Raw Intel

Americas The US Navy’s Tactical Combat Training System Increment II (TCTS II) pod made its first flight on December 11, 2020. A flight with the pod on two F/A-18Es took place on December 15. The TCTS II system, developed by Collins, is the first certified encrypted, multi-level security training pod that communicates with both airborne and ground equipment. The Boeing F-15EX fighter jet completed its first flight Tuesday, paving the way for the early delivery of the first two of the new fighter jet to the Air Force later this quarter, Boeing announced. According to the company, the jet took off from St. Louis Lambert International Airport and completed a 90-minute test f…

At least on the Navy side, it seems that many have learned the hard lessons of the Rumsfeld Era Transformationalism mistakes that still hobble our Navy. Sadly, it seems the head of the USMC and USAF have not learned that lesson. Head on over to USNIBlog to see the return of the snakeoil. 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=3p1oFyDYCWU:2CHqSe84a_E:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=3p1oFyDYCWU:2CHqSe84a_E:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=3p1oFyDYCWU:2CHqSe84a_E:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.f…

Americas Rolls-Royce won a $97 million delivery order for C-130J propulsion long-term sustainment. This order provides funding for Option IV. The Lockheed Martin C-130 is the US Air Force’s principal tactical cargo and personnel transport aircraft. The C-130J Hercules is the latest model, featuring a glass cockpit, digital avionics and a new propulsion system with a six-bladed propeller. Work will take place in Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, and is expected to be completed on January 31, 2022. Northrop Grumman Systems won a $7.8 million task order under the ground subsystems sustainment contract for the Minuteman III Launch Control Center Block Upgrade production for th…

Latest updates: 3rd squadron stands up in the south. Indian Heron UAV (click to view larger) In November 2005, media reports claimed that India was set to purchase some 50 Heron MALE (Medium Altitude, Long Endurance) UAVs from Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) in a deal worth $220 million. They would be put to use carrying out reconnaissance missions on India’s mountainous borders with China and Pakistan, and along India’s long coastal waters. India was said to have been close to sealing the deal in 2004, but it was postponed due to the change in governments in New Delhi. The Heron’s performance during the December 2004 tsunami apparently clinched the deal. Its perfo…

I love our Navy, as I know almost everyone here does. As such, I try as hard as I can to be optimistic - not by experience - but by hope. We were granted by previous generations an advantage at sea not seen since the Royal Navy after the final fall of Napoleon. All today's leaders had to do was not screw it up. Since the victory in the Cold War - it was a victory - we seemed to have lost our way. Just look at the series of new major surface combatant failures of the last quarter century. Officially and unofficially, we've tried to admit our mistakes - we've even had "blue ribbon" commissions and reports outlining them and calling for corrections. It is one thing to ad…

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $15.9 million contract modification to develop a second source for the qualification and facilitization of the Electromechanical Control Actuation System for the Hellfire missile. Hellfire is an air-to-ground, laser guided, subsonic missile with significant anti-tank capacity. It can also be used as an air-to-air weapon against helicopters or slow-moving fixed-wing aircraft. Work will take place in Orlando, Florida. Estimated completion date is August 28, 2021. Rolls-Royce won a $72.9 million contract modification, which exercises an option to procure 33 production AE1107C V-22 Osprey engines; 14 for the Marine Corps and 19 for the Navy for…

USN MH-60S test (click to view full) Hellfire I/II missiles are the USA’s preferred aerial anti-armor missile, and are widely deployed with America’s allies. They equip America’s helicopter fleets (AH-64, AH-1, OH-58D, MH-60S/R), AH-64 and S-70 helicopters flown by its allies, and even Australia and France’s Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopters. Range is officially listed as 9 km/ 5.6 miles. While Hellfires lack the fast-jet launch capabilities – and correspondingly extended maximum range – of the UK’s MBDA Brimstone missiles, Lockheed Martin’s missile has made big inroads as the world’s high-end helicopter-launched missile. It has also carved out unique niches as tripo…

Over the weekend I saw a few people commenting on Max Hastings's latest over at Bloomberg, American Universities Declare War on Military History. I couldn't help but laugh at times the shock - SHOCK - some showed when reading it. My take is, "Where have you been?" Yet in centers of learning across North America, the study of the past in general, and of wars in particular, is in spectacular eclipse. History now accounts for a smaller share of undergraduate degrees than at any time since 1950. Whereas in 1970, 6% of American male and 5% of female students were history majors, the respective percentages are now less than 2% and less than 1%, respectively. Fredrik Lo…

Americas Boeing won a $25.4 million deal to improve the quality of the Apache Attack Helicopter AH-64E and lessen the associated post production maintenance burden. The AH-64 Apache is a twin-engine, four bladed, multi-mission attack helicopter designed as a highly stable aerial weapons-delivery platform. With a tandem-seated crew consisting of the pilot, located in the rear cockpit position and the co-pilot gunner (CPG), located in the front position. With the addition of improved situational awareness, flight performance, and joint interoperability, the AH-64E has become the most advanced aerial fighting vehicle in the world. Work will take place in Mesa, Arizona. Estim…

The last year, as most of the nation was focused on a highly contentious election and a global pandemic, the US Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard put on a the table multitude of documentation in to the conversation outlining our best minds' official view of where the Naval Services need to go; Tri-Service Maritime Strategy, CNO NAVPLAN, National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, Expeditionary Advance Base Operations, and more from recent years. How can one try to weave them together? Back for another run at CDRSalamander, regular guest Bryan McGrath offers the below for your consideration. Over to you Bryan! The Navy had a sudden burst of intellectua…

