Raw Intel

At the end of the decade, our last two submarine tenders (AS) will be decommissioned after a half-century of service. This summer, at the last possible moment (natch), we found out what the next step would be. The US Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded General Dynamics NASSCO of San Diego a US$72.66 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification to a previously awarded contract to support the US Navy’s AS(X)-class submarine tender next generation design maturation. The DOD said there will also be a US$27.26 million option for additional design maturation efforts, which, if exercised, could bring the cumulative value of this contract modification to US$99.92 million…

The United States Air Force has awarded aerospace manufacturer Boeing a not-to-exceed $61,5 million contract for the replenishment of the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator weapon system, according to a contract announcement released by the service. The work will support production of key components for the heavy bunker-penetrating bomb and will be carried out in St. […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR) said March 24 that its forces destroyed a launcher from Russia’s Bastion coastal missile system in occupied Crimea during overnight strikes. The GUR said the system had been used to launch Zircon hypersonic missiles against Ukraine and confirmed that two Zircon missiles were also destroyed in the attack. According to […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces have announced a combat milestone with no documented precedent in modern warfare — operators from the Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) division of the 412th Nemesis Brigade successfully intercepted a Russian Shahed attack drone using an interceptor drone launched from an unmanned naval platform. The engagement took place within a maritime operational […]View the full article

MatrixSpace is providing airspace awareness sensors to Operation Flytrap 5.0, a major U.S. Army-led counter-drone exercise running May 1 through 15 in Lithuania, after the company’s technology won the xTechCounter Strike competition at the preceding Flytrap 4.5 exercise in November 2025. The company’s participation comes with a competitive pedigree that distinguishes it from other exhibitors […]View the full article

Shield AI, the San Diego-based defense technology company that has been building autonomous flight systems for military applications since 2015, announced that its Hivemind AI completed its first autonomous multi-platform teaming flight in Oklahoma, combining its V-BAT unmanned aircraft with multiple Hornet drones from Destinus Defence in a demonstration that points directly at how military […]View the full article

From New England to Puerto Rico, across the Gulf of America, skipping over the desert to the West Coast…the vast American coastline is littered with closed and abandoned shipyards. They surround us like ghosts haunting the ruins of a once great empire, whispering of what once was. Some have been repurposed so much it would require a national emergency to claw back the waterfront. Others only a bit, and another cohort almost frozen in aspic from the day they were closed. Every time there is a proposal to do something as straightforward as reviving Charleston or something more ambitious like Jan Sramek’s Solano Shipyard, those trying to make forward progress have to swim t…

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on July 27, 2026, setting a new authorized size for the Russian Armed Forces at 2,426,130 personnel, of which 1,535,000 are uniformed troops, according to the text of the decree published on Russia’s official legal information portal, pravo.gov.ru. The order, numbered Decree 526, formally amends a 2004 decree that […]View the full article

The U.S. Army has selected five companies to build and operate nuclear microreactors at military installations across the country, awarding up to $2.2 billion in combined funding under its Janus Program, the Army announced. Westinghouse Government Services will supply its eVinci microreactor to Fort Drum, New York. Antares Nuclear will build at Fort Bragg, North […]View the full article

Oshen, a UK maritime technology company based in Plymouth, is testing what it calls the first “acoustic picket line” built from small robotic sailboats at REPMUS26, a monthlong multinational maritime robotics exercise underway in Portugal. The company has deployed six of its C-Star sailboats, each about 1.2 meters (4 feet) long and fitted with a […]View the full article

Leonardo DRS has won a spot on a Pentagon counter-drone contract worth up to $500 million, giving the company a path to sell its tactical radars to Joint Interagency Task Force 401, the U.S. Department of War organization set up last year to speed anti-drone gear to troops. The company announced the three-year indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity award […]View the full article

