Raw Intel

The Navy's tale of woe in trying to force the acquisition system to actually produce something besides process is almost too painful to recall, especially on the surface side of the house. We have the walking wounded of LCS, the squib DDG-1000, the gilded promise Ford CVN, and the never-was-has-been CG(X). We have hope that we can't screw up the existing Franco-Italian FREMM in the upcoming modified to American requirements Constellation Class FFG, but we shall see if our optimism is well placed. As we all wait with bated breath and gritted teeth on what may be with DDG(X), we should look around to see if there is a benchmark recently that did work. On the surface side o…

Americas The United States and the Philippines vowed Friday to “invigorate” defense cooperation to address shared security concerns including disputes over the South China Sea. Manila hosted a high-level security dialogue with its top defense ally as part of efforts by President Ferdinand Marcos to restore a seven-decade partnership that was unsettled by his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte. The […]View the full article

Officially the Navy may have a “new mission” but it is just putting in to law what has been in existence since the first Stone Age man outfitted his fishing canoe as a war canoe. In a modern society, words mean things and even what is self-evident must on occasion be put in writing. What is “Title 10?” That is what tells our Navy what it’s mission is. We now have newTitle 10 language, in Section 8062(a):“The Navy, within the Department of the Navy, includes, in general, naval combat and service forces and such aviation as may be organic therein. The Navy shall be organized, trained, and equipped for the peacetime promotion of the national security interests and prosperity…

Today is a great day; A hero pilot who shot down at least four Russian Migs in a classified dogfight at the height of the Cold War which saw his jet shot 263 times is to receive the Navy Cross. Retired Navy Captain Royce Williams was sworn to secrecy for more than 50 years over fears that his battle against seven Soviet fighters could spark war with Russia. Now the 97-year-old is free to tell his tale and is due to receive the Navy's second highest award for combat valor on Friday at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Captain Williams first graced the pages of CDR Salamander almost 11-yrs ago. In honor of his well deserved Navy Cross, let's bring it back. No one will…

"Hey, we have this bizarre operation that has a shoestring budget, is in the middle of nowhere, and is asking for something to be done that has never been done before. Most likely, if the people sent are ever seen again, it will end in abject failure and humiliation for the officer leading it. Who should we send?" "Hey, who is that weird 40-yr old LCDR down the hall with all the strange tattoos and whose uniform is all out of wack? I have no idea what he does at that desk, I won't miss him." "Oh, you mean LCDR Geoffrey Basil Spicer-Simson?" "Yes, that chap. He has an eclectic background fitting his personality. I think he just might be the fit." And so starts a story …

Americas BAE Systems won a $72 million deal for the manufacture and delivery of five Columbia-class submarine components. Work will be performed in Louisville, Kentucky (100%), and is expected to be completed by May 2030. Fiscal 2023 National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund funds in the full amount will be obligated at time of award, of which […]View the full article

Do I ever tire of DivThu? Yes, every Thursday I tire of it ... but we've been at it so long, why not? Do I get tired of the topic? Well, sure. Heck, almost 13-years ago I tired of seeing higher education organizations - always claiming poverty - spending millions of dollars a year, especially at the service academies, doing nothing but promoting the division of young men and woman on the basis of race and ethnicity. ...but ... especially in the last few years, there has been a wonderfully blossoming of the understanding of this cancer in higher education that bleeds out in to the general culture. That glimmer of hope and the fact that we seem to be getting traction is, re…

Americas Canada has put off a project to replace its five-decade-old Twin Otter military aircraft used in Arctic operations. The move comes despite the government’s earlier assurance that it is committed to improving its defense capabilities in the north. Instead of procuring new aircraft, Ottawa will extend the service life of its aging Arctic planes. […]View the full article

The whole World Economic Forum/Davos experience is one part Bond villain parody, one part clout seeking billionaires, one part megalomania, a heaping cup of greed, and a dash of rent seeking. In 2023 things have reached the point where any association with Davos should put an individual or organization under notice of suspicion. Amazing to see people who claim to be American conservatives or lovers of liberty attending in an non-ironic, non-protesting capacity. This wannabee gaggle of quasi-oligarchs and autocrat throne sniffers represents everything that is wrong with the human desire for control, power, and to crush the individual for fun and profit. They pretend to be…