Americas The Air Force, along with with partners Lockheed Martin and Boeing, completed work on the last of 247 planes in the F-22 Structural Repair Program, officials at Hill Air Force Base in Utah announced on Wednesday. Structural modifications, made by the 574th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron of the Ogden Air Logistics Complex, to the F-22 Raptor added flying serviceability of the fighter plane by an estimated 8,000 hours, according to the Air Force. Lockheed Martin won a $11.4 million deal, which provides engineering and logistics services in support of the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft program to monitor and manage fatigue and obsolescence issues and op…

Into that good night (click to view full) The 5th-generation F-22A Raptor fighter program has been the subject of fierce controversy, with advocates and detractors aplenty. On the one hand, the aircraft offers full stealth, revolutionary radar and sensor capabilities, dual air-air and air-ground SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) excellence, the ability to cruise above Mach 1 without afterburners, thrust-vectoring super-maneuverability… and a ridiculously lopsided kill record in exercises against the best American fighters. On the other hand, critics charged that it was too expensive, too limited, and cripples the USAF’s overall force structure. Meanwhile, close …

Americas BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin each won a contract modification in support of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. BAE Systems won $81.3 million to procure 1,512 radio frequency countermeasures for Lot 12 of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft in support of non-US Department of Defense participants, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers and for the Navy. Lockheed received $64.1 million for the procurement of Digital Channelized Receiver/Techniques Generator and Tuner Insertion program technology to upgrade F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft with Digital Tuner Insertion Program electronic warfare racks and high efficiency low voltage power supply. BAE Systems …

Plucky Sweden, a nation 32 times smaller than the USA, produces some exceptional weapons - mostly on her own. Looks like they are going to leverage Visby ... and I'm a bit jealous. I'm seething over at USNIBlog. Come on by, pull up an Ikea chair, and push some meatballs and herring around the plate with me. 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=vn7n4BE7_bc:ecrD24J42j0:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=vn7n4BE7_bc:ecrD24J42j0:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=vn7n4BE7_bc:ecrD24J42j0:V_sGLi…

Americas Alabama Shipyard LLC won a $19.7 million contract for a 76-calendar day shipyard availability for the regular overhaul/dry docking on USNS Lewis and Clark (T-AKE 1). USNS Lewis and Clark is an American dry cargo ship, the lead ship of her namesake class.The contract to build her was awarded to National Steel and Shipbuilding Company of San Diego, California, on 18 October 2001 and her keel was laid down on April 22, 2004. Work will take place in Mobile, Alabama. Estimated completion date will be by May 24, 2021. The US Army is using 3D printing technology to produce N95 respirators, the chief of the Defense Department’s medical technology office said on January …

Have you watched the “build a little, test a little, learn a lot” progress of SpaceX over the last few years? Like what Tesla has been able to do? Been impressed? Wondered why the USN hasn’t been able to bring a successful new warship online in two decades? Well … via Blake Stilwell at military.com we have a few rules from Elon Musk in a 2018 email that … well … I’ll let you read them; ...here are a few productivity recommendations: – Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time. Please get (sic) of all large meetings, unless you’re certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them…

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $3.6 billion deal for Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) operations, sustainment and support. The contract provides for research, development, test, and evaluation, integration and operations and sustainment for existing and future payloads contained in or connected to the BACN system and associated ground stations or controls, ancillary equipment, support equipment and system integration laboratories. BACN is a US Air Force airborne communications relay and gateway system housed in the unmanned RQ-4 Global Hawk, another Northrop Grumman product, to receive and distribute battlefield communications. It is designed to increase …

Just as on the naval side of things, the Communist Chinese may call something a destroyer that is clearly a cruiser, the Europeans call something a frigate that is clearly a destroyer, and the Americans call a Littoral Combat Ship what is really a national disgrace, etc ... there are even more challenges figuring out capabilities on the land side. A classic example, "How many divisions do they have?" You might get a simple answer, but that may not be the answer you need in order to really understand what you are looking at. Via IISS; When asked if, in 2025, a British war-fighting division will be capable of ‘overmatching the forces of a peer opponent such as Russia…

Americas General Dynamics won a $21.4 million contract modification to exercise options hours for Abrams Systems technical support. M1A1/2 Abrams main battle tank is manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS). The first M1 tank was produced in 1978, the M1A1 in 1985 and the M1A2 in 1986. Abrams M1A2 SEPV3 (System Enhanced Package) is a modernized configuration of the Abrams main battle tank (MBT) in service with the US Army. Work will take place in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Estimated completion date is June 30, 2022. General Atomics has tested its newly developed Self-Protection Pod (SPP) on the MQ-9 last year at the Yuma Proving Grounds (YPG). During the tes…

New year, new decade, and a new President. Where should be be looking to have the right view on changes to strategy and maritime power? What existing trends are getting stronger, weakening - and what new things are starting to show up on the scope? Our guest for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern to cover the full natsec waterfront as we find it will be returning guest James R. Holmes, PhD. James holds the J. C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the Naval War College and served on the faculty of the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs. A former U.S. Navy surface-warfare officer, he was the last gunnery officer in history t…