Raw Intel

In the very serious and expensive game of national defense, words matter. Even more than words, published documents with the President or Cabinet Secretaries' signatures are the source code of what our government will do as a matter of effort and expenditure. They are the "Ref. A." and regardless of their readability or subjective goodness, they require serious understanding and careful reading. Readers could not ask for a better mind to look at the most recent National Defense Strategy than our friend and occasional guest poster, Bryan McGrath. Refresh your drink of choice and dive in to his overview below. Bryan, over to you. Following close on the heels of the Bid…

Americas Sikorsky won a $280.4 million modification, which exercises an option to procure long lead items in support of full rate production Lot 8, CH-53K aircraft. CH-53K King Stallion is a next-generation heavy-lift cargo helicopter. Work will take place in Connecticut. Expected completion will be in December 2023. General Electric won a $1 billion requirements contract for repair, replacement, and program support of 784 F414 engine components in support of F/A-18 aircraft. This contract includes a five-year base with no options. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support is the contracting activity. Work will take place in various continental US contractor lo…

Americas A US Navy EA-18G is back flying again five years after it was grounded after a mid-air collision. Formerly attached to VAQ-133, the electronic attack jet is now assigned to VAQ-129. More than 2,000 man hours were spent fixing the aircraft back to a serviceable state. Lockheed Martin won a $111 million contract modification, which adds scope for the development of a Common Reprogramming Tool (CRT) minimum viable product, as well as establishing network connections required to establish the CRT development network and selection of a service-oriented architecture needed to commence development of enhanced reprogramming tools in support of efforts to replace legacy …

The big navalist news over the weekend was unquestionably what appears to be a successful attack on the Russian Navy at Sevastopol by remotely piloted surface craft by the Ukrainians. Some reports call them "drones" or other such descriptors, but really they appear to be an upscaled militarized remotely piloted surface vessel on a one way trip. There is a lot of expected hyperbole about the attack, and that is what I wanted to address today. I am concerned that the overhype by the ignorant, click hunting, or agenda driven people in the public space will cause us to miss the most important lesson here. This attack was not historically significant in a larger sense, no more…

Americas Boeing won an $11.4 million contract modification, which exercises an option to provide for installation of 25 previously procured A-kits in support of the Increment 3 Block 1 retrofit requirements for the P-8A Poseidon aircraft. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida, and is expected to be completed in December 2023. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has completed a flight test of its air-to-air laser communication system at Montgomery Field in Kearney Mesa, California. The laser system was trialed to enable General Atomics-built drones to perform beyond-line-of-sight communications in multi-domain operations and other air-to-space communic…

I like well hidden history, especially those with good shoes. There are many stories out there that we are only now hearing about ... and this is one. From DailyMail, If the story sounds interesting, click the link above for an extended summary, or you can get the details in Operation Kronstadt: The True Story of Honor, Espionage, and the Rescue of Britain's Greatest Spy The Man with a Hundred Faces by Harry Ferguson.Wouldn't it make a great movie ... if Hollywood still made movies of this type? Wrong heroes, I guess.Originally posted JUL10.If you want to hear more, and I know you do, historian Justin Reay has almost an hour for you on a man who two world wars later wou…

Americas The US Air Force’s Special Operations Command (AFSOC) has taken the Agile Combat Employment (ACE) concept one step further by having the MQ-9 operate in a simulated base situated behind enemy lines. Field 6 at Eglin Air Force Base was used for the simulation. A team of airmen secured Field 6 after arriving on board an MC-130J and cleared it for the MQ-9 to land and take off. The flight operations of the MQ-9 were carried out using Satellite Communications Launch and Recovery so that no Launch and Recovery Element was required at the site. “We did this by using a small team, landing at a simulated forward operating base, refueling and continuing to fly the mission…

We have not had the chance to dig up LCS and gibbet it at the entrance of the harbor recently, so let's take a nice overview by Sam about the healthy churn between the Executive and Legislative Branches of government to see how it looks in the light of 2022; As part of the FY 2023 submission, the Pentagon proposed cutting warships from the Navy’s battleforce – including six cruisers, four Whidbey Island/Harper’s Ferry-class amphibious Dock Landing Ships, nine Littoral Combat Ships as well as Montford Point and John Glenn. The youngest ship on the list, USS St. Louis (LCS-19), commissioned in 2020. Years before LCS hull-1 was commissioned, we tried to warn the Navy what …

Americas General Dynamics won a $122.8 million contract modification for lead yard support and development studies and design efforts related to Virginia Class submarines. This contract modification includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the modification to $164,071,626. Work will take place in the continental US. Expected completion will be by August 2025. Raytheon Intelligence and Space won a $12.1 million deal or non-personal and non-commercial services for operations and maintenance services of the Cobra King radar system. Work will be performed at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida; and various overseas locations on board the US Nav…

I am self-aware that I have an attitude problem towards the present German government. In the top-5 reasons I am what I am today was a response to the useful idiots of the Soviets in the 1980s. The whole "Better Red than Dead" people with their stupid papier-mâché puppets trying to make the argument that to be free you have to surrender to tyrants ... four decades later, these people still try my patience. Sadly, Germany is - again - being led by one. Yeah ... that guy. His judgement was poor then, it is poor now. ...but we have to deal with it. As he waited for the eventual Russian victory back in FEB, he slow rolled so he and his childhood buddy Schroeder could ... hel…