Phalanx, firing (click to view full) The radar-guided, rapid-firing MK 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS, pron. “see-whiz”) can fire between 3,000-4,500 20mm cannon rounds per minute, either autonomously or under manual command, as a last-ditch defense against incoming missiles and other targets. Phalanx uses closed-loop spotting with advanced radar and computer technology to locate, identify and direct a stream of armor piercing projectiles toward the target. These capabilities have made the Phalanx CIWS a critical bolt-on sub-system for naval vessels around the world, and led to the C-RAM/Centurion, a land-based system designed to defend against incoming artill…

Can a military organization suffer from attention deficit disorder? There are very few moments in time – the mid-1990s was a rare one – where a nation’s national security apparatus has the luxury and white space to get distracted and complacent. 2021 is not one of those times. With a new leadership team in place in DOD, are we sure they are focused on the important challenges of China, North Korea, Iran, and Russia? What are the top distractions that those concerned with the proper stewardship of our nation’s defense need to make sure don’t entice away time, money, and effort? With his recent article, Don’t Let the Department of Defense Become the Department of Dist…

Five years ago, an exceptional American Army NCO from WWII passed away, Technician 5th grade (E4) from the 103rd Infantry Division, awarded the Bronze Star by the USA and Légion d'honneur from France. He lived 102 years, and with him passed the last war chief of the Crow Tribe. A great American, Joe Medicine Crow; According to Crow tradition, a man must fulfill certain requirements to become chief of the tribe: command a war party successfully, enter an enemy camp at night and steal a horse, wrestle a weapon away from his enemy and touch the first enemy fallen, without killing him. Joe Medicine Crow was the last person to meet that code, though far from the windswe…

Americas The US Air Force has returned to Komatsu airbase, Japan for training for the first time in 3 years. According to the NHK, 6 US F-16s are in Komatsu till September 2 for joint exercise with Japan Air Self-Defense Force. Communications and Power Industries LLC won a $36.5 million deal for the F-16 Traveling Wave Tube repair services. Work will be performed in Palo Alto, California, and is expected to be completed by January 30, 2029. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition. The F-16 Fighting Falcon is an advanced aerial combat aircraft, which provides 4th generation fighter aircraft capabilities. Work will take place in California. Expected completio…

Americas Kratos Defense & Security Solutions demonstrated a trolley-based launch system for the XQ-58A Valkyrie unmanned aerial system recently. A Kratos Trolley Launch System (KTLS)-assisted XQ-58A can take off from runways or traditional roads without reducing its payload or the fuel required for conventional retractable launching gear. Bell Textron has completed the first flight of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s modified CH-146 Griffon multirole utility helicopter as part of a 2022 modernization contract. The Griffon Limited Life Extension (GLLE) project is a continuing effort to deliver upgrades for the aircraft, which has been in service since the early 1990s. Th…

Russia’s Su-57 Felon stealth fighter has been armed with hypersonic weapons, according to a senior military official. Speaking to the state-owned Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, Lieutenant General Alexander Maksimtsev, Chief of the Main Staff and First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, said the fifth-generation Su-57 is now equipped with “modern aviation strike systems and […] The post Russia arms Su-57 fighter with hypersonic weapon first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The U.S. Army has signed the largest contract in its history for the production of Patriot missiles, awarding Lockheed Martin a $9.8 billion agreement to manufacture nearly 2,000 PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptors through fiscal year 2026. According to an Army release, the contract covers the procurement of 1,970 missiles “and associated hardware for […] The post U.S. Army secures largest Patriot missile order first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The U.S. Department of War, through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is launching an ambitious new program to design and develop a next-generation High Mach Gas Turbine (HMGT) engine aimed at powering future reusable hypersonic aircraft. According to a solicitation released on September 24, the initiative—developed in partnership with the Air Force Research […] The post U.S. unveils plan to design engine for future hypersonic aircraft first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), acting under the direction of the Department of Defense (DoD), has issued a new Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) establishing temporary flight restrictions over an area off the southeast coast of Ceiba, Puerto Rico. The order, identified as FDC 5/9106, takes effect on November 1, 2025, and will remain […]View the full article