Raw Intel

Former Russian deputy energy minister Vladimir Milov has published an analysis assessing the current condition of Russia’s defense-industrial sector, concluding that production growth is slowing while financial pressures across military manufacturers are increasing. The assessment, built on publicly available industrial statistics, corporate disclosures, and official statements, challenges the narrative that wartime spending has produced a […]View the full article

Russia launched its Oreshnik Intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) against Ukraine late on January 8, hitting an area near Lviv close to the European Union and NATO border. The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said the nationwide alert began at 11:30 p.m. after they detected ballistic launches from Russia’s Kapustin Yar range. According […]View the full article

A second United States Air Force combat aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf region on Friday as rescue teams continued searching for a missing crew member from a downed F-15E Strike Eagle, according to two U.S. officials cited by The New York Times. The second aircraft, an A-10 Thunderbolt II, went down near the Strait […]View the full article

Textron Systems and its subsidiary Howe & Howe pulled the wraps off a new unmanned ground vehicle at Modern Day Marine on April 28, 2026 — a wheeled robotic platform built specifically around the Marine Corps’ vision of how autonomous systems should fight alongside its existing armored fleet. The vehicle is called the RIPSAW M1, […]View the full article

Russia’s state defense conglomerate Rostec has revealed a new unmanned marine system, the R-SAVER-1, at World Defense Show 2026 in Riyadh. According to Rostec, the R-SAVER-1 unmanned boat is being showcased publicly for the first time at the international defense and security exhibition, which opened on Feb. 8 in the Saudi capital. The company described […]View the full article

General Dynamics Land Systems has secured a $450 million agreement from the United States Marine Corps for the next development phase of its Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle. The award covers the pre-production development phase, in which the company will finalize the vehicle’s design and build several examples from part of the planned ARV family for government […]View the full article

China’s state news agency Xinhua published footage showing the Type 100 main battle tank, the People’s Liberation Army’s next-generation armored platform, conducting field training exercises, marking the first time the tank has been shown in an operational training environment and offering the first brief glimpse of its interior. The footage shows the Type 100 maneuvering […]View the full article

Lockheed Martin, Seagate Space, and Firefly Aerospace have announced a three-way strategic collaboration to develop sea-based launch capabilities for national security missions, a partnership that brings together a defense prime with decades of missile heritage, an offshore launch platform operator, and a commercial rocket company whose Alpha vehicle has been carving out a role in […]View the full article

Russia launched a large-scale combined missile and drone strike against Ukraine overnight on March 14, targeting critical infrastructure across several regions of the country. Ukrainian authorities said the attack began at 18:00 on March 13 and involved nearly 500 aerial weapons, including ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and hundreds of attack drones. According to the Ukrainian […]View the full article

The North American Aerospace Defense Command confirmed on January 19 that multiple aircraft are en route to Pituffik Space Base in Greenland to support planned operational activities, an announcement made as political tensions rise over the Arctic island’s status. In a statement, NORAD said the deployment “will support various long-planned NORAD activities” and emphasized several […]View the full article

Pakistan’s Navy confirmed plans to expand its fleet to 50 ships during a 2021 address by then–Naval Chief Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi, formally outlining one of the country’s largest long-term naval force development programs, according to defense analyst Zarvan Ali. Abbasi stated that the Pakistan Navy intends to induct 20 major surface combatants, including corvettes, […]View the full article

Russia struck a United States–owned Mondelez factory in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Trostianets on February 21, damaging a civilian food production facility that manufactures the well-known Oreo cookies and other American snack products for the Ukrainian market, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. The missile hit one of the plant’s production buildings, though […]View the full article

Austria scrambled Eurofighter jets twice in two consecutive days after U.S. military aircraft entered Austrian airspace without proper clearance, the Austrian Ministry of Defence confirmed. Austrian Ministry of Defence spokesperson Michael Bauer confirmed both incidents publicly, posting on X that the first interception involved a Priority A alert and the deployment of two Eurofighters after […]View the full article

While the Maduro snatch-n-grab focused everyone’s attention on the Western Hemisphere for a moment, once again, global events moved attention elsewhere. Regardless of where the news of the moment may be, the economic and political situation in Central and South America is getting renewed attention on a scale not seen in a long time. On this week’s Midrats Podcast, we’re going to dive right in with our guest, Colin Dueck. We go live at 5 PM Eastern for a full hour. You can listen live and join the live chat at this link. If you’re reading this after the show, check the Substack later Sunday for podcast links. Colin is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise …

A debate among Russian military commentators intensified this week after a widely circulated analytical study by defense researcher Jarold McWilliams prompted public responses from prominent Russian military expert Viktor Murakhovsky regarding the future of armored warfare in Ukraine. The discussion emerged following renewed attention to McWilliams’ 2025 analytical paper, “The Future of Armored Assault Operations,” […]View the full article

EOS Defence Systems USA demonstrated its Sling Blade counter-drone system during the U.S. Army’s Summit Strike live fire exercise, conducted by the 10th Mountain Division. The combined arms exercise focused on the planning and integration of emerging technologies within a contested, large-scale combat environment, drawing together multinational forces and industry participants to coordinate effects across […]View the full article

South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace on February 26 shipped the first AS9 self-propelled howitzers produced at its Australian manufacturing facility, marking the initial delivery of a locally adapted K9 artillery variant from the company’s overseas production base, the firm announced. According to the company, a ceremony was held at the Hanwha Armoured vehicle Centre of Excellence […]View the full article

Romanian manufacturer IRUM has unveiled the IRON-690, a modular autonomous ground drone designed for defensive support operations, at the Black Sea Defense and Aerospace exhibition in Bucharest. The prototype was presented at BSDA on May 13, 2026, according to IRUM’s press release. The IRON-690 is not a conventional vehicle but an adaptable autonomous platform configurable […]View the full article

A Ukrainian software company has developed an AI-powered drone detection system that runs entirely offline on standard consumer hardware, detects targets as small as four pixels at distances up to 2.5 kilometers depending on optics, and automatically alerts military units through messengers with photographs and coordinates within milliseconds of identifying a threat. The system, called […]View the full article

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has completed the initial flight series of a new J85 engine-powered variant of its Firejet unmanned aerial system, the company said. Developed in coordination with the U.S. Army’s Target Systems Management Office, the new configuration — designated Mk1 Firejet — represents the second major variant of the Firejet platform and […]View the full article