Raw Intel

The U.S. Special Operations Command has placed an $877 million order with Boeing for additional MH-47G Chinook helicopters to support its rotary-wing operations through 2030. The Boeing Company, based in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, has been awarded a firm-fixed-price delivery order valued at $877,742,891 for the procurement of MH-47G helicopters. The aircraft are being purchased to […]View the full article

Northrop Grumman has completed a successful static fire test of a prototype Mk 72 solid rocket motor, a step the company says supports efforts to deliver scalable propulsion systems for U.S. military programs. According to a company statement dated Dec. 18, 2025, the test was conducted at Northrop Grumman’s advanced propulsion production facility in Elkton, […]View the full article

The Norwegian Armed Forces, alongside about 3,000 United States Marines and other U.S. and NATO units, will conduct Exercise Cold Response 26 in northern Norway in March 2026, with allied forces beginning cold-weather training deployments as early as January, U.S. and Norwegian officials confirmed. The exercise is a Norwegian-led, routine winter drill designed to test […]View the full article

BAE Systems FalconWorks and SURVICE Engineering have signed a framework agreement to collaborate on the development of uncrewed air system (UAS) technologies, expanding cooperation tied to military logistics drones and future tactical unmanned aircraft, the companies announced in a joint statement. The agreement builds on an existing partnership dating back to 2015 involving Malloy Aeronautics, […]View the full article

A delegation from the United States Army recently visited the Czechoslovak Group (CSG) in the Czech Republic to examine potential cooperation and assess the group’s capabilities in ground systems and artillery ammunition. During the visit, the delegation toured production sites, assembly lines, and manufacturing processes, including a demonstration of the Morana 155 wheeled self-propelled howitzer […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy commissioned its newest guided-missile destroyer, USS Harvey C. Barnum Jr. (DDG 124), during a ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk on Saturday, April 11, 2026. Approximately 1,800 guests attended the event, including senior military leaders, sailors, Marines, veterans, and family members, marking the formal entry of the Arleigh Burke-class warship into active service. […]View the full article

The U.S. Army is buying a Draganfly commercial, heavy lift drone system for Fort Drum, New York, with the Mission Installation Contracting Command posting a combined synopsis and solicitation on May 6, 2026, for a complete unmanned aerial system package that includes communications hardware, a ground control station, delivery box, batteries, and a sensor gimbal. […]View the full article

An Israeli fire control technology company has now secured contracts with all four major branches of the U.S. military, completing a sweep across the American armed forces that took less than a year. Smart Shooter announced June 1 that it received its first significant U.S. Navy contract, a $1.8 million award for soldier-portable SMASH 2000LE […]View the full article

It has been just a couple of years since I last posted this FbF. That is quite a bit sooner than most encore postings, but there is a new movie out about it, so I figured it was time to tell the story again. First, the trailer. I’m not sure where it will be streaming in the U.S., but I’ll keep an eye out for it. Watch the trailer first, then read the extended story below. The war is about to begin. You are in command of your Navy's newest ship and are leading the attack on another nation's capital. Decades before others thought they had discovered such concepts as "Shock and Awe" and "Decapitation Strikes" - you are on the tip of the spear of an attack that will seize the…

Teledyne FLIR Defense announced it will begin assembling its Star SAFIRE line of thermal imaging camera systems at its facility in West Malling, Kent, after more than two years of planning and formal approval to produce the advanced surveillance systems locally for the UK Ministry of Defence. Star SAFIRE is a family of gimbal-mounted camera […]View the full article

Americas L-3 Communications won a $38 million contract modification for contractor logistics support of the Air Force C-12 fleet. Originally developed by Beechcraft, the Raytheon C-12 is a short-range personnel and cargo lift aircraft for the US military. Powered by two Pratt & Whitney turboprop engines, the low-wing, all-metal aircraft is the military version of the civilian Super King Air 200 aircraft. The pressurized cabin is capable of an altitude of 35,000 feet and can be reconfigured to accommodate a mix of passengers, and cargo. The first C-12s were fielded to the US Army in 1974 and the aircraft has undergone a series of upgrades since then. Work will take pla…

