Raw Intel

Social media users shared widespread footage Thursday evening of a glowing, tentacled shape in the night sky, with some posts claiming it showed a missile launched toward Ukraine. Within hours, astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell offered a more mundane explanation, and Russia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed it the next day. “Russia appears to have […]View the full article

When Americans think about admirals in the Pacific in WWII, names like Nimitz, Spruance, and Halsey spring to mind. You cannot fully understand the war in the Pacific if you don’t also look at the leaders on the Japanese side—men like Yamamoto, Kurita, and Nagumo. On this week’s Midrats Podcast, we’re going to dive into the story of Admiral Yamamoto with our guest, Ronald Drabkin. We’ll tap into his research that led up to his next book, Admiral Yamamoto: The Gripping Story of the Legendary Japanese Naval Commander Who Planned and Executed the Pearl Harbor Attack. We go live at 5 p.m. Eastern. You can join us live at this link and contribute your thoughts in the show cha…

Belgium has started building a new maintenance center for its army’s armored vehicles in Rocourt, near Liège, where a joint venture of FN Herstal, John Cockerill Defense and Thales Belgium will repair and service the Belgian Land Component’s vehicles and their weapons under a 20-year deal. Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken laid the foundation stone […]View the full article

F135 Engine Test (click to view full) Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney have successfully performed the first start of an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft test engine, using an integrated power package (IPP) that the functions traditionally performed by the auxiliary power system, emergency power system, and environmental control into a single system. The system was used to start a Pratt & Whitney F135 short-takeoff/vertical-landing (STOVL) engine at the company’s advanced test facility in West Palm Beach, FL. The IPP is a subsystem of the F-35 Power and Thermal Management System (PTMS). The JSF program has targeted the successful IPP engine start as a majo…

Americas The Defense Department’s awarded a contract to Raytheon, which is meant to support integration of AMRAAM missiles with current and future Air Force aircraft. The $74 million deal to Raytheon Missile Systems was announced on Thursday, and provides the “necessary aircraft lab, flight test, flight clearance and simulation support during all integration requirements in AMRAAM for F-15, F-16, FA-18, F-22, F-35 and other current inventory or next generation platforms that may join the Air Force or Navy inventory before the end of fiscal 2029,” the Defense Department announced. The contract is the latest of several awarded by the Defense Department pertinent to the AIM-…

What have you seen in your life? What have you done in your life? When your time comes, will you feel you gave it all you can? I offer to you Commodore David Hughes, Royal Navy; He joined the Royal New Zealand Sea Scouts with his twin brother John aged 14 and then the Royal New Zealand Navy as midshipmen. After sea training with the Swedish Navy aboard the Prince Oregon, a three-mast sailing vessel, the brothers attended Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth for officer training, then on to Collingwood and Excellent for training as gunnery officers. David was subsequently assigned to motor torpedo-boats and made three trips to Dunkirk during the evacuation a…

Americas The US Navy’s Amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42) arrived in San Diego October 15, after a decade of forward-deployed service in the Indo-Pacific region operating out of Japan. Germantown sailed from San Diego on January 5, 2011, replacing USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49). USS Rushmore (LSD 47) will replace Germantown later this year. The US Army’s Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) has completed its longest flight to date, exceeding maximum threshold, at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB), California, on Wednesday. This marks the fifth consecutive successful flight test for the missile. Middle East & Africa Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) will o…

Americas One of two missile tracking ships operated by the Military Sealift Command was recently retired at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on December 15, 2021. The white hulled-ship was used previously to track ballistic missile activity in the Middle East using the GRAY STAR radar. The radar system will be repurposed by the Air Force Research Laboratory to conduct testing and evaluation of advanced radar technologies, says Air Force Technical Applications center. Elbit Systems’ Brazilian subsidiary, AEL Sistemas S.A. won a contract to supply additional Hermes 900 UAS to the Brazilian Air Force (Força Aérea Brasileira). The contract is in an amount that is not mater…

Americas Toyon Research won a $11.7 million contract modification, which procures the following AN/ALQ-231(V) Intrepid Tiger (IT II) Family of Systems production hardware: 24 (V) 4 maintenance stands; 18 (V) 4 radio frequency (RF) coupler sets (aft); 18 (V) 4 RF coupler sets (forward); seven IT II V3 direction finding array RF coupler sets; and seven IT II V3 RF couplers. Additionally, this contract provides engineering support to include life cycle and incidental engineering support as well as analyses, development, integration, test, documentation, repair/maintenance, and engineering test support for the Electronic Warfare Center and Electronic Attack communications jam…