Americas Raytheon won an $8.4 million deal, which provides for software product updates and qualification testing for the CV-22 Silent Knight Radar (SKR) Joint Services Vertical Lift Aircraft Experimental (JVX) Avionics System Software (JASS) instrumentation build, the SKR JASS Functional Requirements Document (FRD) 8 port forward, and the SKR JASS FRD 9 port forward in support of the V-22 Joint Program Office. Work will take place in Indiana. Expected completion will be in May 2024. The Canadian Ministry of National Defence has contracted Quebec-based Logistik Unicorp to deliver operational clothing and footwear to the Canadian Armed Forces. The agreement covers more th…

Ever wonder how fast things can come at you in combat ... and how fast you have to react to survive? Simply stunning video from the shootdown of a Russian S-25 in Ukraine: No other aircraft has been so valuable - and no aircraft has been shot down more - than the SU-25 in this conflict. Many regulars here are very familiar with "time compression" in such situations. Time slows down a lot. If you have not experienced that, you may wonder how he is able to eject so fast to survive a direct hit at 200-meters (about 600'). Well, training is one, but time compression is another. This slow-motion video makes it a little closer to what it felt like to the pilot. RUS Su…

Some strong words towards China from the CNO at the end of last week that isn't quite getting the play it would in a normal years. Almost Salamandereaque: America's military must be ready to respond to a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan that could come before the end of this year, the head of the US Navy has said. Admiral Michael Gilday, chief of US naval operations, was the latest senior US military official to indicate heightened alarm over Beijing's intentions towards the island. "So when we talk about the 2027 window in my mind, that has to be a 2022 window or potentially a 2023 window. I can't rule that out. I don't mean at all to be alarmist by saying that. It'…

Americas Lockheed won a $12 million contract modification, which adds scope to procure Lot 15-16 gun pod containers in support of F-35 Lightning II aircraft ancillary mission equipment for the Navy, Marine Corps, non-US Department of Defense (DOD) partners, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in February 2026. The US Air Force has integrated a new engine for the ski-equipped LC-130 transport aircraft to boost its capabilities in the Arctic and Antarctica. Seven airmen conducted a test flight of the new NP2000 T56-A-15A turbo-prop 3.5 engine at Stratton Air National Guard Base in New York…

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $31.6 million deal, which provides for the inspection and teardown of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye fatigue test article to identify fatigue critical locations and demonstrate that the E-2D aircraft structure satisfy the program’s service life requirement. Work will take place in Florida, New York and California. Expected completion will be in June 2027. BAE Systems won an $11.2 million contract to provide systems engineering and integration in support of US Trident II (D5) Strategic Weapons System Program D5 Life Extension 2 Strategic Systems Programs Alteration. Tasks to be performed include technical planning, requirements management and in…

When was the last time the US Navy made the case for a significantly larger navy to defend its interests on the high seas? Yep, back when Ole Sal was a Midshipman and EagleOne was as close to his service in Vietnam than Sal was to his service in Afghanistan - the 1980s. What lessons can we take from that relatively successful intellectual, political, and personal struggle to grow our Navy? Using his recent article in Naval History Magazine, Lessons from the 600-Ship Navy, as a starting point for our conversation, our guest for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern will be Lieutenant Joseph Sims, USN. Lieutenant Sims is a Surface Warfare Officer and 2018 graduate of…

Since the start of this blog - and especially in the last few years - the topic comes up now and then about the complete lack of self defense our auxiliaries and merchant ships have that we plan to use in the next big war. The usual suspects will make excuses - "war is different" "that won't happen" "we'll have escorts" "it is wired for XXX" - but what is really driving this waving-of-hands is something that has been in place since the dawn of the written record of war at sea; peace breeds complacency and cost savings. Few who know their history have the levers of power to do what needs to be done now to give our auxiliary fleet what they need to at least provide their ow…

Americas L3Harris Technologies has chosen Moog Space and Defense Group to provide its weapon Stores Management System (SMS) for the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Armed Overwatch Program. The USSOCOM awarded L3Harris a $3 billion contract in August to provide a fleet of up to 75 AZ-802U Sky Wardens multi-mission aircraft for the program to operate in austere environments with little logistical tail. Lockheed Martin is planning to ramp up production of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) by over 50 percent annually, Politico reported citing CEO Jim Taiclet. Taiclet told investors during a third-quarter earnings report Tuesday that the company plan…

One of the things we like to do on DivThu is to give those who believe that people should be seen as individuals who deserve to be judged by the content of their character, not by immutable characteristics people are born with and can do nothing about, some facts to push back against the emotion laden DEI commissariat diktat thrown at them on a regular basis. One of the auto-generated comments we hear so extruding from the diversity nomenklatura is that – especially our officer corps – must “look like America” and that exceptional efforts must be made to force-mode such results. Is this even possible without action no one would be proud of? Probably not. The big-lie here …

A lesson as old as the human condition was again proved in February of this year; weakness invites aggression. From demographers to strategists, a variety of disciplines see the second half of this decade through the first half of the next as a window of exceptional vulnerability for a war with China in the Western Pacific. We have discussed this emerging threat there for almost two decades and the time is here. Are we ready? No. If you agree with this window, then you also must agree with the following: no magic system or capability is going to fight and win this war for us and our allies. There is nothing that isn’t at least IOC today that will be available to the fleet…