Raw Intel

Americas Swedish company has opened a new 100,000-square-foot production facility in West Lafayette, Indiana, to build T-7A Red Hawks. The Boeing-Saab team is producing the new advanced trainer for the US Air Force, with Saab providing the aft section to Boeing’s forward fuselage. Currently the aft section is built at Saab’s factory in Linköping, Sweden, then shipped to the United States. Raytheon has presented GhostEye MR, a new medium-range radar for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS. GhostEye MR was displayed at the Association of the US Army’s annual meeting and exhibition, held last week. Middle East & Africa In the first bilateral …

After a summer where more and more people’s eyes have been opened to the divisive, sectarian, and even racist nature of Critical Race Theory and have risen in opposition to it and similar race-essentialist world view in to our schools, the next logical step is how people feel about it becoming an essential part of taxpayer supported public education. As we’ve discussed it in detail here, we know there is a problem in the US Navy where the Chief of Naval Operations has enthusiastically supported the works of one of the most high-profile advocates of the most cancerous forms of Critical Race Theory, Ibram X. Kendi. With that top cover, it was only a matter of time until its…

Want to get a more wholistic view of what is and what is not worth the investment of strategic effort, sacrifice, and investment? Follow the money. Pondering a great graphic over at USNIBlog. Come by and puzz'l your nogg'n with me for a bit. 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=M3Aa8mHvcmI:w4kkIfL0PHE:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=M3Aa8mHvcmI:w4kkIfL0PHE:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=M3Aa8mHvcmI:w4kkIfL0PHE:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=M3Aa8mHvcmI:w4kkI…

Americas The Vanilla unmanned aircraft system has set a new world record for unrefueled, internal combustion endurance of an unmanned aircraft on October 2. The drone took off from Edwards Air Force Base and flew for 8 days, 50 minutes, and 47 seconds. The distance covered was 12,200 miles. The Vanilla is designed as a cost-effective, airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform that can be launched immediately to provide persistent coverage. The US Army wants to perform a test launch of its Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM, later today, with the goal of seeing just how far the Lockheed Martin-made weapon can go. The launch is planned from Vandenberg …

Americas The F-15E has a new bunker buster added to its arsenal, the GBU-72 Advanced 5K Penetrator. The new weapon was tested at the Eglin Air Force Base range by the 96th Test Wing. A joint-direct-attack-munition (JDAM) tail kit from a GBU-31 was modified so that it would fit and guide the 5,000-pound weapon. The first weapons load, flight and release took place on July 23. The Strike Eagle’s existing bunker busting weapon is the laser-guided GBU-28. According to Defense News, the US Army and Lockheed Martin have worked out a way to accelerate the delivery of the latest variant of Sentinel air and missile defense radar by six months. At the AUSA 2021 annual conference o…

We've spent a long time here and on Midrats discussing the almost criminal neglect of the "unsexy but important" parts of our maritime national security infrastructure by our uniformed and civilian leadership over the last three decades. It goes beyond the wholesale destruction of our base, shipyard, and repair facilities. Over and above our under-resourced auxiliaries from ice breakers to command ships. We have a moribund merchant marine, almost non-existent war reserve, and our repair facilities are so incredibly delicate they cannot meet the well planned peace time repairs, much less any realistic wartime requirements. And yet ... we continue to mindless drift in histo…

Americas General Atomics together with the US Army ist working on developing a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) for the Multi-Domain Operations-capable Gray Eagle Extended Range (GE-ER) Unmanned Aircraft System. Incorporating MOSA on GE-ER Increment 2 spans the entire system, including the aircraft and the Command and Control software suite. The implementation of MOSA will provide multiple new standards for C2, Future Airborne Capability Environment, Open Mission Systems, Universal Armament Interface (UAI), as well as further segregating the Flight/Mission systems’ hardware and software. The US Army’s 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command (94th AAMDC) is deployin…

“Divest to Invest” is the lie a declining power tells itself when temporary leaders decide to shrug the hard work today to enable a more secure tomorrow, in order to have a comfortable and pleasant tour for themselves today – forcing others to have to play catch up later. It is that, or it is just plain wrong. We’ve seen this play before in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and it failed so well last time, it is back again. The Terrible 20s does not have to happen, but it is. Decline is a choice, and one we seem to be making … but it is reversible if a nation and its leaders have the will to stand athwart the declinist drive and yell, “Stop!”. While it is easy to become fr…

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…

Americas During a ceremony held on October 6 at the Pennsylvania National Guard’s Eastern Army National Guard Aviation Training Site, the US Army unveiled the newest variant of the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, the UH-60V. As part of their preparation for beginning instruction, EAATS instructor pilots have been training on six UH-60Vs they received from the Utility Helicopter Program Office in July. General Dynamics won a $482.1 million contract modification for lead yard support and development studies and design efforts related to Virginia Class submarines. The Virginia Class new attack submarine is an advanced stealth multimission nuclear-powered submarine for deep oce…