Was it Ukrainian Special Operations forces? Did the Ukrainians operationalize their Grom SRBM? Did the USA sneak in some ATACMS along with HARM missiles to strike Saki Airbase in Russian occupied Crimea? My bet is in that order, and in time we will find out … but there is one thing I do know for sure; this is just another reminder that this regional conflict is telling us a lot about what we need to understand about the future of war that will manifest itself in the likely big war to come in the Western Pacific. Multiple explosions on Tuesday rocked a Russian air base in occupied Crimea — killing at least one and wounding several others, Russian authorities said. Videos…

Last week was the story of the HMS JERVIS BAY and her crew during the Battle of Convoy HX84. When we finished last week, HMS JERVIS BAY was out of the fight and the convoy was scattered - but she did her job. ...and so the pocket battleship ADMIRAL SCHEER, unopposed now, closed in. However, there was a Canadian ship, the SS BEAVERFORD, armed with one 4 inch & one 3 inch gun who turned towards the SHEER and her six 11 inch, eight 5.9 inch guns and eight 21 inch torpedo tubes. What was the BEAVERFORD? JERVIS BAY was lost, and here is where we pick up the story, wonderfully told by Roger Litwiller; What can you say of such men? Such leaders? Such Sailors?Fullbore. First…

M1A2 SEP (click to view full) America’s M1 Abrams tanks come in a number of versions. In addition to the M1A1 that is now standard, the US Army is beginning to field its M1 TUSK for urban warfare. It also operates the M1A2 System Enhancement Program (SEP), currently the most advanced standard variant. This Spotlight […]View the full article

The Royal Thai Army launched Operation “Trat Pikhat Pairee 1” in response to renewed aggression near Ban Chamrak in Trat Province. Thailand has declared martial law in key eastern provinces following a sharp escalation in border clashes with Cambodian forces, marking the third consecutive day of conflict. At 05:10 AM on July 26, Cambodian troops […] The post Thailand launches operation to repel border assault first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

For the first time in history, the United States Air Force has selected a NATO partner nation to provide pilot training. On August 22, the Italian Air Force and the U.S. Air Force signed an agreement that will bring American pilot trainees to the International Flight Training School (IFTS) in Decimomannu, Sardinia. The “Concept of […] The post U.S. Air Force pilots set for training in Italy first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Italian firearms manufacturer Fabarm S.p.A. has introduced a new variant of its widely used STF/12 shotgun specifically configured for counter-drone missions. The STF/12 Compact XL Range 22″, presented as a specialized upgrade of the platform already fielded by the German Bundeswehr as the Mehrzweckflinte 5 (MZF 5), is engineered to engage fast, low-flying aerial targets […] The post Italy’s Fabarm launches extended-range shotgun for drone defense first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Belgian defense manufacturer FN Herstal has released rare behind-the-scenes photos from its production line, showing the assembly process of its advanced FN DEFENDER Remote Weapon Station (RWS). In a caption shared by FN Herstal, the company stated: “Behind every FN DEFENDER stands the expertise of our production teams. Skilled. Precise. Relentless. Crafted in Herstal. Deployed […] The post FN Herstal highlights remote weapon station production first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The Strategic Capabilities Office has issued a new solicitation for the Rapid Affordable Producible Torpedo, or RAPTOR, a next-generation concept for a single-use heavyweight torpedo designed to be produced quickly and at far lower cost than the U.S. Navy’s current inventory. The RAPTOR Solicitation, identified as SCO-PS-26-01, was released on November 17 and amended on […]View the full article

This was going to be a dual post about last Friday’s frigate announcement and the battleship announcement, but I decided that would be a bit too much and will split it in two. The greatest interest is in the BB news Monday afternoon, so we’ll cover that today and on Christmas Eve we’ll post on the frigate. Well, let’s start with the announcement on X. First of all, let’s put to the side the Trump branding aspect of this. Let’s put this in the “F-47A” folder and move on…but we can give a knowing wink to fans of Deep Space 9. Mike over at gCaptain got the detail sheet. Let’s look at it. BBG-1 What am I surprised the most about? The lack of nuclear power. The Ford Class CV…

Japan confirmed that a Russian IL-20 intelligence-gathering aircraft conducted a surveillance flight near the country’s western approaches on January 23, according to Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi. In a statement released on Friday, Koizumi said the Russian aircraft flew from the continental direction into the Sea of Japan, proceeded southwest, then changed course off the coast […]View the full article

Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed two Russian military helicopters — a Ka-52 attack helicopter and a Mi-8 multirole helicopter — during a drone strike on the Pugachevka airfield in Russia’s Oryol region on the evening of February 20, 2026, according to reporting by Militarnyi. The attack highlights Ukraine’s continued use of long-range strike drones to target […]View the full article