Raw Intel

Yesterday’s article by Seligman, Hudson, & McLeary over at Politico created a nice buzz in the navalist chatterati over the weekend and for good reason – it is a solid summary of a core dysfunction in our nation’s inability to properly provide and maintain a navy. When you see such dysfunction, it is easy to blame individuals or this political party or that, but this dog’s breakfast stewardship of our nation’s maritime legacy is a symptom, not a cause of failures such as this; The Navy of the future needs 316 ships. Actually, make that 327. No, more like 367. You know what? Let’s make it 373, or maybe even 500. At different points this year, the Pentagon and Navy lea…

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $47.3 million contract modification, which exercises an option to procure Ancillary Mission Equipment in support of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lot 17 production aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales customers, and non-US Department of Defense participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in December 2025. F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter (JSF) is a stealthy, supersonic multirole fighter developed by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company for the US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and programme partners from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) and US al…

Americas Mills Marine and Ship Repair LLC won a $48.5 million deal to support in-service Carriers Refueling Complex Overhaul fire watch support for the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) and USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) Refueling and Complex Overhaul availabilities. This contract will include the identification of fire hazards and the safe response […]View the full article

Americas Northrop Grumman Systems won an $8 million order provides engineering and logistics sustainment support in support of the E-2D Hawkeye aircraft transition from production to sustainment. Work will be performed in Melbourne, Florida and is expected to be completed in April 2025. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. The […]View the full article

Dassault Rafale (click for cutaway view) Will Dassault’s fighter become a fashionably late fighter platform that builds on its parent company’s past successes – or just “the late Rafale”? It all began as a 1985 break-away from the multinational consortium that went on to create EADS’ Eurofighter. The French needed a lighter aircraft that was suitable for carrier use, and were reportedly unwilling to cede design authority over the project. As is so often true of French defense procurement policy, the choice came down to paying additional costs for full independence and exact needs, or losing key industrial capabilities by partnering or buying abroad. France has generally o…

Denmark has purchased MBDA France’s VL MICA air defense system, according to a statement released by the Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organization (FMI). The contract, signed as part of the Danish military’s accelerated investment strategy, will deliver two “fire units” of the VL MICA surface-to-air missile system. The acquisition is part of an early-phase […] The post Denmark buys VL MICA air defense system first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

China is preparing to unveil three new high-power microwave weapon systems during its upcoming military parade in Beijing on September 3, 2025. The huge truck-mounted platforms, designed to counter drones with directed energy, were observed during recent parade rehearsals and are expected to draw international attention when they roll across Tiananmen Square. According to open-source […] The post China to unveil microwave guns at parade first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

United Aircraft Corporation has delivered new Su-35S fighter jets to the Russian Armed Forces after completing ground and flight testing, the company announced. The Su-35 is designed to establish air superiority in difficult weather conditions and at long distances from its home base. Russian industry presents the aircraft as a bridge to fifth-generation platforms, combining […] The post Russian military receives new Su-35 fighter jets first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has unveiled an upgraded generation of its unmanned maritime strike platforms known as “Sea Baby,” which have already played a role in high-profile operations in the Black Sea. The drones were shown publicly for the first time in footage released by the SBU, which emphasized their combat-tested effectiveness and […] The post Ukraine unveils new Sea Baby naval drones first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Peru has chosen Israel’s Plasan Sasa Ltd. to supply 56 Sandcat EX12 armored vehicles to the National Police, according to a report from Defensa. The contract was awarded under International Competition No. 003‑2025, launched by the Ministry of the Interior for a multipurpose 4×4 armored vehicle program aimed at strengthening riot‑control and public‑security capabilities. According […]View the full article

Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has been awarded an $80 million contract modification to provide additional remote turret systems for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Amphibious Combat Vehicle program, according to a newly released contract notice. The modification applies to a previously awarded contract and covers the Amphibious Combat Vehicle medium caliber cannon Protector remote turret 20, […]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

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has purchased a Bombardier Global 6500 aircraft at its own expense to support the U.S. Army’s High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES) program, marking a new step in the development of next-generation aerial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, the company announced. The acquisition, completed at the close of 2025, provides […]View the full article

North Korea may have generated as much as $14.4 billion in revenue through troop deployments and military equipment exports to Russia during the war in Ukraine, according to a report released March 13 by a South Korean security research institute. The analysis was published by the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul and examines […]View the full article

The U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division completed a live-fire counter-drone exercise from April 7 through 9 at Fort Hood, Texas, evaluating a range of unmanned aerial system defeat capabilities under its “Golden Shield” counter-drone concept for armored formations. Among the systems tested was the Harpe missile, a micro-missile interceptor developed by Perseus Defense, a San […]View the full article

Turkey’s ASELSAN unveiled two new unmanned naval systems at SAHA 2026 in Istanbul on May 5, expanding the country’s autonomous warfare portfolio into both underwater strike and surface vessel domains with platforms designed for swarm operations, covert missions, and asymmetric combat at sea. The company introduced the KILIÇ family of autonomous underwater strike systems and […]View the full article

Armenian Su-30SM fighter jets flew over Yerevan’s Republic Square on May 28, 2026, carrying what open-source analysts identified as Iranian-made precision-guided glide bombs, presenting the clearest public evidence yet that Armenia has armed its Russian-built fighters with weapons from Tehran rather than Moscow, resolving a procurement scandal that had dogged the aircraft since their arrival […]View the full article

The experimental aircraft that could change how every future military jet is built just cleared another milestone, after Aurora Flight Sciences announced that the triangular wings for its X-65 demonstrator have arrived at its Virginia integration facility and are now being mated to the fuselage, bringing the program a significant step closer to a first […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin a $73.9 million contract modification to procure, test and deliver Indra Rigel radar electronic countermeasures systems for four Multi-Mission Surface Combatant ships being built for Saudi Arabia, according to a Department of War contract announcement. The award modifies an existing contract and will be funded entirely through Foreign […]View the full article

HH-60G, Afghanistan (click to view full) In 2006 the US Air Force awarded Boeing a contract worth north of $10 billion for 141 HH-47 combat search-and-rescue helicopters, but by mid-2009 the CSAR-X program was cancelled during its System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase by the Pentagon. At the time Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wrote that this program had “a troubled acquisition history and raises the fundamental question of whether this important mission can only be accomplished by yet another single-service solution.” That cancellation may have been warranted, but the underlying operational constraints are increasing as years go by, with a tentative repl…