Raw Intel

There was a little incident a month ago that kept coming back in to my mind. My guess is that my subconscious was bothered, as it is on a usual basis, that the article did not come with a map. You might recall the story ... one in a long list of similar stories; Russia says one of its warships caught and chased off a US Navy destroyer after it entered territorial waters in the Sea of Japan on Tuesday. Moscow accused the USS John S McCain of travelling 2km (1.2 miles) across its maritime border in Peter the Great Gulf and says it threatened to ram the ship. The US warship then left the area, according to Russia. However, the US Navy denied any wrongdoing and sa…

Americas General Dynamics Bath Iron Works won a $23.9 million contract modification to exercise options for the accomplishment of planning yard efforts such as engineering, technical, planning, ship configuration, data and logistics efforts for DDG-1000 class destroyers post-delivery and in-service life-cycle support. The Zumwalt Class is the largest and most technologically advanced surface combatant in the world. Zumwalt is the lead ship of a class of next-generation multi-mission destroyers designed to strengthen naval power from the sea. Work will take place in Maine and California. Estimated completion will be by December 2021. The US Army and Clemson University ann…

Sweden is not an official ally, but as the largest Scandinavian country, she has influence from Finland, through the Baltic and across the sea to Iceland. She also has a long history with Russia that she cannot keep an eye off for too long. This little bit deserves more attention than it is getting; The Swedish parliament has approved an increase of a whopping 40% in the defence expenditure to counter the threat of Russian aggression. This will take the Swedish defence expenditure to USD 11 billion. This is the first such massive increase in the Swedish defence expenditure in the last 70 years. Only last week, the main parties in the Swedish parliament also adopted th…

2020 has been a year … that is an understatement. From the maritime and national security perspective what were the bold-faced items that changed the outlook the most. While COVID-19 absorbed much of everyone’s time, the world kept turning and history kept moving. Using our ever-popular melee format – open topic, open chat room and open phones for Midrats’ end of the year review. We’ll be live and hope you’ll join us this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern. DON’T MISS IT! If you use iTunes, you can add Midrats to your podcast list simply by clicking the iTunes button at the main showpage - or you can just click here. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8z…

Americas L3 Technologies won a $29.2 million deal for the manned/unmanned teaming hardware, as well as technical and engineering support, for the Apache helicopter. The Apache attack helicopter was developed by Boeing for the US armed forces. It entered service with the US Army in 1984. is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night vision systems. Work will take place in Salt Lake City, Utah. Estimated completion date is June 30, 2023. Lockheed Martin won a $9.3 million contract modification for the US and Unit…

A reboot from almost four years ago. We have a new class of FFG to name ... we need a USS ENGLAND. What can one small ship, well trained, well led, and well armed do when she finds herself in the right place at the right time? I give you the USS ENGLAND, (DE 635), via Michael Peck at TheNationalInterest; The saga of the England began on May 18, 1944, when the England and two other destroyer escorts received orders to find a Japanese submarine reported heading toward the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. On the afternoon of May 19, the England's sonar detected the submarine I-16. What happened next is detailed in an account written by Captain John Williamson, who …

As we have covered here through the years, the USCG used to be the most equal opportunity and race neutral of the uniformed services. Then a decade ago, Congress removed the requirement at the USCG Academy that it could not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin – and once that firewall was gone, we were off to the identity politics Olympics. I would like to point your attention to two ALCOAST messages; 452/20 and 195/20. Both went out December 15th, 452/20 about five hours before 195/20. You can read the full messages at the hypertext links above. Before you do that, let’s establish a few assumptions. 1. The diversity commissariat used to …

Americas Boeing won a $41.7 million delivery order for consumable and depot-level repairable parts for the KC-46 military unique program. The Boeing KC-46 Pegasus is a military aerial refueling and strategic military transport aircraft. In 2011, the DOD announced the Boeing Company as the winner of a competition to build 179 new KC-46 Aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force, a contract valued at roughly $35 billion. Boeing designed the KC-46 to carry passengers, cargo and patients. The aircraft can detect, avoid, defeat and survive threats using multiple layers of protection, which will enable it to operate safely in medium-threat environments. Work will take place in …

Americas The Marine Corps and the Air Force successfully tested bi-directional data sharing on the F-22 and F-35 in exercises in Arizona and Nevada for the first time. The test was reportedly the latest demonstration of the network architecture underpinning its Advanced Battle Management System. Fifth-generation fighters are generally only able to communicate with each other and to command and control centers, but not with fighters in other classes because they use digital languages that aren’t compatible. But the gatewayONE system can translate between those formats, allowing the aircraft to more fully gather and share data and intelligence. The service announced that th…

Everyone wants to talk about the DF-21D, the "Carrier Killer." I don't think we are talking enough about the DF-26. I'm pondering over at USNIBlog ... come by and puzzle your puzzler with me. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=zHbCsP1J31A:t-0nI_R18Wk:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=zHbCsP1J31A:t-0nI_R18Wk:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=zHbCsP1J31A:t-0nI_R18Wk:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=zHbCsP1J31A:t-0nI_R18Wk:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburn…

