Raw Intel

Americas The US Air Force announced that Northrop Grumman would roll out the B-21 bomber in the first week of December at its production facilities in Palmdale, California. “We last introduced a new bomber over 30 years ago. As we look to the threats posed by our pacing challenge; we must continue to rapidly modernize. The B-21 Raider will provide formidable combat capability across a range of operations in highly contested environments of the future,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr said. Textron won a $7.7 million modification to remove work, incorporate additional work and exercise an option to a previously awarded contract FA8617-22-C-6238 for Building Par…

So, what did you wake up to? President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered Russia's first mobilisation since World War Two and backed a plan to annex swathes of Ukraine, warning the West he was not bluffing when he said he'd be ready to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia. In the biggest escalation of the Ukraine war since Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion, Putin explicitly raised the spectre of a nuclear conflict, approved a plan to annex a chunk of Ukraine the size of Hungary, and called up 300,000 reservists.This should not be a shock to anyone. If it is, perhaps you should consider investing your time in cat-blogging. It should bring to the front that NATO can no longer all…

Americas General Dynamics won a $414.8 million contract modification with one four-year option period for multiple items used in the Abrams Main Battle Tank, Stryker Family of Vehicles, Light Armored Vehicle Family of Vehicles, Cougar, Buffalo and RG-31. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/definite-quantity contract. Estimated completion date is September 28, 2029. Boeing won a $51.7 million contract to procure the final 51 Advanced Capabilities Mission Computers retrofit kits (49 kits for EA-18G aircraft and two kits for software integration labs) in support of meeting the Navy’s mission requirements for the EA-18G aircraft. Work will take place in Minnesota…

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As with many things in the last nine months, the bolt from the blue in the maritime national security world that was the September 2021 announcement of AUKUS - trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States - has faded from view as the more immediate and interesting Russo-Ukrainian War took the headlines. Even without the war, as with many long-term programs that start with a flash, AUKUS would have become a background issue anyway - which is a shame. Most are left remembering the interesting bit - nuclear submarines for the Royal Australian Navy - but is that really the most important thing about AUKUS? Our friend Alessio Patalano o…

Americas Bell Textron won a $228.2 million deal by the US Navy, which provides the H-1 Light/Attack helicopter with new and modified capabilities through System Configuration Sets, which is a combination of software and/or hardware configuration item changes integrated into a previously deployed baseline configuration. These efforts include work on the airframe, aircraft wiring interface terminals, flight controls, and weapon systems interfaces, as well as research alternatives, investigation, and documentation of new capabilities and anomalies related to flight controls, wiring harnesses, and weapons, and developing, integrating, verifying, validating, and testing these …

We talked about them a little bit on yesterday's Midrats, but I can't keep them out of mind - so, we'll start out the week looking at one hell of a fleet the Japanese seem to be building; On the morning of September 1, the Japan Jiji News Agency suddenly reported news that the Japanese Ministry of Defense is preparing to build two new large warships. Its main features are: the standard displacement is about 20,000 tons, equipped with SPY-7 large radar originally used for land-based missile defense systems, equipped with American-made Standard-3 Block 2A anti-ballistic missiles, and Standard-6 long-range air defense missiles, made in Japan, Type 12 anti-ship missiles, and…

Americas Boeing won a $20.7 million deal, which provides for logistics management, product support analysis and integration, maintenance planning, technical data, support equipment maintenance, and engineering services in support of the P-8A aircraft for the Navy and the governments of Australia, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Work will take place in Florida, Washington, Maryland, Iceland and Japan. Estimated completion will be in September 2023. Bell Boeing won a $13.4 million contract by the Navy. The deal provides engineering, management, technical, and acquisition support for the implementation and sustainment of V-22 capability defect packages for V-22 avionics and…

Labor Day is behind us, school is in session, and winter is coming. That can mean only one thing - it’s time for a Midrats mid-month melee! For the full hour LIVE this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern, we will take a bit from the headlines, a tad from the history books, and whatever shows up in the chat room or the studio line. From DC to Ukraine, to the other side of the International Date Line, we’ll try to squeeze it in. We'll distribute your defense, integrate your lethality ... whatever it takes. As with every melee, if it is interesting and in the maritime or national security arena - we’ll take it on. Open chat, open phones, open topic - come join us live if you can, but …

A pivot of history around a man. For over two decades the American military occupied a foreign country on the other side of the planet, supporting an oppressive local government that was mostly known for its anti-democratic habits and corruption. Over the two decades of occupation, thousands of Americans and her allies who also contributed forces died in order to keep a clear threat to global peace contained. During the previous presidential election in the USA, the candidate who won made repeated statements that he planned to withdraw all American forces from that country. Two decades were long enough, and he was insistent that he was a man of his word. The new president…

