Raw Intel

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded a $9 million contract to Ohio-based ARCTOS Technology Solutions to develop next-generation aerothermoelastic structures technologies for high-speed airbreathing vehicles, a research program that addresses one of the most demanding unsolved engineering problems in hypersonic flight. The contract, awarded competitively after two offers were received, runs through June […]View the full article

Four of Greece’s American-made standoff missiles need fixing, and the U.S. Navy is about to pay the only company on Earth capable of repairing them to do exactly that. The procurement notice, published June 4, 2026, signals that Greece’s air force is keeping its American-supplied precision strike arsenal in fighting shape at a moment when […]View the full article

Poland signed a $4.83 billion contract with Sweden’s Saab on June 29, 2026, for three A26 Blekinge-class submarines under its long-running Orka program, completing seven months of tense negotiations that at several points threatened to collapse over industrial offset demands, and delivering NATO its most significant Baltic Sea undersea capability expansion since the Cold War. […]View the full article

A Formula 1 engineering firm has unveiled a nearly supersonic combat drone designed to fly wing to wing with fighter jets, and it costs less than a fraction of what those crewed aircraft run. MGI Engineering announced the launch of the T-022 Vortex, describing it as the first UK-built Autonomous Collaborative Platform of its kind, […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Independence Day parade in Kyiv on August 24 included a new naval drone, the MV11, from the Ukrainian company UFORCE. It is the largest vessel yet built in the company’s MAGURA family, an unmanned surface vessel line credited with helping push Russia’s Black Sea Fleet back from Ukrainian waters. The parade marked the first […]View the full article

Leonardo DRS will build the electric propulsion system for South Korea’s next-generation KDDX destroyer, the company announced, supplying technology for what will be the Republic of Korea Navy’s first full-electric-drive surface warship. DRS signed the contract with Doosan Enerbility, which will work alongside the American company to build the ship’s complete power and propulsion system, […]View the full article

Footage said to be from Libya shows dozens of Turkish-made BMC AMAZON 4×4 armored vehicles in service with Libyan elite units, fitted with remote-controlled weapon stations and jamming systems, according to Turkish defense analyst Ahmet Alemdar, who shared the images on X. Alemdar described the vehicles as being operated by “elite units” but did not […]View the full article

NH90: TTH & NFH (click to view full) The NH90 emerged from a requirement that created a NATO helicopter development and procurement agency in 1992 and, at almost the same time, established NH Industries (62.5% EADS Eurocopter, 32.5% AgustaWestland, and 5% Stork Fokker) to build the hardware. The NATO Frigate Helicopter was originally developed to fit between light naval helicopters like AW’s Lynx or Eurocopter’s Panther, and medium-heavy naval helicopters like the European EH101. A quick look at the NFH design showed definite possibilities as a troop transport helicopter, however, and soon the NH90 project had branched into 2 versions, with more to follow. The near…

Americas US Air Force “Orange Flag” and “Black Flag” exercises this week tested mission planning with cross-domain data gathering, the Air Force said. The exercises involved the Air Force Test Center’s 412nd Test Wing, headquartered at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and the 53rd Wing of Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, in achieving what the Air Force terms All-Domain Command and Control. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin approved a request to extend the deployment of National Guard members in the Capitol through late May, the Department of Defense announced. Per a statement from Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, about 2,300 National Guard personnel will continue to suppo…

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $1.8 billion undefinitized contract action, which provides for the procurement of recurring logistics services for delivered F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter air systems in support of the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Services to be provided include ground maintenance activities, action request resolution, depot activation activities, automatic logistics information system operations and maintenance, reliability, maintainability and health management implementation and support, supply chain management and activities to provide and support pilot…

Americas The US Air Force Research Laboratory has partnered with ThermAvant Technologies and Maxar Technologies to develop and deploy the next generation of spacecraft thermal control technology. The groundbreaking technology, Oscillating Heat Pipes (OHPs), provides lightweight and highly efficient temperature control on higher power yet smaller spacecraft. The OHP was recently launched in the second quarter of 2021 on a Maxar-built satellite. The United States conducted the launch of a precision sounding rocket on October 20 to accelerate the development of advanced hypersonic weapons. The High Operational Tempo for Hypersonics flight campaign was conducted by the Navy …