One of the best things a military can do - it actually is a requirement - it to look at the most recent conflicts of other nations at a similar technological stage for hints at what does and does not work at war. Theories and exercises at peace can be dangerously misleading. Only by looking at what happens at war can you be prepared for when it is your turn. The most recent iteration of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict is one such example. How could this inform Taiwan? Eric Chan over at The Diplomat looked at that angle; However, the first and most obvious lesson of the Armenia-Azerbaijan war is that through massed unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), it is possible f…

Americas Northrop Grumman Systems won a $185.7 million deal for the A-10 Aircraft Structural Integrity Program (ASIP) Legacy VII. This contract provides for sustaining engineering services of A-10 aircraft. The A-10 Thunderbolt is also known as the Warthog, the ‘flying gun’ and the Tankbuster. The aircraft was used extensively during Operation Desert Storm, in support of Nato operations in response to the Kosovo crisis, in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Work will take place in Clearfield, Utah. Expected completion date is December 13, 2030. Boeing won a $79.6 million deal for F-15 Eagle Passive Active Warning and Survivability S…

Americas General Atomics won a $305.2 million deal for MQ-9 Reaper contractor logistics support. The deal provides for program management, contractor filed service representative support, depot repair, depot maintenance, sustaining engineering support, supply and logistics support, configuration management, tech data maintenance, software maintenance and inventory control point/warehouse support for the MQ-9. The Reaper is designed primarily to disable or destroy time-sensitive targets and has a secondary function as an intelligence-gathering platform. The service branch will obligate $65.4M at the time of award from its fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds. Work w…

Over the last few years, I have come to the firm opinion that both structurally and culturally, the US Navy is incapable of fixing itself. We have run out of time and are actually past time. To continue to work inside the same infrastructure, policies, laws, and personalities and expect a different result is insanity. We need relief from Congress. Yes, that Congress. We need a new law and mindset towards acquisition and program management in line with a Goldwater-Nichols replacement. The latest datapoint is the absolute state of our cruiser fleet. Like so many of the problems we have with the quality, quantity, and utility of the fleet we have today, this was all una…

Americas Raytheon won a $38.8 million contract modification for the production of two Fire Control System MK 99 ship sets and the associated technical engineering services in support of the Aegis Combat System on DDG-51 class ships. The DDG 51 Class are the Arleigh Burke class destroyers in service with the US Navy. They are multi-mission warships with offensive and defensive capability in multi-threat air, surface, and subsurface environments. The USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51), the first ship and namesake of the class, was commissioned on July 4, 1991. Since then 62 more ships have been commissioned. The MK-99 Fire Control System (FCS) is a major component of the AEGIS Comb…

LGM-30G Minuteman III (click to view full) For 50 years, land-based Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) have been part of the US primary strategic deterrence capability, the nuclear-armed triad that also includes submarine-launched ballistic missiles and long range heavy bombers. Although the main target for the US deterrent – the Soviet Union – imploded in 1991, other threats – such as nuclear-armed rogue states and non-state actors – have emerged. To address these new threats, the US Air Force undertook a major ICBM modernization program. To carry out this program, the USAF awarded a 15-year ICBM Prime Integration Contract (F42610-98-C-0001) in 1997 to a tea…

Super Tucano Embraer’s EMB-314 Super Tucano trainer and light attack turboprop continues to rack up global orders, solidifying its position as the globe’s pre-eminent manned counter-insurgency aircraft. The latest order set of about $180 million expands the plane’s footprint into 3 African states: Angola, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania. They join Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Indonesia as customers for this aircraft. The Super Tucano is known as the A-29 or ALX in Brazil, but abroad, it’s the EMB 314 successor to Embraer’s widely-used EMB 312 Tucano trainer. A-29 is better for marketing, though, and Embraer is trying to shift the designatio…

F-35A (click to view full) In December 2011, Japan picked Lockheed Martin’s new F-35A stealth fighter as its next fighter aircraft, to replace its aging F-4 “Kai” Phantom fleet. The F-35 was actually their 2nd choice. Back in February 2006, Inside The Air Force (ITAF) reported that momentum was building within the USAF to sell the ultra-advanced F-22A Raptor abroad to trusted US allies, as a way of increasing numbers and production. Japan clearly wanted them, and the Raptor was a topic of diplomatic discussions in several venues, including a 2007 summit meeting. In the end, however, US politics denied export permission for downgraded export variants of the F-22, and it…

When trying to get a grasp on the best way to secure the nation's security and interests, why should Americans look to the sea? Do American's assume or take for granted what three-quarters of a century of American dominance of the high seas gifted them? Is this assumption in danger? Where do we stand and what steps need to be taken to secure what every American living assumes is their birthright? To discuss this and related issues this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern will be one of our favorite guests, Dr. Jerry Hendrix, CAPT USN (Ret.), and author of the upcoming book, To Provide and Maintain a Navy; Why Naval Primacy is America's First, Best Strategy. Since retirement, …

One of the most dangerous yet commonly held beliefs about a future conflict with China is that we could somehow hold China back by convincing them we could defeat them in 72-hrs. Another is that, for some reason, the US Army should have a role - somehow - in significant numbers. That would imply action on mainland Asia. Even though WWII has mostly faded out of living memory, the Korean War is still inside that fading line. One would think - especially with all the belated focus of the last few years - we would have a greater understanding of the Chinese military history and tradition that, at least to them, goes back thousands of years. Many will make comments about t…