Raw Intel

United States Navy carrier-based aircraft conducted patrol flights along the coast of Venezuela on Monday, marking the first visible sign that the USS Gerald R. Ford has entered active operations in the Caribbean Sea. The patrol included an E-2D Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft and several F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter-bombers. Yesterday, the patrol of the […]View the full article

Belrise Industries and Plasan Sasa have announced a strategic agreement to jointly pursue opportunities in India’s military market centered on the ATEMM series of electric vehicles. As noted by the companies, the agreement brings together Belrise Industries, an Indian automotive systems manufacturer, and Plasan Sasa, an Israeli company known for armor and survivability solutions. The […]View the full article

Several Pakistan Air Force Ilyushin Il-78 aircraft were spotted at an airfield in China’s Sichuan province on January 19–20, according to photographs that surfaced online and were reviewed by regional observers. The aircraft, including one carrying the registration number R11-003, were seen on the ground and during departure from the base, indicating a temporary presence […]View the full article

The United States Army has issued a Request for Information seeking industry participation in a commercial modification program aimed at upgrading UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, with plans to modernize between 12 and 24 aircraft annually through component overhauls and capability upgrades. The notice, published February 20, 2026, launches market research intended to shape a future […]View the full article

BAE Systems said it will spotlight a set of combat vehicle, artillery, precision-guided munitions, and ordnance capabilities at the 2026 AUSA Global Force Symposium & Exposition, using the event to present both fielded systems and programs it says are being adapted for future Army needs. The company’s lineup includes the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, the Bradley […]View the full article

EDGE Group said it is speeding up development and production of the MANSUP and MANSUP-ER anti-ship missiles under its partnership with the Brazilian Navy, pushing forward one of Brazil’s key indigenous naval weapons programs. The Emirati defense company said the work is being carried out in close cooperation with local industry partners and the end […]View the full article

Türkiye has signed a definitive procurement contract for its KAAN fifth-generation fighter jet, committing to the delivery of 20 aircraft to the Türkiye Air Force between 2028 and the end of 2030. The contract covers 20 KAAN aircraft in the Block-10 configuration, with the first delivery planned for 2028 and the full batch scheduled for […]View the full article

The most consequential fighter jet Germany has ever ordered just crossed a milestone that brings it meaningfully closer to the flight line. Lockheed Martin announced that the engine powering Germany’s first F-35 has been installed, confirming that the aircraft is progressing through final production and moving toward delivery of what will be Berlin’s first fifth-generation […]View the full article

Serhii Beskrestnov, known by his call sign “Flash” and serving as an adviser to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, published a public assessment that catalogs nine specific technological deficiencies he says are creating serious problems across the front, ranging from the absence of any mass-production solution against Russian glide bombs to a near-total lag in electronic […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missile has struck deep inside Russia again, this time hitting a defense plant that builds the ejection seats meant to save the lives of Russian fighter pilots and the anti-aircraft missiles meant to shoot down Ukrainian drones. Ukrainian forces attacked the Avitek plant in the Russian city of Kirov early Friday morning […]View the full article

A Ford F-250 that can drive itself carried a shotgun-armed drone-killing turret onto a live-fire range at Fort Bragg on August 18, 2026, the latest test in a U.S. Army program built to get engineers out of the blast radius during breaching operations. The vehicle, tested at Range 63 as part of Project Sandhills 2.0, […]View the full article

Bath Iron Works said the future USS Quentin Walsh, a Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, is now one of the ships taking shape at its Land Level erection stage, the point where large prefabricated hull sections are joined together before launch. General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine marked the milestone alongside National POW/MIA […]View the full article

Lockheed Martin has unveiled PAC-3 Edge, a new Patriot interceptor designed to reach higher, fly farther and maneuver harder than the PAC-3 MSE now in service. It is the company’s entry in the U.S. Army’s Future Interceptor competition. The company debuted the missile on Oct. 12 at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting […]View the full article

Americas Northrop Grumman Systems won a $4.8 billion deal for Global Hawk development, modernization, retrofit and sustainment activities for all Air Force Global Hawk variants. The contract provides for management, including program, business and technical areas; engineering efforts, including configuration management, data management, reliability, availability and maintainability, and related areas of concern such as technical refresh, diminishing manufacturing sources, etc.; studies and analyses; design, development, integration, test and evaluation; contract/production line closeout/shutdown; training; sparing; overseas contingency operations support; fielding; cyber …

Take a moment and think about all that is going on in the world from the South China Sea, to Afghanistan, to the Sahel, to the Russian near abroad. Think about the challenges military members and their families face on a daily basis with record deployments, caring for kids in a COVID environment, take your pick. I now want you to think about what you want the scarce time available in each mortal's 24-hr day invested in by the following people: Deputy Secretary of Defense; Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; The Secretaries of the Military Departments, Military Service Chiefs, and the OSD Principal Staff Assistants. What if we had it a weekly meeting called the …

The last few Thursdays we've pushed back rather hard on the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gilday, USN. To be frank, he's earned it not just from me, but from Congressmen, Senators and commentators all over. If you recall, we tried to warn him back in February that his addition of the book "How to be Anti-Racist" by the highly problematic Ibram X. Kendi was a mistake. In the end, his defense of his choice and the excuses he gave - and those of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Milley, USA - have been hollow mostly because their is nothing on the list that promotes the "critical thinking" they say they want, or attempts to get a full view of the…

You graduated from the Naval Academy with the world at war. While it seemed your nation’s politicians were saying they would do all they could to stay out of this war – you probably knew better. It was a big war, and one side was being fed and armed from our side of the ocean. After graduation you get assigned to a battleship – and within a year, your nation goes to war. Your battleship was not just any ship, she was the USS Connecticut (BB-18), the flagship for The Great White Fleet a decade earlier, and now flagship of the Fifth Battleship Division. Yet, your war never really came. You spent the war never leaving the east coast. You spent the entire war on what you rea…

Americas A US Navy MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter made a crash landing in coastal Virginia. The incident took place shortly before 11:30 am on January 12. Virginia State Police said the aircraft hit several trees on the way down. The MH-60S was assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 26, based out of Naval Station Norfolk, roughly 30 miles southeast of Smithfield. Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division achieved the Aegis light-off milestone on the US Navy’s first Flight III Arleigh Burke Class guided missile destroyer Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125). The Flight III upgrade incorporates a number of design modifications that collectively provide signif…

We cannot do anything about the continental powerhouses in NATO who can also make a bid difference helping the Ukrainians defend their soil. Specifically Germany and France, who mostly insist on token assistance or sitting on the sidelines relatively speaking as Russia gets ready for a mid-20th Century like summer offensive east of the Carpathians, but we can do what we can do. Though our industrial capacity is not ready to support a long, global conflict - we do have quite a deep warehouse of items that are slightly used, but good for a few more years. As we have already come off the sidelines in the Russo-Ukrainian War when it comes to supplying lethal aid, we might as …

The “Out Years” is fantasy. It is a place where people wishcast the future they want. Let’s take a quick look at this gem from the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels for FY 2007. How'd that work out for us? From that report looking forward nine years to 2016, it shows us having spent money on building in that time period … what exactly? Seven (7) DD(X), aka DDG-1000, and six (6) CG(X). Yeah … so be careful trusting these documents. That is why I simply refuse to listen to anyone’s pontifications on 2040 or 2045. Come on people. It’s insulting. Let’s stick with that template of 9-years above, it's bad enough. From today that window would get us to 20…