Since the March 1996 humiliation in the waters around Taiwan handed to the People’s Republic of China by the US Navy’s world-dominating Carrier Battle Groups – as they were then known – China and her armed forces started a long-term, disciplined effort to ensure that a point in the not so distant future, their part of The Pacific west of Wake would no longer be considered and American lake. With a little over a quarter century passed, has China successfully closed the gap? Come join us for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern for a deep dive in to the subject with our guests Gerry Doyle and Blake Herzinger as we discuss their recent book, Carrier Killer: China's A…

So, how is your week going? The Navy wants to shed 39 ships in Fiscal Year 2023, with the first ship set to depart on Halloween. The list, which includes five guided-missile cruisers Armed neutrality is a good thing - it keeps an enemy at bay. Being hostile while you are actively disarming yourself? That is begging for a whoop'n. Inaction. Inattention. Slavish devotion to process. Entitlement. Distracted leadership. That is how we got here – a destination we slid to this century on a carpet of happy-talk, half-truths, and aspirational time-buying. First, let’s start with a statement that I could have made myself. Via David Sharp at AP; Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval…

The greatest threat to security in the Western Pacific is not the rise of China, certainly isn't the moribund Russians - or even a combination of the two. No, the greatest threat to security west of Wake is the American national security establishment. The two pillars of its dysfunction are intellectual and institutional. Intellectually we continue to allow The Smartest People in the Room™ to blissfully live in a world of happy talk to themselves, each other, and their nation. It is as if they live in a world of the military FITREP where you write your own review in the adult version of Lake Wobegone ... where all the children are above average. Via Phelem Kine and Lara S…

Italian Eurofighters (click to view full) The multi-national Eurofighter Typhoon has been described as the aerodynamic apotheosis of lessons learned from the twin engine “teen series” fighters that began with the F-14 and F-15, continued with the emergence of the F/A-18 Hornet, and extended through to the most recent F/A-18 Super Hornet variants. Aerodynamically, it’s […]View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $92 million modification for AEGIS combat system configurations. This contract combines purchases for the governments of Japan, South Korea and Australia under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed by December 2025. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity. L-3 Harris Technologies won an $8.8 million for the procurement of spares for the MK 20 Electro-Optical Sensor System (EOSS), MK 46 Optical Sight System (OSS), and associated the MK 48 and MK 34 Gun Weapon Systems. Work will be performed in Northampton, Massachusetts; Orland…

We owe HM3 Maxton W. Soviak, USN, the thousands who died the two decades before he did, and their families the truth. The uncomfortable, blunt, clear truth. Frankness. Directness. The respect that comes with honesty, honesty to the man who was in diapers when the first US forces crossed into Afghanistan, and with 12 others wound up as one of the last to die there during our retreat. We’re still not coming to terms with our defeat. Fear, shame, and humility—these are strong gods of a superior military. With each passing year, this becomes clearer and clearer to me. As all three were drained from our military, we increasingly relied on the weak gods of false-bravery (wearin…

German defense company Rheinmetall has been commissioned to supply a large volume of artillery ammunition to an Eastern European customer under a U.S. government program, underscoring the growing transatlantic demand for heavy munitions amid the ongoing conflict-driven rearmament push in Europe. As a subcontractor to Global Military Products (GMP), a U.S.-based defense supplier awarded a […] The post U.S. taps Rheinmetall to supply artillery shells for Eastern Europe first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Russian defense manufacturer Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) has released new footage of its BMPT Terminator armored fighting vehicle in action. The promotional video, intended to highlight the platform’s firepower, instead reignited controversy after viewers noticed visible vibration in the twin 30mm 2A42 autocannons during firing, prompting questions about accuracy and stabilization. The Terminator, developed to support tanks […]View the full article

In a rare diplomatic turn, Chinese leader Xi Jinping initiated a call with President Trump on Monday, raising Taiwan and Ukraine as Washington, Kyiv and Moscow explore options for ending the war in Europe. The outreach comes as Beijing sharpens its position on Taiwan and new friction with Japan adds pressure to the regional landscape. […]View the full article