Raw Intel

Americas Brazilian Defense Minister Jose Mucio has announced plans to travel to Sweden next month to negotiate a potential sale of Embraer’s C-390 Millennium military cargo aircraft to the Nordic nation. The move comes as Brazil explores the possibility of selling three to four C-390 aircraft to Sweden, while Sweden expresses interest in increasing its […]View the full article

Americas The US Navy’s transition to the CMV-22B Osprey for its long-range and medium-lift aerial logistics missions took a significant step forward on April 5, with the arrival of the first tiltrotor aircraft assigned to the East Coast at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron (VRM) 40, nicknamed “Mighty Bison,” received the first […]View the full article

Boxer MRAV (click to view full) Wheeled armored vehicles have become much more common, but the Dutch-German Boxer stands out from the crowd. Its English acronym is “Multi Role Armoured Vehicle” (MRAV), but rather than being a family of different vehicles, the Boxer will use a single chassis, with snap-in modules for different purposes from infantry carrier to command, cargo, ambulance, etc. The base vehicle has a maximum road speed of 100 km/h (60 mp/h) and an operational range of 1,000 km (600 miles). In its troop carrying configuration, it has a crew of 2 and can carry 10 fully equipped troops. The MRAV is fighting for space in a crowded market, but its principal countr…

Ukraine’s largest private weapons manufacturer, Ukrainian Armor, has begun mass production of new VOLS military buggies in response to battlefield demand for a low-cost, versatile vehicle designed for logistics and frontline support. According to a report from Oboronka, the company identified a gap in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ equipment compared to Russian units, which employ […] The post Ukraine’s private company begins mass production of VOLS buggy first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The U.S. Marine Corps has operated the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) in Japan during Resolute Dragon 25. According to the Marine Corps, the system was employed after a notional fire mission on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, on September 21, 2025. The exercise marks another step in strengthening bilateral defense cooperation between U.S. forces and […] The post U.S. tests unmanned launcher vehicle in Japan drill first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Lockheed Martin has introduced its newest unmanned aerial system, Vectis, at the 2025 ADEX defense exhibition in South Korea. Developed by the company’s Skunk Works advanced projects division, the Vectis platform is intended to operate as part of a Family of Systems alongside fifth-generation aircraft, including the F-35. According to the company, the new drone […] The post Lockheed Martin debuts Vectis combat drone at ADEX 2025 first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

XTEND, an Israeli robotics firm, says it is pushing a new model for battlefield robotics in which human supervisors set intent while AI-driven “pilots” execute dangerous tasks — a design the company argues will allow small air and ground robots to operate in GNSS-denied, electronic warfare environments and scale from squad-level missions to larger maritime […]View the full article

Israeli-based Aero-Sentinel has confirmed the delivery of a new batch of its G3 reconnaissance drones to an undisclosed operational customer, signaling continued demand for specialized unmanned systems designed for discreet and complex missions. According to a statement shared by Aero-Sentinel’s Chief Marketing and Technology Officer, Ofir Avram, the company is closing the year with additional […]View the full article

The United States Department of War announced 340 additional awards under the Missile Defense Agency’s Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) contract on January 15, expanding a massive procurement program that now totals more than 2,400 awards since early December. The latest awards support a contract vehicle with a ceiling of $151 billion. According […]View the full article

Need a moment to recover from Valentine’s Day? Of course you do! This Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern, the Midrats Podcast goes LIVE with our ever popular Free-for-All format. We have our topics, but you can join in during the show chat and offer up your own If you read this after the show, just refresh the Substack page Sunday night to find the uploaded podcast You can join the show at this link. Leave a comment Share This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. View the full article

Airbus is preparing flight tests of an unmanned collaborative combat aircraft system based on the Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie as part of a program aimed at providing the German Air Force with an operational Uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft (UCCA) capability by 2029. The work is taking place at Airbus facilities in Manching, near Munich, where engineers […]View the full article

China is reportedly developing a new stealth cruise missile sized to fit inside the internal weapons bays of its J-20 and J-35 stealth fighters, according to technical design documents released in Weibo. The missile’s design specifications set its length at under 4 meters and diameter under 0.85 meters — dimensions that are almost certainly driven […]View the full article

Germany ordered more than 2,000 military transport trucks from Rheinmetall in a contract worth approximately $1.18 billion, the largest single logistics vehicle call-off under a framework agreement the Bundeswehr signed in 2024 to procure up to 6,500 vehicles from Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles. Deliveries will begin in the first half of 2026, with the vast […]View the full article

King Fahd Air Base in Taif, Saudi Arabia, has marked a significant milestone in the Royal Saudi Air Force’s drive toward defense self-sufficiency, completing the first scheduled heavy maintenance overhaul of an RSAF Eurofighter Typhoon following the aircraft’s accumulation of 2,500 flight hours. The operation was conducted entirely on Saudi soil over a period of […]View the full article

The U.S. State Department approved a possible arms sale to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia worth an estimated $1.96 billion, covering up to 10,000 air-to-air guidance sections and up to 10,000 air-to-ground guidance sections for the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, known as APKWS II, according to a congressional notification the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs […]View the full article

Andreas Rupprecht, a researcher who tracks Chinese military aviation, published a photograph he says shows what is likely the first clear image of a J-10CE fighter jet belonging to the Uzbekistan Air Force. “Likely the first clear(er) image of an Uzbekistan Air Force J-10CE,” Rupprecht wrote. Uzbekistan has reportedly agreed to purchase 24 J-10CE fighters […]View the full article

An Eitan wheeled armored personnel carrier fitted with Hetz Dorban, an Israeli-developed hard-kill active protection system, was photographed during a recent training exercise, according to images published on the Israel Defense Forces’ website in August 2026. The system is marketed internationally under its commercial name, Iron Fist, by Elbit Systems. Hetz Dorban uses radar and […]View the full article

Israeli armored vehicle maker Plasan and off-road equipment specialist ASFIR 4X4 have unveiled Stormer, a light tactical vehicle for special operations forces built on a Jeep Gladiator pickup and designed to carry up to 12 people and more than 1,000 kg (2,200 pounds) of payload. The companies will show Stormer at the Association of the […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG 91) has entered General Dynamics NASSCO’s shipyard in San Diego for a second depot modernization period that will make it the first warship to receive the Raytheon AN/SPY-6(V)4 radar, the Navy’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Maritime said. The availability will also make Pinckney the first ship fitted with […]View the full article

MiG-21 ‘Lancer’ (click to view full) The MiG-21 is reaching the end of its service life, but it can still be effective for a little while. India’s refurbished MiG-21 ‘Bisons’ combined Russian, Indian and Israeli technology to excellent effect in the COPE India 2004 and 2005 exercises with the USAF, and there’s even a Russian-Israeli MiG-21 2000 variant that exists for general sale. Israeli companies have made something of a specialty of refurbishing both Western and Soviet fighters with modern radars, avionics, and Israeli weapons like the Python air-air missile, giving the systems new life. An all-Israeli effort was undertaken for Romania, in order to create Romania’s …