What is the reality of 2021 for those concerned with the direction of our nation's defense? With no constituency of any significant power in the Executive or Legislative branches of government willing to expend political capital for a larger defense budget, much less a larger Navy, everyone should accept that through at least mid-decade there will be flat to decreasing DOD budges. If you want to know where the low hanging fruit is from the perspective of those in the Biden Administration given responsibility for making policy in DOD, keep an eye on Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. She knows her business. This summary by Paul McCleary at Breaking Defense is so…

Americas Leonardo Helicopters handed over the keys to the first operational TH-73A helicopter to the US Navy at its AgustaWestland Philadelphia Corporation (Leonardo) plant in Philadelphia on June 10. Vice Adm. Kenneth Whitesell, Commander, Naval Air Forces, accepts the keys accepted the keys on behalf of the Navy from Bill Hunt, CEO of Leonardo Helicopters. The service placed an order for 130 helicopters with Leonardo in January 2020. Boeing won an $18.4 million delivery order modification to an existing contract (W91215-16-G-0001) for the procurement of long-lead components and parts in support of the MH-47G Chinook Block II production program. Fiscal 2021 Army aircraf…

You were born to immigrant parents. At home you spoke a different language than outside the home. A language that in your adulthood would – by simply speaking it – be a source of hate. You were part of a small religious minority. You were smart though, and resourceful. You excelled in academics and were an accomplished engineer. You did dearly love your country and while in college decided to help serve it by joining what we would call the Army National Guard. By the end of three decades, people – peers, subordinates, historians and Field Marshalls alike - would say things like this about you; "a great bullock of a man... though his manners were pleasant and his behavio…

Americas Sikorsky won a $30.7 million contract modification by the US Navy, which increases the scope to procure 681 spare parts for the CH-53K low-rate initial production configuration aircraft. The CH-53K King Stallion is a large cargo helicopter designed to replace the Marine Corps fleet of CH-53E heavy-lift helicopters to help move Marines and their equipment from ships offshore onto attack beaches. The CH-53K is a general redesign of the CH-53E. Work will take place in Connecticut, France, Washington, Canada, Florida, West Virginia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Georgia. Estimated completion date will be in December 2026. The Navy awarded General Atomi…

Americas Working together with the US Marine Corps, the 163rd Attack Wing has proven that the MQ-9 can be refueled on the ground while connected to an MV-22. The ground-breaking test was carried out in partnership with VMM-764 during Integrated Training Exercise 4-22 at Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center, Twenty-nine Palms last month. The refueling exercise was to help the Marines acquire tactics, techniques, and procedures to operate the MQ-9 in the future. The USMC has placed orders for the MQ-9. The US Navy contracted Schuyler Line Navigation with a $10.5 million deal with reimbursable elements to support Military Sealift Command’s Sealift Program for operation and…

Now and then the algorithm on YouTube rolls things in to my view it knows I cannot ... NOT ... watch. So, of course I watched an iconic scene and then remembered the man passed only 4.5 yrs ago and I have a FbF on him. Worthy an encore, no? Yes, he was THAT Brit officer holding the tanks in A Bridge Too Far. Even if the 25-year-old Captain in the Grenadier Guards had wanted to say a prayer, his voice would have been drowned out by the throbbing of the five Chrysler engines that powered his 40-ton Sherman tank. The young officer would have had good reason to call on the Almighty, because his troop of Shermans was about to cross the most dangerous bridge in Europe. There …

Americas Systems Planning and Analysis won a $90.8 million deal for Trident II Strategic Weapons System technical support services supporting the Common Missile Compartment program, D5 Life Extension 2 program, Strategic Systems Program (SSP) Facilities Management, Activation and Assessments, and Missile Systems program. This contract also benefits a foreign military sale to the United Kingdom. […]View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin Corp won a $3 billion modification to provide continued logistics support to include ground maintenance activities, action request solution, depot activities, automatic logistics information system operations and maintenance, reliability and maintainability, supply chain management, pilot training, maintainer training, and training system sustainment in support of delivered F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter Air Systems for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers, and non-Department of Defense (DOD) program partners . The contract being modified was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Mary…

As Ukraine continues to use low-cost homemade drones to ignite Russian oil refineries, Moscow unleashed one of its most destructive missile and drone barrages on Kyiv in months, striking civilian neighborhoods in the heart of the capital. In the overnight assault of August 28, Russia fired hundreds of weapons — including ballistic and cruise missiles […] The post Ukraine’s cheap drones hit refineries, Russia bombs Kyiv first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article