Raw Intel

Elbit Systems Ltd. has secured new contracts worth approximately $210 million from the Israel Ministry of Defense to modernize the Israeli Army’s fleet of Merkava main battle tanks. The company announced the multi-year agreement on November 18, stating that the upgrades will extend the operational life of the armored platforms and improve their battlefield effectiveness. […]View the full article

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN )’s newest aircraft carrier, Fujian (CV-18), transited the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, marking the second time the carrier has passed through the sensitive waterway, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense. The Taiwanese military said they monitored the carrier’s movement and responded in line with established procedures. The […]View the full article

EuroTrophy GmbH has signed a €330 million ($383 million) contract with KNDS Deutschland to supply Trophy Active Protection Systems for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks ordered by Lithuania, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Croatia, the company announced on January 19, 2026. The agreement covers the delivery of Trophy APS units for the four national […]View the full article

L3Harris Technologies has received a contract valued at nearly $400 million to produce additional propulsion components for the U.S. military’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, reinforcing production of one of the nation’s primary ballistic missile defense capabilities. The award covers the manufacture of solid rocket boost motors and Liquid Divert and Attitude Control […]View the full article

The United States and South Korean militaries conducted joint river-crossing drills on Saturday in Yeoncheon County near the inter-Korean border, as part of the annual Freedom Shield exercise designed to improve interoperability between allied forces. The training brought together engineering units from both countries to practice bridging operations across complex terrain in a region close […]View the full article

The Office of Naval Research published a formal solicitation on April 10, 2026, calling on industry and government partners to submit technologies in support of the Flight Advancement of Structures for Hypersonics program — a funded Innovative Naval Prototype effort aimed at developing and flight-testing a surface-launched, tactically relevant hypersonic strike weapon. The announcement, posted […]View the full article

U.S. Army soldiers from 2d Squadron, 2d Cavalry Regiment, launched the Hornet one-way strike drone at Pabradė Training Area in Lithuania on May 3, 2026, as the system continues to expand its footprint across American military exercises in Europe. The same week, Hornet drones were also deployed at Bemowo Piskie Training Area in Poland during […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force has opened an industry search for a new mission computer for its F-16 fleet, a move aimed at replacing aging avionics hardware that limits future upgrades to one of the service’s most widely used fighter aircraft. The program it is kicking off could define what the F-16 Fighting Falcon can do […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $12 million contract to Zone 5 Technologies to advance manufacturing technology for the Rusty Dagger program, a fast-moving effort to produce affordable, mass-scale long-range strike missiles that has moved from program launch to potential combat employment in roughly two years. The contract, awarded June 18, 2026, by the […]View the full article

The U.S. State Department approved a possible sale to Greece of Switchblade 300 Block 20 systems, a portable loitering munition built by AeroVironment (AV) that a single soldier can carry, launch from a tube in under two minutes, and fly toward a target before the drone itself explodes, destroying both the target and the aircraft […]View the full article

The U.S. Army has awarded Elroy Air a $46 million contract to develop an autonomous, hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft for modular cargo delivery, according to a Department of War contract announcement. The Phase III Small Business Innovation Research award covers development of a Group IV unmanned aircraft system, a Pentagon classification for larger drones weighing more […]View the full article

Americas The US Navy seeks to upgrade its fleet of autonomous underwater sensor gliders, devices used to provide data to attack submarines. The system would improve the current Littoral Battlespace Sensing Glider, which generally deploy from oceanographic survey ships and would measure water conditions in areas to help fleet operational planning or hunt enemy submarines. The request of proposals was announced this week. The new LBS-G drone will be expected to operate for 90 days at a time, dive to 657 feet, spend much of its time at the bottom of the sea, surface when it needs to transmit data to a satellite and take water samples every two seconds. The first of 17 B-1B …

M1126, post-IED (click to view full) Under current plans, the 8×8 wheeled Stryker armored vehicle will be the future backbone of 8 US Army and 1 National Guard medium armored brigades. The 5th Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis, WA was the first Stryker unit sent to Afghanistan, deployed in the summer of 2009 as part of a troop level increase. The brigade was equipped with 350 Stryker vehicles. In the first few months of deployment, they lost 21 soldiers, with 40 more wounded, to IED land mines. The losses prompted the Army to examine modifications to their Stryker vehicles, in order to make them more resistant to land mines. One result is the Stryker hull redesign, creat…

Will someone please save us from our experts? Question everyone. Defer to no one. If you have learned nothing the last two decades, at least know this; our elite aren’t. Our best institutions do not produce the best product. Credentialism is the last refuge of the incompetent. You have to assume these are well meaning people, but building off of yesterday’s post – let this week be a lesson to everyone that our self-selecting elites are like the Bourbons, “They had learned nothing and forgotten nothing.” I’m not sure I can do more but quote from the latest article in FP by By Charli Carpenter, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and director of Huma…

Americas Raytheon Intelligence and Space won a $34.2 million order by the US Navy, which of the ethernet expansion devices and the platform data server in support of integration of the MV-22 Helmet Mounted Display/Degraded Visual Environment program aboard V-22, and establish a baseline for a common software interface for integration of future capabilities on all V-22 platforms. Work will take place in Indiana and California. Estimated completion will be in July 2027. Lockheed Martin rolled out the first F-16 Block 70/72 aircraft this week from its Greenville, South Carolina, production line. The fighter completed final assembly, checkout, and painting at Greenville on N…

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $387.5 million definitized contract action for Global Hawk (RQ-4) aircraft sustainment. The contract provides for contractor logistics support services. The locations of performance are Sacheon Air Base, Republic of Korea; Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea; Misawa Air Base, Japan; Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy; and San Diego, California; and […]View the full article

Russian forces have used a newly developed guided aerial bomb for the first time in a strike against Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials. The attack, carried out by a Su-34 bomber, hit civilian targets in the city of Kharkiv with two UMPB-5 precision-guided munitions fired from approximately 100 kilometers away. The strike, launched from near […] The post Russia tests new bomb in strike on Ukrainian city first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

NATO last month, to absolutely no fanfare, published a revision to the Alliance Maritime Strategy. Don’t feel bad if you’re finding out about it first here—you’re not alone. You can search NATO’s website, but you can’t find it—at least I couldn’t. Head over to my friends at NATO’s Maritime Command in Northwood, nothing there either. If it weren’t for the friendly hippies at Human Rights at Sea, we wouldn’t have the copy you can download here. I’m not sure who is responsible for action in para 2, but Shipmate…it’s been a month. This is a solid, compact briefing document that we should be handing out like pamphlets at the church door on Sunday. Someone needs a closed door c…

Sweden is preparing to export up to 150 of its domestically built Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine under a new long-term defense cooperation framework, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced Wednesday. Following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Linköping, Kristersson said that Sweden is committed to “exploring all the possibilities in providing Ukraine […] The post Ukraine begins talks for 100+ Gripen fighter jets first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

ARX Robotics has confirmed a major order from Ukraine for its GEREON-series unmanned ground systems, a move that will establish what the company describes as “the world’s largest networked military robotics fleet.” The announcement was made on November 18, 2025, from the company’s headquarters in Munich. According to ARX Robotics, the contract includes the delivery […]View the full article