Americas General Dynamics won a $21.6 million modification for additional hours of Abrams system technical support. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of September 22, 2023. M1A1/2 Abrams main battle tank is manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems. The first M1 tank was produced in 1978, the M1A1 in 1985 and the M1A2 in 1986. The Navy awarded Insitu a $191.8 million modification, which procures 13 RQ-21A Blackjack air vehicles, 25 ScanEagle air vehicles, 48 RQ-21A and ScanEagle payloads and turrets, support equipment, spares and sustainment spares and tools in support of RQ-21A Blackjack and ScanEagle unmanned ai…

A lot of you are experiencing official discrimination on a regular basis and share what you are going through with me. The vast majority of it I don't share because it is sent on background to me as people are terrified of being found out by the diversity zampolits. The most scared people - even more than those in the military - are those in academia. It isn't just the college admission process, it is the red in tooth and claw discrimination in hiring faculty giving special consideration to some racial and ethnic groups while at the same time taking specific negative action against other racial and ethic groups. I've written way too much in a rambling way on the topic ov…

Americas Elbit America won a $12.6 million delivery order under previously awarded basic ordering agreement N00383-20-G-WY01 for the procurement of large-area display in support of the F-18 aircraft. The delivery order does not include an option period. Work will take place in Israel. Expected completion day will be in September 2023. Lockheed Martin won a $9.9 million modification for developmental activities regarding the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion date is June 12, 2023. Middle East & Africa Raytheon Lockheed Martin Javelin JV won a $311.2 million modification for full-rate production of Javelins. Work …

BZ to our Coast Guard friends. There is a lot of good here in this message. The master message is, "tell our story." Simple but powerful. Having Chiefs - every Chief - helping bring in new people sounds like it should be happening already, but it isn't. Telling "our" story should be a given, but it isn't. All the services are having trouble recruiting, and no small measure of the problem is that our senior leadership from CJCS on down spent a bit too much time the last few years playing socio-political games and telling the public the military is full of racists, sexists, and rapists to a degree that we don't have time to spend telling the great story that represents 99.…

Americas Champion Aerospace won a $9 million contract to procure 252 175 ampere (amp) Transformer Rectifier Unit (TRU) retrofit kits (240 for the F/A-18E/F fleet and EA-18G squadrons, and 12 for the EA-18G Growler capability modification operational test in support of upgrading the current 150 amp TRU to a 175 amp TRU). Work will be performed in Liberty, South Carolina, and is expected to be completed in December 2023. General Electric Aviation said it and the US Air Force finished testing the firm’s second adaptive engine, which it hopes the military will adopt for the F-35 jet, and is ready to move into the engineering and manufacturing development phase. Middle East …

Navalists should be forgiven if they have, on occasion, the mindset and habits of an abused partner. Slightly flenching with memory, but always hoping that this time - this time - things will be different. There is good reason for scepticism and concern. Firstly, we know the mindset and process that begat LCS and DDG-1000. We know that there wasn't really any accountability to "the system" for this. A system that has remained unchanged. The only thing that was considered satisfactory from that era was LPD-17 - a program that had enough money thrown at it so this Tiffany amphib could be a functional class of warships. FORD is, well, you know that drill. So, we lost a gen…

Americas General Atomics won a $35.9 million deal, which procures spares necessary for the successful operational capability of the Marine Air Ground Task Force Unmanned Aircraft System Expeditionary Medium Altitude Long Endurance MQ-9A Block 5 Reaper air vehicles, ground control stations and ancillary equipment for the Navy. Work will take place in California, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Florida, South Carolina and Canada. Estimated completion will be in December 2026. New students who graduated to fly the B-52 bomber this fall will be operating the eight-engine aircraft with four crew members instead of the usual five. The bomber has two pilots, one navigator, a…

AH-64 in Afghanistan (click to view full) The AH-64 Apache will remain the US Army’s primary armed helicopter for several more decades, thanks to the collapse of the RAH-66 Comanche program, and the retirement sans replacement of the US Army’s Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH). Apaches also serve with a number of American allies, some of whom have already expressed interest in upgrading or expanding their fleets. The AH-64E Guardian Block III (AB3) is the helicopter’s next big step forward. It incorporates 26 key new-technology insertions that cover flight performance, maintenance costs, sensors & electronics, and even the ability to control UAVs as part of man…

Americas Raytheon won a $9 million contract for the procurement of nine active electronically scanned array radar system APG-79 weapon repairable assemblies in support of the F/A-18 aircraft. The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is a twin-engine, supersonic, all-weather, carrier-capable, multirole combat jet, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft. Work will take place in Mississippi. The deal contains no options and work is expected to begin October 2022 and be completed by January 2024. Six F-16s from South Carolina Air National Guard’s 169th Fighter Wing are in Colombia for exercise Relampago VII. The purpose of this exercise is to provide the Colombian Air For…

If it seems like a long time ago, I guess it was. For me at least, it seems not. As I do every year, this is how I saw it. View the full article