Raw Intel

The U.S. Army is nearly doubling its investment in its primary short-range air defense system for fiscal year 2027, requesting $461 million for the Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense program, known as M-SHORAD, up from $296 million the previous year, as the service races to rebuild air defense capabilities it dismantled two decades ago and now […]View the full article

The U.S. Marines stationed on Okinawa, Japan, can now sink enemy warships from land and shoot down drones from the back of a truck, after the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment formally received both the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System and the Marine Air Defense Integrated System in June 2026, completing the weapons fielding that transforms […]View the full article

Nishati Power Technologies announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued it Patent No. 12,671,257, covering hybrid power generation technology built specifically to solve that problem for troops operating far from any power grid. The issue Nishati’s patent addresses sounds technical, but it plays out as a very physical headache for soldiers in the […]View the full article

REGENT Craft’s autonomous Seaglider drone, Squire, took part in a 13-day military experimentation event called Silent Swarm in Michigan, testing electronic warfare payloads alongside uncrewed systems from across the U.S. military, the Rhode Island-based company announced Tuesday. Silent Swarm ran July 13 to 24 across Michigan’s Northern Lower Peninsula and the Alpena Combat Readiness Training […]View the full article

Photos and video from Exercise Thunderstruck 3.0 show Oklahoma National Guard convoy vehicles fitted with wire mesh cage screens, a low-cost defense against first-person-view drones that Ukrainian forces have used on the battlefield since 2022. The exercise, held September 12 at Camp Gruber Training Center, centered on unmanned systems and drone threats. Images from the […]View the full article

Spanish drone autopilot maker UAV Navigation-Grupo Oesía is working with the European Space Agency on a way for military drones to navigate using signals from low Earth orbit internet satellites when GPS and other satellite navigation signals are jammed, spoofed or unavailable, the company said on October 8. The research is funded by ESA’s NAVISP […]View the full article

German defense AI company Helsing on Oct. 26 unveiled Contra, an autonomous, AI-controlled air defense system designed to protect countries against large-scale drone and missile attacks, along with two new interceptor missiles, the jet-powered AD-1 Inferno and the rocket-powered AD-2 Ambush, the company announced. Helsing said Contra fuses data from sensors and weapons into a […]View the full article

Dr. Andrew S. Erickson is an Associate Professor in the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College and a core founding member of the department’s China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI). Are China’s Near Seas “Anti-Navy†capabilities aimed directly at the United States? Yes, but it’s more complicated than that. In the military realm, Washington and Beijing face a situation that is complex both in concept and in policy implications. In contrast to its mostly-settled land borders , China’s island and maritime zone claims in the “Near Seas†remain mostly unresolved. To further its still-contested claims in these “Three Seas†(the Yellow, …

BZ to the Army for selecting some excellent weapons to tweak a bit to suit their specific requirements, and then add to their weaponeering tool kit. As covered by Syndey Freedberg at the end of last week; ...the Army has chosen to mix two very different Navy weapons together in its prototype MRC (Mid-Range Capability) unit: the new, supersonic, high-altitude SM-6 and the venerable, subsonic, low-flying Tomahawk. “Following a broad review of joint service technologies potentially applicable to MRC, the Army has selected variants of the Navy SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles to be part of the initial prototype,” says a Rapid Capabilities & Critical Technologies Office (R…

First published in AUG09.Just another old man walking around in his garage, eh? These days he’s long retired, living with his wife, Shirley, in a trim split-level below a wall of rimrocks near the college where he used to teach. Every day he tramps out to the studio behind his house to paint and draw. You ever wonder what they have seen? Maybe, just maybe --- you don't want to know. He is 91 years old now, among the handful of last men surviving from America’s worst military defeat, the fall of the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines during that desperate winter and early spring of 1942. American Heritage magazine has a must read article that personalizes what is often f…

