Raw Intel

SE=SL-RD-NL+DI-PL If you want to bench test an old Cold Warrior, put something like this out; The Navy has created a new task group on the East Coast to ensure it has ready destroyers that can deploy on short notice to counter the Russian submarine threat in the Atlantic Ocean.OK, Mallory Shelbourne's latest at USNINews got my attention.The plan is to take destroyers that have recently completed deployments and are awaiting maintenance availabilities and make them ready for training and operations in the Atlantic. ... The creation of the new task group comes as the Navy has refocused assets and efforts on the Atlantic region due to Russia’s undersea capability. The servi…

In Italy vs. USA ... the Italians will beat us to the punch. Curious what they plan on doing? Swallow your pride and head on over to USNIBlog for the details. Note: there will be guns. Lots of guns. 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=pDyEmQ5lUo0:nJNd84_fV2c:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=pDyEmQ5lUo0:nJNd84_fV2c:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=pDyEmQ5lUo0:nJNd84_fV2c:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=pDyEmQ5lUo0:nJNd84_fV2c:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedbu…

34 years after Goldwater-Nichols and the rise of the Combatant Commanders (COCOMS), is our national security structures more in line with what we need in the 21 Century, or the Roman Empire’s Proconsuls? What are these mini-Pentagons supposed to bring to the national security of the United States, and what are they actually delivering? What do they do right, and where are they off phase? Our returning guest for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern to discuss this an more will be Mackenzie Eaglen. We will use her recent article, Putting Combatant Commanders on a Demand Signal Diet, at War on the Rocks as a starting point for our conversation. Mackenzie is…

Ah, yes, The Terrible 20s. What if you had the leadership and malaise of the Carter Administration mixed in with the budgetary pressures of the Clinton Administration ... with a little bit of Biden Administration special sauce mixed in? We're not even a year in to the Biden Admin still at the start of the 20s...so you know this was coming. Via Joe Gould at DefenseNews; House progressives will have a few chances to hold down the defense budget this week, but it’s going to be an uphill fight. The House is set to vote this week on two Democratic amendments to cut the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act’s $740 billion top line. One would reduce it by roughly 10 …

Americas Oshkosh Defense won a $10 million contract modification for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle Family of Vehicles. The JLTV Family of Vehicles (FoV) is the Marine Corps and Army partial replacement for the High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) fleet. Work will take place in Wisconsin. Estimated completion date is November 30, 2022. Raytheon Intelligence & Space has introduced a lightweight, affordable AESA radar in its lightest form factor ever. In addition to being a third of the weight of most modern AESA radars, the new compact radar also costs about half as much as typical fire control radars. Gallium Nitride technology is combined with an in…

Americas BAE Systems was awarded a $58 million contract from Boeing. The deal is to start low rate initial production of the F-15 Eagle Passive Active Warning and Survivability System for the US Air Force. “The start of EPAWSS production marks a critical milestone and is a testament to the dedication and commitment of our industry team,” said Jerry Wohletz, BAE’s VP/GM of Electronic Combat Solutions, in a press statement. “Our technology is cutting-edge, our factories are world-class, and our people are innovative and mission-focused.” The all-digital system EPAWSS enables pilots to monitor, jam and deceive threats in contested airspace and combines multispectral sensors …

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=aY2wJAgRIKY:hv9jyAWbQrc:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=aY2wJAgRIKY:hv9jyAWbQrc:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=aY2wJAgRIKY:hv9jyAWbQrc:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=aY2wJAgRIKY:hv9jyAWbQrc:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

The BONHOMME RICHARD fire report has the Surface Force in the news again, and one of our favorite ex-SWOs Bryan McGrath gave a speech to the Surface Navy Association's Washington DC chapter earlier today. He had a few things to get off his chest, and the things he said are worth a broader audience. Bryan has been kind enough to send along the text of his remarks for publication here - well worth your time. Bryan, over to you! Speech to the DC Chapter of the Surface Navy Association 21 October 2021“Three Rants”As Prepared for Delivery Thank you for the introduction, Captain Bryans. It was an honor to be asked to be here, and I am grateful for the opportunity. I hope t…

Can things really be as bad as this picture? Yes, and much worse. Head on over to USNIBlog to find out who met this ship as a guest. 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=9QCQlreOwDU:oaxwAcIe3kQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=9QCQlreOwDU:oaxwAcIe3kQ:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=9QCQlreOwDU:oaxwAcIe3kQ:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=9QCQlreOwDU:oaxwAcIe3kQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/9QCQlreOwDUView the full article

So, you think you've had some memorable cruises, eh? What do you think about this record?DATEVESSEL SUNKAPR 26, 1944T29 Torpedo BoatAPR 29, 1944T27 Torpedo BoatJUN 9, 1944ZH1 DestroyerJUN 9, 1944Z32 DestroyerJUN 24, 1944U971 U-BoatJUN 15, 1944UJ1420/UJ1421 TrawlerJUN 6, 1944M486 MinesweeperAUG 6, 1944SG-3CSEPT 6, 1944VEDETTE Patrol BoatI give to you MHCS Haida, a Tribal Class destroyer who sank all those ships within 13-months of her commissioning. As Jerry Proc so simply put;HAIDA distinguished herself as Canada's most active warship by sinking no less than nine German ships in the period from April to September 1944. She was also involved in numerous other actions resul…

