built on a domestically developed triaxle 6×6 chassis, filling a critical battlefield gap that has forced Ukrainian units to leave damaged equipment exposed or rely on inadequate recovery solutions since the full-scale invasion began. Artem Yushchuk, CEO of Inguar Defence, announced the […]View the full article

Lithuania’s Minister of National Defence, Robertas Kaunas, said a drone that crashed and exploded in Varena district was most likely a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle that deviated from its course, possibly due to electronic warfare interference. The incident occurred near the village of Lavisos, about 30 kilometers from the Belarusian border, according to Lithuania’s Ministry […]View the full article

Ukrainian Armed Forces conducted a drone strike against an ammonium nitrate production plant in Dorogobuzh, Russia, destroying key industrial infrastructure used for both civilian industry and military supply chains, according to newly released satellite imagery analyzed by the OSINT project CyberBoroshno. The attack was carried out using Ukrainian FP-1 unmanned aerial vehicles, with imagery published […]View the full article

Ukrainian forces confirmed on January 1, 2026, that operators from the Asgard Battalion of the 412th Nemesis Unmanned Systems Brigade struck a multifunction radar of Russia’s S-350 Vityaz air defense system and self-propelled launchers of the Tor and Buk systems on temporarily occupied territory in the Donetsk region. As reported by Militarnyi, the strike targeted […]View the full article

The UK government has formally rejected calls to develop a second sovereign method for delivering nuclear weapons, reaffirming that its submarine-based deterrent will remain the country’s only independent nuclear delivery system as global nuclear risks rise. According to reporting by UK Defence Journal on Monday, the decision follows scrutiny by the Defence Committee, which said […]View the full article

As we are at D+2 and spent a full hour yesterday discussing Operation Epic Fury on the Midrats Podcast, I’m not going to review what we know so far—if you’d like Mark and my take, give the episode a listen. What I would like to do is dive into a topic that I hinted at in the show: my historical support for the punitive expedition. The target is valid, and the method has been underused for way too long. I support the strikes on Iran because it firmly fits into a view I have held on the use of national military power for decades, based on thousands of years of military practice. If you are not up to speed with the thousands of Americans dead and maimed by the Islamic Repub…

The United States Army has awarded Raytheon a $184 million contract to provide hardware, installation, and support services for the Patriot air defense system operated by the United Arab Emirates, according to an official contract announcement. The contract comes as the United Arab Emirates faces repeated missile and drone attacks attributed to Iran, underscoring the […]View the full article

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense confirmed on March 5, 2026, that unmanned aerial vehicles launched from Iranian territory struck Nakhchivan International Airport and other civilian infrastructure in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The ministry said the attack originated from Iran and involved drones crossing the border into Azerbaijani territory. The incident has raised immediate security concerns along […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Defense Forces have received a Latvian-made FOG unmanned surface vessel after the system was purchased and sent to Ukraine by the Latvian charity foundation Ziedot.lv. According to reporting by Militarnyi, the foundation funded the acquisition through donations from Latvian citizens and private companies. As noted by Ziedot.lv, the FOG platform was fully designed and […]View the full article

It is well past time that we had a frigate SITREP, specifically the gray-hulled version of the Legend-class Cutter we are going to build for our Navy. No reason to rehash my concerns and assumptions—click the frigate hypertext above if you need to catch up, but…let me just say…though I’m glad she’s on the way and we’ll find good use for her, I hope Flight I is a short run. I know hope is not a plan, but back in December, I had this little bit of hope: I suspect that already there is work being done on a Flight II, which will incorporate the multi-mission capability of the patrol frigate proposed over a dozen years ago … While looking over the FY27 budget request, it appea…

The U.S. Navy has recovered an F/A‑18F Super Hornet and an MH‑60R Seahawk from the seafloor after both aircraft were lost in separate mishaps off the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) on October 26, 2025. According to the Navy, the two aircraft suffered accidents within a half‑hour of each other. The recovery operation was completed on […]View the full article

Israel placed its security apparatus on high alert on January 10 after senior officials assessed the possibility of direct U.S. intervention in Iran as nationwide anti-government protests there enter their most volatile stage in years, according to Israeli sources who spoke to Reuters. Three Israeli officials with knowledge of internal security consultations said the alert […]View the full article

The United States Army has delivered its first Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) equipped with a 30mm cannon to the 1st Cavalry Division, marking the initial fielding of a more heavily armed variant of the platform, the division confirmed in a recent announcement. The first new combat vehicles have been received by the division’s units as […]View the full article

A General Atomics Aeronautical Systems test aircraft for the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program suffered a mishap following takeoff from a company-owned airport in the California desert on Monday at approximately 1 p.m. Pacific time, the company announced. The aircraft involved was a YFQ-42A, one of several production-representative test platforms currently in the […]View the full article