Raw Intel

It is only fitting that we do an update this last Friday of July of one of my favorite FbF that I have referred to often over the years. I first mentioned the subject of the FbF on the OG Blog 19 years ago. Finally, a decade ago, I gave her story its own FbF. I’ll do that again today, but first things first. Earlier this month, Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan made the following announcement: During the Battle of the Coral Sea in World War II, Chief Petty Officer Oscar V. Peterson heroically saved 123 sailors aboard USS Neosho by manually closing critical steam-line valves while unprotected amid smoke and flames. He suffered severe burns and died six days later. He wa…

If you haven’t had a chance to read the new Chief of Naval Operations’ (CNO) opening comments upon taking the job earlier this week, take a moment to give it a read. We all like bulleted lists, so let me pull this out of the middle By the time my tenure ends, I want to be judged by the results we achieve together, plain and simple. Platforms delivered and repaired on time. Fully manned and combat ready ships. Ordnance production meeting contracted demand. Backlogs in repair parts eliminated. Sailors trained to the highest levels of mastery. I’d like to focus on the second bullet, “Fully manned and combat ready ships“. The CNO’s duties are defined in 10 U.S. Code § 8032 - …

Boeing announced it will relocate its F/A-18 Super Hornet Service Life Modification (SLM) operations from the St. Louis region by 2027 as part of a broader strategic realignment to support future aircraft programs. The move, revealed on September 24, comes as the company continues to expand its defense manufacturing operations in St. Louis — including […] The post Super Hornet upgrade program heads to new sites first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

South Korea showcased a new variant of its indigenous wheeled armored vehicle, the 8×8 “Tigon” MCV-105, at the 2025 Seoul International Aerospace & Defense Exhibition (ADEX), underlining the country’s efforts to expand its ground systems portfolio for both domestic use and export. The MCV-105, developed by Hanwha Defense, features a 105mm tank gun mounted in […] The post South Korea tests export waters with new wheeled tank first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

At the MILIPOL defense exhibition, KNDS France Robotics introduced a new payload that connects its NERVA-LG ground robot to the broader ecosystem of FPV aerial drones, allowing joint deployment, video integration, and enhanced target identification using AI. KNDS France Robotics has presented a new payload system that allows its NERVA-LG unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) to […]View the full article

Germany has placed its first production order for the RCH155 wheeled howitzer, moving to introduce a new remote-controlled artillery system into service under a long-term framework agreement that could eventually reach 500 vehicles. According to the announcement, the German Armed Forces awarded the order to ARTEC GmbH. The contract covers the first 84 RCH155 systems […]View the full article

South Korea has launched a 1.9 trillion-won ($1.29 billion) program to develop a new class of aircraft designed to jam and disrupt enemy air defense networks, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced. DAPA said the project, known as Block-I, will focus on developing large, dedicated electronic warfare aircraft capable of degrading an adversary’s integrated […]View the full article

The United States Air Force has awarded DCS, based in Alexandria, Virginia, a nearly $100 million research and development contract to deliver advanced tools designed to model and predict mission-level operational effects across multiple warfighting domains, according to a contract announcement released Feb. 19, 2026. The $94,745,601 contract provides the Air Force with analytical capabilities […]View the full article

The United States Army demonstrated a long-range aviation combat operation exceeding 1,300 miles during the Talon Reach exercise on March 12, 2026, conducting a coordinated attack and air assault mission across the Korean Peninsula. According to the Army, the large-scale operation involved AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters, and CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift […]View the full article

As of Monday night, after a bunch of OSIT accounts said that the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) had passed through Gibraltar, more and more reports indicate the contrary, she and her escorts are off Namibia, about to head around the Cape of Good Hope instead. It was kind of fun watching the competing reports. There are quite a few reasons to do this. We’ll find out the reason this time at some point, but don’t get lost in the details. It isn’t nothing. As usual, The Other Sal went to the chartroom to make sure everyone understood the state of play. Stop for a second—there is a gift here if we are willing to accept it. Remember one of the fundamentals we like to revisit her…

Boeing has received an additional $125 million for the VC-25B program, the next-generation Air Force One replacement, pushing the total contract value to $4.445 billion. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, awarded the modification to Boeing’s Tukwila, Washington, according to the Department of War’s contracts announcement. The […]View the full article

South Korea just cracked one of the most tightly guarded engineering secrets in global defense, successfully developing a domestic laser oscillator for its Cheongwang laser weapon system, a component so strategically sensitive that only the United States, Israel, China, and Germany are known to produce it independently. The announcement from South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force is preparing to sole-source a contract to Lockheed Martin Space Systems to integrate America’s nuclear warhead reentry vehicle into the new Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, a critical step in transferring the country’s ground-based nuclear deterrent from the aging Minuteman III system that has stood watch since the 1970s to the weapon […]View the full article

A robotic gun mount built by a Texas firm just landed a spot on one of the Marine Corps’ most important counter-drone vehicles, giving Marines a way to turn an ordinary machine gun into an autonomous, AI-guided weapon. Allen Control Systems announced that the Marine Corps selected its Bullfrog autonomous weapon station for the service’s […]View the full article

One of my favorite corners in the maritime world is that corner room few people visit, the “Unsexy but Important.” Taking up some of the space in that corner is one area of naval warfare that the U.S. Navy simply has shrugged at—mining—especially offensive mining. We don’t have mine layers, really. Not surface ones, and in the aviation and subsurface communities, it is a tertiary mission no one really wants to do. From the air, facing a modern integrated air defense system, putting offensive air-laid minefields up close to the enemy’s Sea Lines of Communication in the number to make an effective field is, well, suicidal. Yes, our submarines can lay mines…but when you loo…

The Missile Defense Agency wants industry to build a new mobile radar that can be flown into a war zone aboard a C-17, set up within hours and torn down again in minutes, according to a pre-solicitation notice posted September 16. The program, called Forward Based Mode Radar Next, is meant to replace or supplement […]View the full article

A Ukrainian drone has destroyed a Russian Pantsir air defense system on top of a “Flakturm,” one of the purpose-built anti-aircraft towers Russia has been putting up to stop Ukrainian drones, according to new footage released by the Security Service of Ukraine’s Alpha special operations unit. The video shows the strike on the elevated platform, […]View the full article

Britain will lead development of three new sensor and effects packages for underwater drones under the AUKUS security partnership with the United States and Australia, with the systems due to be available across all three nations’ uncrewed underwater fleets from 2027, the UK Ministry of Defence said on Oct. 27. The three payloads are a […]View the full article

Americas General Dynamics won a $23.1 million deal for additional fiscal 2021 development studies, design efforts and material for Virginia Class submarines. The contract modification provides additional development studies and design efforts related to Virginia Class submarine design and design improvements. The contractor will continue development studies, design efforts and procurement of material required to fully evaluate new technologies for Virginia Class submarines. The Virginia Class attack submarine is an advanced stealth multimission nuclear-powered submarine for deep ocean anti-submarine warfare and littoral (shallow water) operations. The US Navy awarded seve…

Javelin, firing (click to view full) The FGM-148 Javelin missile system aimed to solve 2 key problems experienced by American forces. One was a series of disastrous experiences in Vietnam, trying to use 66mm M72 LAW rockets against old Soviet tanks. A number of replacement options like the Mk 153 SMAW and the AT4/M136 spun out of that effort in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until electronics had miniaturized for several more cycles that it became possible to solve the next big problem: the need for soldiers to remain exposed to enemy fire while guiding anti-tank missiles to their targets. Javelin solves both of those problems at once, offering a heavy fire-and-forget missil…