Raw Intel

Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) is planning a major organizational restructuring, with two new large-scale formations expected to be established in fiscal year 2026. According to media reports, the plans include elevating the existing 15th Brigade on Okinawa to a division and consolidating the JGSDF’s elite special operations units into a dedicated brigade. The restructuring […] The post Japan to reorganize army structure with new large-scale formations first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Midrats regulars and all sound thinking navalists rejoiced earlier this year when one of our favorites were offered the honor to serve once again - in this case one of our favorite guests and all around great guy, Mark R. Vandroff, Captain, USN Ret. Mark found himself back in the mix with his appointment as Deputy Assistant to the President, Senior Director, Defense Policy and Strategy at the National Security Council. Just in time for the holiday season, Mark will come visit us this Sunday from 5-6pm to talk about his experience so far at the NSC, the NSC in general, and other related topics that may come up in the process. A 1989 graduate of the United States Naval A…

Yesterday, SECDEF Austin put out the memo we all knew was coming. General Mark A. Milley, USA, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, followed up with his own memo that had a handwritten note at the bottom. (NB: old trick knowing that most military eyes will glaze over the typed world, but if in a hurry, will read what is written by hand by the author). His note is, really, all you need to know. “Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is a key force protection and readiness issue.” The military has a long history of over compensating when it comes to vaccinations. I have been vaccinated against everything from chicken pox to small pox and everything in between. Whe…

Americas The US Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command announced that it has test fired its Low-Cost Extended Range Air Defense (LOWER AD) missile interceptor. The LOWER AD is part of the Army’s roadmap to modernize its air defense system. The interceptor is design to defeat subsonic cruise missiles and unmanned aerial systems. It fills a capability gap between man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS) and high-end Patriot interceptors. The CCDC Aviation & Missile Center is developing and demonstrating the Low-Cost Extended Range Air Defense (LOWER AD) missile interceptor technology that is smaller and less costly than larger systems. L-3 Electron Devices wo…

Just a quick post to put down a marker about something that has been around our Navy a long time, and that we've covered here for over a decade; affinity groups. They seem harmless, and just pop up now and then. Here's a typical example from 2019; Unless you've been to one of their meetings, read their literature, or subjected your admin department to processing their flood of self-serving awards, you may not have insight in to where they are in the diversity industry ecosystem and what role they play in keeping people divided along sectarian lines. They know what they are and what their mission is - heck look them up yourself - but only now and then to they let the …

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RcvUrMT2jmg/Vbr0UnCZ3GI/AAAAAAAAKFw/D6h-Gx0SfkQ/s320/horace-greasley-confronting-heinrich-himmler-like-a-boss.jpg I look at what some men did so young, and I look at pity at what little I have done, and am perplexed about all the complaining from others. That photograph on the right? That is Horace Greasley looking down at Himler. As Peter outlines, He admitted to not know who the man was, only that he was a high ranking Nazi. He is shirtless because he was showing Himmler how skinny he was and was requesting more rations for the prisoner. Because that is what you do when you are carrying on a secret love affair with a Jewish girl that could …

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $49.5 million deal for the AH-64 Apache Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor performance-based logistics program. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. The Apache is a twin-engined army attack helicopter. The US Army has more than 800 Apaches in service, and more than 1,000 have been exported. Work will take place in Florida. Estimated completion date is December 31, 2025. In a report, the Defense Department cites 23 civilians killed, and 10 injured, during US military action in 2020. The unclassified, 21-page “Annual Report on Civilian Casualties in Connection with United States Milita…

Americas Vertex Aerospace won a $96.5 million contract modification, which increases the contract ceiling to extend organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance, logistics, and engineering support, to include support of equipment, tools, direct and indirect material for the T-45 aircraft, associated systems, and related support equipment to maintain all flight and test and evaluation operations for the Navy. Work will take place in Texas, Mississippi, Florida and Maryland. Estimated completion will be in December 2021. Northrop Grumman won a $30.9 million deal to procure 25 Link 16 B kits; three Link 16 B kit spares; and two Link 16 flight training device B …

What are you willing to do to get your squadron mates home ... or at least a chance? How far are you willing to push yourself and your equipment? How well do you know the capabilities - written and unwritten - of your equipment? Ponder Pardo's Push via Air and Space; The air strike that March day in 1967 was on the ferociously well-defended Thai Nguyen steel mill, north of Hanoi, North Vietnam. One of the attacking U.S. Air Force McDonnell F-4C Phantoms was hit twice by anti-aircraft fire, and gas was streaming from the fuselage. Pilot Earl Aman and weapons systems officer Bob Houghton no longer had enough fuel to return to safe territory. The airplane Bob Pardo an…

