Raw Intel

Americas Lockheed won a $12 million contract modification, which adds scope to procure Lot 15-16 gun pod containers in support of F-35 Lightning II aircraft ancillary mission equipment for the Navy, Marine Corps, non-US Department of Defense (DOD) partners, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in February 2026. The US Air Force has integrated a new engine for the ski-equipped LC-130 transport aircraft to boost its capabilities in the Arctic and Antarctica. Seven airmen conducted a test flight of the new NP2000 T56-A-15A turbo-prop 3.5 engine at Stratton Air National Guard Base in New York…

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $31.6 million deal, which provides for the inspection and teardown of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye fatigue test article to identify fatigue critical locations and demonstrate that the E-2D aircraft structure satisfy the program’s service life requirement. Work will take place in Florida, New York and California. Expected completion will be in June 2027. BAE Systems won an $11.2 million contract to provide systems engineering and integration in support of US Trident II (D5) Strategic Weapons System Program D5 Life Extension 2 Strategic Systems Programs Alteration. Tasks to be performed include technical planning, requirements management and in…

When was the last time the US Navy made the case for a significantly larger navy to defend its interests on the high seas? Yep, back when Ole Sal was a Midshipman and EagleOne was as close to his service in Vietnam than Sal was to his service in Afghanistan - the 1980s. What lessons can we take from that relatively successful intellectual, political, and personal struggle to grow our Navy? Using his recent article in Naval History Magazine, Lessons from the 600-Ship Navy, as a starting point for our conversation, our guest for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern will be Lieutenant Joseph Sims, USN. Lieutenant Sims is a Surface Warfare Officer and 2018 graduate of…

Since the start of this blog - and especially in the last few years - the topic comes up now and then about the complete lack of self defense our auxiliaries and merchant ships have that we plan to use in the next big war. The usual suspects will make excuses - "war is different" "that won't happen" "we'll have escorts" "it is wired for XXX" - but what is really driving this waving-of-hands is something that has been in place since the dawn of the written record of war at sea; peace breeds complacency and cost savings. Few who know their history have the levers of power to do what needs to be done now to give our auxiliary fleet what they need to at least provide their ow…

Americas L3Harris Technologies has chosen Moog Space and Defense Group to provide its weapon Stores Management System (SMS) for the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Armed Overwatch Program. The USSOCOM awarded L3Harris a $3 billion contract in August to provide a fleet of up to 75 AZ-802U Sky Wardens multi-mission aircraft for the program to operate in austere environments with little logistical tail. Lockheed Martin is planning to ramp up production of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) by over 50 percent annually, Politico reported citing CEO Jim Taiclet. Taiclet told investors during a third-quarter earnings report Tuesday that the company plan…

One of the things we like to do on DivThu is to give those who believe that people should be seen as individuals who deserve to be judged by the content of their character, not by immutable characteristics people are born with and can do nothing about, some facts to push back against the emotion laden DEI commissariat diktat thrown at them on a regular basis. One of the auto-generated comments we hear so extruding from the diversity nomenklatura is that – especially our officer corps – must “look like America” and that exceptional efforts must be made to force-mode such results. Is this even possible without action no one would be proud of? Probably not. The big-lie here …

A lesson as old as the human condition was again proved in February of this year; weakness invites aggression. From demographers to strategists, a variety of disciplines see the second half of this decade through the first half of the next as a window of exceptional vulnerability for a war with China in the Western Pacific. We have discussed this emerging threat there for almost two decades and the time is here. Are we ready? No. If you agree with this window, then you also must agree with the following: no magic system or capability is going to fight and win this war for us and our allies. There is nothing that isn’t at least IOC today that will be available to the fleet…

Americas Continental Maritime of San Diego won an $88 million deal for the execution of the USS Chafee (DDG 90) fiscal 2023 depot modernization period and the USS Momsen (DDG 92) fiscal 2024 depot modernization period. These availabilities will include a combination of maintenance, modernization, and repair for both the USS Chafee and USS Momsen. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $204,493,154. Work will be performed in the San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by June 2025. Two aerial porters from the 87th Aerial Port Squadron were impressed when they were allowed to use a pneumatical…

I always recommend that if people even have a remote opportunity, they should visit the Baltic Republics. When there, take time to visit their museums. I especially recommend Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom in Tallinn, Estonia. These are small nations from Estonia's 1.3 million, Latvia's 1.8 million, to Lithuania's 2.8 million. These little ethnostates each have a unique language, culture, and have survived as a people since pre-history. They are survivors who have not had many years to be masters of their own fate. The fall of the Soviet Union gave them their latest chance, and they've made a good run of it. They, more than most, know Russia - indeed, all three …

Americas The GAU-18 .50 caliber machine gun was recently unmounted from an HH-60 helicopter and mounted on the ground to be tested as a defensive weapon. The test took place at Avon Park Air Force Range, Florida on October 14. It was organized by the 920th Rescue Wing. The US Defense Innovation Unit has contracted Nauticus Robotics to develop an amphibious drone to support mine-hunting operations. As part of the agreement, the company will modify an off-the-shelf unmanned system to allow it to traverse sea or land during operations. Nauticus will also integrate its “ToolKITT” autonomy software to guide the modified robot in identifying undersea mines and avoiding potenti…