Americas The US Air Force has started phasing out one of its oldest and most reliable assets, the HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter. This move comes as the Air Force’s 55th RQS (Rescue Squadron) has just returned from a successful deployment, during which the Pave Hawk fleet played a crucial role in a variety of missions, […]View the full article

Whenever I see something about South Korea, their economy or their military, I think of my dad's generation who were of draft age during the Korean War. I've read a bit about the war and the condition of the country and its people when we fought to keep the communist yoke of their neck, and when you look at the South Korea of 2023, it is simply an amazing testimony what free enterprise and education can do to a people held back by autocracy and illiteracy ... with a good bit of rule of law and a benign quasi-imperial military power willing to give them the security to grow. Worth the war? I think so. In the last year, South Korea has impressed many who were not paying att…

Americas The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has teamed up with California-based SentinelOne for the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative to “further support the US government’s strategy to secure the cyber ecosystem and critical infrastructure.” As part of the partnership, the company will provide its autonomous platform to assist in data collection, analysis, and sharing of […]View the full article

It appears that the recruiting and retention challenges are breaking above the ambient noise at the start of 2QFY23. We go through these cycles, but if things seem a bit different to you this time, your instincts are right. The ebb and flow of manning the Navy is a regular story - but there is one major cause that is different this time around and is beyond the control of anyone - it is an almost geographic or structural in nature as will be outlined later in the post. Layered on top of this structural challenge to recruiting and retention are challenges of our own creation and are fully in our control - a headwind of our own creation via decisions and policies that even …

Americas Bell Boeing won a $23.4 million modification, which exercises options to provide continued flight test support for the V-22 aircraft in support of the Navy, Air Force, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Fort Worth, Texas; and Hurlburt Field, Florida, and is expected to […]View the full article

From 12–25 August 1920 there was one of the more important battles of modern history that is relatively unknown out of the country the battle took place in. It is a story of audacity in th eface of incredible odds by a nation only reborn less than two years earlier against an equally younger malignancy. The Battle of Warsaw; The Polish-born and much feared head of the Cheka (Bolshevik secret police), Feliks Dzierzinsky, was made head of a Polish Revolutionary Committee, which would follow the Red Army and form the new government. Lenin was absolutely confident of success. Initially all went well, and within six weeks the Red Army was at the gates of Warsaw. But as the Po…

Americas The US Air Force has awarded machine learning-based health developer Sparta Science a small business innovation research deal to identify early signs of sub-concussive brain injury in airmen. Data gathered from the research will assist experts in developing a capability to recognize the impacts of repeated exposures to subconcussive blasts. According to Sparta, results […]View the full article

Unless you have kids of college age like I do, you may not be up to speed with just how far things have gone. Some of you were a little shocked with what we covered back in September about the goings on at the US Naval Academy. They're playing catch up, really. There is a lot worse going on at USNA that I am not at liberty to share (sources and methods, etc) - but trust me, it is getting worse as the faculty and leadership there chase the latest trends at other government and private universities. Shall we check in on what is going on in larger academia? Why, yes, we should. It is coming your way sooner more than later. Here's a little pull quote from an extensive report …

Americas Northrop Grumman demonstrated a scaled-down electronic attack system prototype during the US Navy’s Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise last year. The company demonstrated key components of the future Ultra-Lite Electronic Attack (EA) Prototype System aboard a US Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. Northrop developed the anti-ship missile defense system for smaller ships that cannot […]View the full article

As I mentioned on Sunday's Midrats, I've been thinking a lot recently about the implications mid-century of this graph; Along with the larger reasons that India and the United States should further grow their relationship for both security reasons and the simple fact we are both republics, reasonable people would think that American diplomatic and other parts of our government would be giving this relationship the attention is clearly needs. Well, you know my opinion of our State Department. Some related thoughts from our friend Cleo Paskal; The United States sends mixed messages to India.On the one hand, Washington highlighted the importance of India’s rise and lea…

Americas Riverview Construction won a $10.5 million deal to construct a C-130 flight simulator training facility. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work will be performed in Scotia, New York, with an estimated completion date of February 14, 2024. According to Lockheed Martin, the C-130 Hercules primarily performs the tactical portion of […]View the full article