Virginia Block I-II (click for SuperSize) “GDEB Receives $148M as Virginia Class Lead Yard” described changes to the Virginia Class submarine’s design that are expected to reach 20% of the $200 million savings goal by the time orders for the versatile sea attack/ land attack/ special forces submarines rise to 2 per year, in 2012. The bow changes cover the FY 2009-2013 ships, referred to as Block III. SSN 774 Virginia – SSN 777 North Carolina are Block I, and SSNs 778-783 will be Block II. Block III begins with the 11th ship of class, SSN 784. Long lead time component orders began May 22/08, and the submarine is expected to be ready for delivery around 2015. A fuller ex…

Today's DivThu is a twofer. Stick to the end, I'll leave you with a positive, upbeat feeling. You signal to me what you care about by what you measure and inspect. You tell me what you don't care about by what you ignore. When someone in the Navy says they value "diversity" because they believe that "different ideas and perspectives create better organizations" it tells me one of two things: 1) They have no idea what the Navy actually does.2) They are lying. Now and then I find it useful to put things out there that demonstrate, especially (2) above, because hidden in plain sight is the official documentation that shows that when it comes to promotions, the Navy does not …

As navalists are wont to do, first think I do when looking at the latest developments in Ukraine, I look to the Black Sea coast. In the run-up to the war, a lot of attention was given to the naval buildup on the area by the Russian Navy, especially with the bulk of their remaining amphibious warships. Besides a minor operation in the Sea of Azov early on, there has been little seen of them, much less a vaunted amphibious assault around Odessa. There are many tactical level details we just don’t know about at this date, so as we look to the sea, today we’ll keep this to the big pixels, specifically the fundamentals we already knew but may have forgotten to one degree or a…

For a whole host of reasons, Australia needs a potent and numerous submarine force. Geography and potential opponents make the case pretty straight forward. It looks like they are not on a smooth path; As this is written, the head of the French naval construction company Naval Group, Pierre Eric Pommellet, is in Australia meeting federal ministers in an attempt to rescue the contract. Tragically for Australia – and for Monsieur Pommellet – not one of those ministers has the experience or competence to wrangle a successful result. Many informed commentators in France, Australia and elsewhere now expect the much-celebrated deal to be abandoned. If that happens, replacing…

Americas Raytheon won a $38.8 million contract modification for the production of two Fire Control System MK 99 ship sets and the associated technical engineering services in support of the Aegis Combat System on DDG-51 class ships. The DDG 51 Class are the Arleigh Burke class destroyers in service with the US Navy. They are multi-mission warships with offensive and defensive capability in multi-threat air, surface, and subsurface environments. The USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51), the first ship and namesake of the class, was commissioned on July 4, 1991. Since then 62 more ships have been commissioned. The MK-99 Fire Control System (FCS) is a major component of the AEGIS Comb…

Americas South-east Welding & Manufacturing won a $1.2 billion deal for complex repair, maintenance and modernization requirements of non-nuclear Navy Surface Combatant (CG, DDG, and AMPHIB) class ships homeported in or visiting San Diego, California, homeport. These efforts consist of Chief of Naval Operations-scheduled docking and non-docking; continuous maintenance; and emergent maintenance availabilities of Surface Combatant class ships to be performed in the San Diego, California, port. Delivery orders will be competitively awarded under these contracts, which are to be performed in San Diego, California. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the cont…

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…

Americas L3 Technologies won a $9.5 million deal to develop a Weapon Data Link prototype for the Joint Air Force to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM). JASSM is a cruise missile built by Lockheed Martin and designed to counter both fixed and relocatable targets from long ranges. Work will take place in Utah. Estimate completion date is July 1, 2022. The Pentagon awarded AgustaWestland USA a $159,4 million deal for the production and delivery of 36 TH-73A helicopters Lot III and initial spares in support of the Advanced Helicopter Training System program. The TH-73A is the aircraft portion of the Advanced Helicopter Training System (AHTS). AHTS improves pilot training and s…

Americas Raytheon Technologies won a $14.9 million contract modification, which adds scope to provide for the planning, implementation, management, and reporting of sustainment affordability in support of initiatives that reduce future F-35 propulsion sustainment cost for the F-35 Joint Program Office. Work will take place in Connecticut and Oklahoma. Expected completion will be in September 2024. Boeing won an $8.5 million modification for Option 3 of the Hunter Phase 2 program. Work will take place in Huntington Beach, California. Estimated completion date will be in March 2023. Middle East & Africa Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary ELTA Systems will receive …

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…

The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) has reached a new operational milestone with its fleet of Chinese-built Wing Loong II drones, logging 5,000 flight hours as of May 2024, according to the Defense Arab. The Wing Loong II, manufactured by China’s Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC) and exported through its subsidiary, the China National Aero-Technology Import […] The post Chinese combat drones log over 5,000 flight hours in Saudi Arabia first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article