We’ve all seen it; those who promote, protect, and mentor the “deep select” Golden Boy become personally – and professionally – invested in their success. Not content to give them opportunities to succeed or fail on their own, when things do not turn out a perfect as the CV and as those mentors promised they would, the wounded instead make excuses, defend, and deflect any criticism of The Chosen One. Though years and decades pass, they still treat grown men on the edge of middle age as if they are still that promising young staffer they once were – poised for greatness at some point in the future. They never really achieve regular success, but give you the appearance tha…

If it's April, it's time for a return visit by Ross Kennedy to Midrats! A little under a year ago, we had Ross on to discuss the impact of COVID and related structural issues to the global supply chain. A year later, we find conditions have not just remained, but with war in Ukraine and a new COVID variant working its way through coastal China, in many ways the global trade in essential items has turned for the worst. If you are worried about the cost and availability of fuel, food, and everyday items you've spent the last decade assuming were always going to be there at a price you're happy with, then you need to join us from 2-3pm Eastern this Sunday. Ross is a U.S.-bas…

We need more and more clear and direct talk like this from senior uniformed leaders throughout NATO; In a remarkable speech in Prague today, the Czech Republic’s most senior army leader demanded, as an “absolute necessity.” that the service embarks on its “biggest rearmament” ever. Major General Karel Řehka, chief of the General Staff of the Czech Republic Army, told delegates at the Command Assembly convened to announce the army’s strategic and procurement plans for 2023 that “serious challenges await us,” as he reflected on the “crisis” in Ukraine. “The biggest rearmament of the army in the country’s history is no longer just a wish, but an absolute necessity,” Řehka s…

Americas General Dynamics subsidiary NASSCO has been awarded a $15.6-million maintenance and modernization contract for two Arleigh Burke-Class destroyers, USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93) and USS James E. Williams (DDG 95). The contract could reach $753.8 million for future development of the ships. Modernization efforts include installing the Raytheon AN/SLQ-32 electronic warfare suite. Work for the two destroyers […]View the full article

Americas Electra has tested its EL2 ultra-short takeoff and landing (STOL) prototype aircraft for a Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering event focusing on expeditionary capabilities. The three-day, invitation-only field activity saw the system perform live overflights with low acoustic signatures across multiple intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) simulations. The US 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) has received the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) in a ceremony at Dewey Square on Marine Corps Base Hawaii. NMESIS is a mountable, ground-based anti-ship missile launcher that will be operated by the Medium-Range Miss…

France’s next-generation military helicopter, the H160M Guepard, has completed a flight milestone at Airbus Helicopters’ Marignane facility, according to an announcement from the Direction générale de l’armement (DGA) on July 24. Developed as part of the Light Joint Helicopter (HIL) program, the Guépard is intended to provide a modular, multi-role rotorcraft platform across all three […] The post France’s next-gen military helicopter makes its first flight first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Germany’s Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft (FFG) is set to debut a new armored vehicle concept at the DSEI defense exhibition in London. The new combat vehicle, named Condor, combines the role of a fire support tank with that of an anti-aircraft gun tank, offering a dual-purpose platform built on the proven Leopard 1 chassis. According to […] The post German firm develops Condor hybrid air defense tank first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The U.S. Army has awarded Global Military Products Inc., based in Tampa, Florida, a $640 million contract for the procurement of 155mm High Explosive complete rounds. The award was made under the Special Ammunitions and Weapons Systems (SAWS) program. According to the Department of War announcement, bids were solicited online and two offers were received. […] The post U.S. Army signs $639M contract for non-standard 155mm shells first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Bell Textron, a major American aerospace manufacturer, has confirmed its readiness to supply its AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom helicopters to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Militarnyi reported. The development follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in Washington between representatives of Bell Textron and the Ukrainian government, outlining prospects for industrial cooperation and […] The post Bell Textron ready to supply helicopters to Ukraine first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

BlackSky, a U.S.-based space intelligence company headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, released a detailed satellite image on November 19 showing the United Arab Emirates’ Al Fursan aerobatic team flying their newly acquired Chinese-built L-15 aircraft during the 2025 Dubai Airshow. The image, captured by one of BlackSky’s real-time Earth observation satellites, shows multiple L-15 trainers in […]View the full article