Americas NATO’s Operation Sea Guardian, an ongoing maritime security operation in the Mediterranean, saw a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P-8 maritime patrol aircraft participating for the first time. Departing from its base in Edinburgh, Australia, the jet and its crew took 3 days to arrive in Italy. From there, the jet undertook a few overwater surveillance missions from October 3-14. A first-of-its-kind, F-35 crash recovery course was held at Hill Air Force Base and twenty-nine maintainers had the opportunity to train on handling different scenarios using a real F-35A. One of the scenarios in the five-day Crash Damaged or Disabled Aircraft Recovery course involved …

It may have taken over 1/3 of his first – and perhaps only – Administration for President Biden to publish his National Security Strategy, but it finally hit earlier this month – so let’s look at it. What I’d like to do is not dig into the details, as to be blunt – it isn’t the details that matter. Though it sounds cynical perhaps, it really isn’t. The primary purpose to have a National Security Strategy is to say you have one. It isn’t meaningless, but this political document (and it is political, heck its title is officially “National Security Strategy” but on the Whitehouse website the file is stored under, “Biden-Harris-Administrations-National-Security-Strategy-10.20…

Americas General Dynamics won an $18.1 million deal to provide US Trident II Strategic Weapon System Kings Bay Trident Trainer Facility kit and engineering support services. The Trident II Strategic Weapons System is an improved SLBM with greater accuracy, payload, and range than the earlier Trident C-4. It is a key element of the US strategic nuclear triad and strengthens US strategic deterrence.Work will take place in Connecticut, Georgia and Florida.Estimated completion date is December 31, 2025 The last three remaining RQ-4A BAMS-D unmanned air vehicles that belonged to the US Navy have been transferred to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center. The ground control e…

A nation’s foreign policy is driven by more than just the whims and desires of the Chief Executive. Through government, academia, institutions, and individuals of influence there are a variety of different schools of thought on what should underpin the decision making process. Well known general descriptors of these schools include “interventionist,” “isolationist,” “internationalist,” and even well known sub-species of the major schools who are known by the actions they wish to take - usually that involve the use of military power - “Responsibility to Protect,” to “Nation Building” to the old saw from over a century ago, “Make the World Safe for Democracy.” One long-stan…

Resupply through thousands of miles of hostile waters to your forces well inside the enemy's aircraft reach and a day's sail or two from their home bases. Your navy intends to bring and keep the fight in to the enemy's backyard, stay there, and defeat them at sea in order to give your nation dominance in their enemy's backyard. One force has well over a century of dominance in all the world's oceans. A superb tradition of training and combat excellence in these exact waters. They have fewer, but larger ships ... but as well trained as their crews are, they are also under the stress of constant threat and being far away from home waters. The other force also has a traditi…

Another DivThu that is somewhere between a Rorschach test and "it speaks for itself." Like so many of these "DEI" conferences, I would first have you note that they in no way actually reflect either "what the fleet looks like" or what the nation "looks like" - two otherwise meaningless measures of effectiveness that they demand of everyone but rarely meet themselves. They are some of the least diverse and inclusive gatherings you can find. Though they can be found almost anywhere leaching funds from various location in DOD, the most cringy are usually found at the service academies where institutional capture or fear lets their branch of the diversity industry pretty much…

Americas A winner has been selected by the US Marine Corps for its Medium Unmanned Logistics Systems – Air (MULS-A) program. Kaman Air Vehicles will build the logistics drone prototype using a version of its Kargo UAV. The prototype will have to demonstrate its ability to operate from austere environment while carrying 800 pounds of payload. The US Army has contracted Elbit Systems of America a $107-million contract for its Enhanced Night Vision Goggle – Binocular (ENVG-B) systems. The deal also requires Elbit Systems to supply spare parts, logistics support, and test equipment for the systems for two years starting 2023. “This order attests to the quality of Elbit Syste…

There is a long and not so glorious tradition of the US Military being used - both their people and their money - by politicians to pursue non-military agenda items either due to ideology or in order to take advantage of one of the military's unusual characteristics: we follow orders. Leverage that feature/bug with the deep well of institutional good will those in uniform have ... and you can see why all sorts of pet projects/agenda items/supporter payoffs are spot-welded on to DOD. The neo-pagan religion of "climate change" (no different than moon worship as it is always there, always will be there, cannot be stopped or encouraged to any significant degree by mortals) is…

Americas The US Navy awarded AAR Government Services an $114.5 million modification, which exercises an option to provide P-8A Poseidon aircraft depot scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, depot in-service repair/planner and estimator requirements, technical directive incorporation, airframe modifications, aircraft on ground support, and removal and replacement of engines in support of the Navy, the government of Australia, and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will be performed in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is expected to be completed in October 2023. L3Harris has integrated its new advanced battlefield awareness systems onto Rheinmetall’s Lynx Optionally Manned F…

Americas During AUSA 2022, Boeing took the opportunity to unveil its Modernized Apache concept to leaders of the US Army. Touting it as the next evolution of the current AH-64E v6 attack helicopter, the Modernized Apache can be differentiated externally from the classic Apache by its longer wing, which allows it to have three hard points per wing, upward-facing engine exhaust and the substitution of the chain gun with a laser turret. Powered by the new Improved Turbine Engine (ITE), Boeing is improving the drivetrain in order for the Modernized Apache to faster, further and more efficiently. US President Joe Biden on Monday promised to provide advanced air defense system…