Raw Intel

From the fleet parked off Long Beach, to the already forgotten Afghanistan, to the particular aspirational desires of the latest 30-year Shipbuilding Plan - and whatever else comes across then quarterdeck - Eagle One and Sal are back LIVE for an October maritime and national security discussion.As with all free for alls, the chat room will be open as will the studio phone lines … come join us this Sunday starting at 5pm Eastern. Join us live if you can and roll in with your preferred topic in the chat room or call the switchboard number right here on the showpage. If you use iTunes, you can add Midrats to your podcast list simply by clicking the iTunes button at the main…

This week, navalists everywhere are having fun with the comments by Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth at Center for Strategic and International Studies back on December 1st. First of all ... let's go to the map room. What? Not clear enough? Let me help. Over on twitter, I promised a thorough fisking of her comments ... so here we go. "A more powerful Chinese military helps to underwrite Beijing's strategy to achieve the 'great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation' by 2049 — to include development of the PLA [People's Liberation Army] into a 'world class military' by midcentury," "China's focus on modernizing its military capabilities will strengthen its ability …

Americas Raytheon won a $96.2 million contract modification for maintenance & recertifications in support of the Evolved SeaSparrow Missile and NATO SeaSparrow Missile Systems programs. The SEASPARROW Missile is a radar-guided, surface-to-air missile based on the Navy and Marine Corps AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile. The SEASPARROW has a cylindrical body with four mid-body wings and four tail fins. Work will take place in Arizona, Canada and Germany. Estimated completion will be by December 2022. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity. Unionized workers at three Boeing military aircraft factories in and near St Louis, Missouri, have a…

Every few years another article comes up concerned about the politicization of the military. Throughout human history this has been a “concern” – and rightfully so. In the founding of our own republic this was a top concern to the point we are not really supposed to have a standing army (though we do), we put a civilian at the head of it, and … well, here’s the applicable part; Article I, Section 8, Clause 12(AKA “The Army Clause”: “The Congress shall have Power To . . . raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years,” Our standing Army is still too large, but that is a topic for another day. It is welcome an…

Americas The BETA Technologies Alia electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft marked a historic moment with its first official test flight from Eglin Air Force Base on November 7, 2023. The primary objectives were to assess battery performance over designated distances and power configurations, and to evaluate the logistical aspects of consecutive flights with […]View the full article

Americas Technology company Sigma Defense Systems has signed a $4.7 million task order to build a virtual reality intelligence training ecosystem for the US Army. Under the deal, the Georgia-based firm will build, demonstrate, and deploy a next-generation training platform for the army’s Operator Maintainer Immersive Virtual Reality Environment for Intelligence Training (OMNIVORE-IT) project. The resulting […]View the full article

Turkey’s top defense and technology officials have confirmed the development of a long-range missile program with a declared range of 2,000 kilometers, signaling a new phase in the country’s ambition to become a regional military power with homegrown capabilities. Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, in a public statement this week, said, “We […] The post Turkey confirms 2,000km missile program first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

A tragic accident struck Thursday evening when a Polish Air Force F-16 fighter jet from the Tiger Demo Team crashed during rehearsals for Air Show 2025, killing the team’s commander. The crash occurred at approximately 7:25 p.m. local time at Radom Airport. Witnesses described the jet suddenly nosediving over the runway and striking the ground […] The post F-16 fighter jet crashes in Poland, pilot killed first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The United States has awarded Textron Systems Corporation a $163.3 million contract to deliver a new batch of armored vehicles to Ukraine. According to a contract announcement from the Department of War, the award covers the procurement of Mobile Strike Force Vehicles (MSFV), along with spare parts, specialized tools, and testing equipment. Work will be […] The post Textron secures $163M deal to supply armored vehicles to Ukraine first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

South Korean Hanwha Aerospace has signed a new agreement with GE Aerospace to acquire T700 and F404 engine kits for assembly and testing in South Korea, the companies announced. The engines will be used in Korea’s Surion helicopters and the T-50 family of trainer and light combat aircraft, including the TA-50 and FA-50. Under the […] The post Hanwha to build GE Aerospace engines for Korean aircraft first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Yaroslavl Shipbuilding Plant employees say they have not received salaries for nearly two months, citing unpaid military orders and stalled production, according to Ukrainian outlet Ekonomichna Pravda. The Yaroslavl Shipbuilding Plant, a Russian company under international sanctions for its cooperation with the country’s defense-industrial sector, has reportedly failed to pay its workers for nearly two […]View the full article

Raytheon has secured a United States Air Force contract to equip the autonomous X-62A Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft, known as VISTA, with its PhantomStrike fire-control radar, expanding the service’s testing of autonomous combat aviation technologies. According to a press release, Raytheon will integrate the PhantomStrike radar onto the X-62A as part of ongoing Air […]View the full article

Japanese defense experts have publicly assessed that South Korea’s navy now holds qualitative advantages over Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, signaling a shift in the balance of naval power in Northeast Asia, according to recent analyses circulating in Japanese security circles in January 2026. The assessment reflects a growing view inside Japan that traditional measures of […]View the full article

Residents in western Belarus have reported sudden reserve call-ups and rapid deployment orders near the country’s border with NATO member states, according to statements from opposition officials and local accounts published Feb. 2026, raising attention over what critics describe as an undeclared mobilization effort. Reports from the regions of Grodno, Slonim, and the village of […]View the full article

The United States Missile Defense Agency has awarded Raytheon an $8.41 billion contract ceiling increase to support the sustainment and engineering of Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) variants, expanding the total contract value to $11.74 billion. According to the U.S. Department of War, the modification applies to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (HQ0851-21-D-0001). Under the updated agreement, […]View the full article

Raytheon, an RTX business, has signed a $3.7 billion contract to supply Patriot GEM-T interceptors for Ukraine, the company announced. The agreement covers the delivery of Guidance Enhanced Missile-Tactical interceptors, one of the Patriot missile variants used by both U.S. operators and international customers. Raytheon said the missiles are intended to strengthen Ukraine’s ability to […]View the full article

A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer that had been sitting in the Arizona desert since 2021 flew back into active service on April 22 after nearly two years of intensive depot maintenance at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, returning to Dyess Air Force Base as a fully mission-capable bomber. The aircraft came from Type […]View the full article

A German aerospace firm completed the first flight of its Wespe unmanned helicopter on Thursday, marking a milestone for a platform designed to solve one of the most dangerous problems in modern combat medicine: moving critically wounded soldiers from forward field hospitals to surgical facilities without putting additional crew members in harm’s way. Aerospace, the […]View the full article

America’s missile defense testing program has a logistics problem, and the Pentagon wants industry to solve it: the Missile Defense Agency, the organization responsible for developing and testing America’s shield against ballistic missile attack, has issued a formal solicitation seeking mobile launch platforms that can fire test missiles from virtually anywhere on earth at dramatically […]View the full article

A helicopter maker and an electric aircraft startup just proved they can bolt cutting-edge autonomy software onto a brand-new aircraft in under two weeks, a pace that would have sounded absurd for military aviation programs just a few years ago. Sikorsky, the helicopter manufacturer owned by Lockheed Martin, announced at the Farnborough International Airshow that […]View the full article