Anyone who has studied the left's march through the institutions and the regular examples of the O'Sullivan's Law in action, knows the drill knows what happens to previously non-political or even conservative institutions. The signs of their socio-political presence shouldn't be a shock to anyone. They are just less bloody versions of what Orwell, Huxley, Dith Pran, and others warned us about. While you were paying attention to other things, their world view is already deep in our military institutions of higher learning, specifically today the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, PA. What already is well past the nose in the tent involves in not just narrowing the Overton …

Americas Boeing won a $57.7 million order, which provides for the procurement of various initial spares and repair equipment in support of the MQ-25A Stingray air vehicle for the Navy. Work will take place in Missouri and Indiana. Expected completion is in July 2025. Four Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) F-16s have flown for the last time in the United States on July 29. The flights took place at Morris Air National Guard (ANG) Base and it also marks the end of Dutch F-16 training in the United States. Middle East & Africa Dyncorp International LLC won a $56 million contract modification for maintenance support services for the Royal Saudi Land Forces Aviation Co…

PJ-10 BrahMos (click to view full) Back in November 2005, The Hindu newspaper reported that India’s government had given the go-ahead for exporting missiles, and that India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was looking to market several of its products internationally. The missile systems in question included several products from the decades-long Integrated Guided Missile Program (IGMP) set of development programs, and one new success that used a very different approach. DRDO has led the long, turbulent development histories of the Trishul (“trident”) short-range surface-air missile (SAM), the Akash (“sky”) medium-range SAM, and the Nag (“cobra”) v…

Some of my most memorable peacetime experiences in my naval career were SINKEX. I mean ... really people. There is the "fun" factor - but I also fully appreciated the good information we received from sending warshots downrange. Sure, the targets didn't shoot back or try to intercept our weapons ... but it did give you a good outline of the performance of those things in the kill chain you could control. That is why - while using the exceptional google translate function - this bit from Russian open source caught me off guard; ... testing modern means of destruction of the Navy on it. And as an example here, we, alas, the US Navy, which does not just use old ships…

Americas According to Jane’s, the US Navy is not keen to use the MQ-4C in an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) role. The Hudson Institute’s senior fellow, Bryan Clark, had told Janes that the new sensors onboard IFC-4 variant of the MQ-4C have passive sensing capability to be used for AEW&C. Doug Shaffer, Northrop Grumman vice-president and program manager for Triton programs, also revealed that the company is thinking about having the E-2D and MQ-4C share each other’s pictures in demonstrations. But the mission set has been ruled out by Captain Dan Mackin, the maritime UAS manager. Mackin wants the unmanned air vehicle to focus on maritime surveillance. …

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…

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4367154917_8641d731c4.jpg Via Sid's suggestion and tin-can.org, the fuzzy-face Navy at its best. Rowan was a Gearing class destroyer commissioned too late in World War II to see any combat. That changed just a few years later when she was bloodied for the first time during the "Forgotten War" when she took a medium caliber shell hit in her starboard quarter, damaging the after steering compartment and causing a number of casualties. She had been providing counter-battery fire against North Korean shore batteries when she was hit. And counter-battery would prove to be her specialty in another twenty year. ... 27 August 1972 ... the …

Americas Sikorsky won a $53.9 million contract modification for production of UH-60M Black Hawks. UH-60 Black Hawk is a multi-mission helicopter. The UH-60M is the latest variant in the Black Hawk family of helicopters. More than 2,000 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter variants are in service with the US, and more than 600 have been exported. Work will take place in Connecticut. Estimated completion date is June 30, 2022. The US Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) successfully conducted a test of the second stage Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) for a newly developed missile booster. The missile booster will be combined with the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (CHGB) to form the Conven…

Americas Hamilton Sundstrand won a $60 million requirements contract for the repair of the constant frequency generator used on the V-22 aircraft in support of the weapon replaceable assemblies and shop replaceable assemblies programs. The V-22 Osprey is a joint-service, medium-lift, multimission tilt-rotor aircraft. The aircraft operates as a helicopter when taking off and landing vertically. The nacelles rotate 90° forward once airborne, converting the aircraft into a turboprop aircraft. Work under the contract will take place in Illinois. Estimated completion will be by September 2026. Midnight Sun-Centennial Kirratchiaq won a $19 million deal for providing Simplified…

Americas The Lockheed LC-130 is a ski-equipped aircraft that supports US missions in the Arctic and Antarctic. The aircraft requires rocket-assisted-takeoff (RATO) rockets for take-off when carrying heavy loads over snow or ice. However, the LC-130 was upgraded with T56-8-15A 3.5 engines that negate the need for RATO rockets. FLIR Systems won a $19.3 million deal for maintenance and overhaul of the UH-60 turret. The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order. Estimated completion date is March 16, 2027. Middle East & Africa Sikorsky won a $52.5 million contract…