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 The US Air Force announced that two F-35A Lightning II aircraft recently released B61-12 Joint Test Assemblies, or JTAs, during the F-35A’s first Full Weapon System Demonstration, completing the final flight test exercise of the nuclear design certification process. The 422nd and 59th Test and Evaluation Squadrons led Air Combat Command’s portion of the test effort, with Airmen from the 57th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 926th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and Bolt Aircraft Maintenance Unit leading all maintenance efforts. Thales has unveiled a new ground-based multi-mission radar with simultaneous ground and low-level air surveillance, providing early UAV dete…

If you think Critical Race Theory in high schools is of questionable utility, then you will love what has come to the United States Naval Academy Midshipmen. With the CNO endorsing one of the most high-profile race essentialists, Kendi, to the Navy at large there are no guardrails to the most divisive, and in many ways racist ideas from being brought into all levels of our Navy. You can call it “racial essentialism,” CRT, or just plain racism … but what we’ve tried to warn everyone about for over a decade and a half is here with bells on. There is bad news, and there is good news. First, the bad news; do you know who Claudia Rankine is? Neither did I until a little birdie…

If a nation is at peace where do you draw the line from a risk management point of view if you should meet a scheduled underway period? Where is a good example of when to decide it is just best to stay pierside? I think we have a good example from an unexpected ally. Details over at USNIBlog. 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=6hc7TIVQ-RY:YREjStQHk6I:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=6hc7TIVQ-RY:YREjStQHk6I:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=6hc7TIVQ-RY:YREjStQHk6I:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.…

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $8.4 million delivery order for support of the E2-D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft program avionics flight management computers. The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye (AHE) is the newest variant of the E-2 aircraft platform. In December 2020, Northrop Grumman was awarded a $13.1 million order to provide new computers and displays for the E2-D Hawkeye. The new contract is a 42-month contract with no option periods. Work will take place in California. Estimated completion date is February 5, 2025. Boeing won a $26.8 million delivery order for F/A-18 aircraft spare parts, according to the Defense Department. Work will take place in Missouri. Estimated complet…

Americas Lockheed Martin won an $80 million contract modification to exercise options for littoral combat ship class design services and integrated data and product model environment support. According to the Defense Department, The US Navy plans to build a fleet of 33 literal combat ocean going warships that are also capable of operating in shallow coastal waters. Work will take place in New Jersey, Washington DC and Wisconsin. Estimated completion will be by October 2022. The US Military Sealift Command announced it has tested the new BQM-177A Sub-Sonic Aerial Target (SSAT) in the Western Pacific. Testing took place from September 9-10 using USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE 3)…

This really is an amazing video if you have a historically focused mind. Fresh from her modifications to fly F-35B, the Izumo is bringing the Japanese Navy back in the carrier business again … with some friends via United States Marine Corps F-35B. The Japanese will be buying 42 F-35B and maybe more, so soon we will see the Izumo and her sister ships with the first Japanese fixed wing airwing at sea since the end of the Second World War. I’d like more, faster – along with the South Koreans … and if we could get the Australians to play at some point that would be nice too … but this is all good news for navalists in the West. Though not a “Western” nation, Japan is part o…

Two of the greatest self-inflicted institutional failures of the USN in the last half-century were Tailhook 91 and Fat Leonard. They decimated a generation of leaders and the hard-won service reputation with the American people and their elected representatives that we are still trying to climb out of. While Tailhook 91’s failure was mostly in the response of senior uniformed and civilian leadership to the political pressure by feeding their young to Vaal hoping to save their own skins, Fat Leonard exposed a greater, more dangerous rot that tied in all the worst features of human nature; greed, lust, envy, and addiction. As much of Fat Leonard was avoidable if there were…

Americas General Electric Aviation won a $131.6 million deal for the repair, upgrade or replacement; inventory management; and required supply response times of two T-700 engine components in support of the Navy’s H-60 Seahawk and the Marine Corp’s AH-1 Cobra helicopters. The Navy sought the services from a single vendor in accordance with defense acquisition regulations and will use its annual working capital funds when issuing delivery orders. Work will take place in Massachusetts and Kansas. Estimated completion will be by September 2026. The US Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory recently purchased several SMASH 2000 fire control systems , through its Rapid Capabilit…

Americas Rolls Royce won a $9.3 million deal for Virginia Class submarine propulsors. The deal shall provide a maximum of seven Virginia Class propulsor rotor assemblies, scoop bar sets, and associated engineering support services. The Virginia Class attack submarine is the US Navy’s newest undersea warfare platform and incorporates the latest in stealth, intelligence gathering and weapons systems technology. Work will take place in Mississippi and Massachusetts. Expected completion will be by May 2025. Boeing won a $391.4 million deal for up to five CH-47F renew aircraft. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. The CH-47 is an American twin-engined, tand…