Raw Intel

With this Monday’s announcement of USS Defiant (BBG-1) absorbing all the oxygen, it is easy to forget that just five days ago we found out about our next frigate. As I mentioned in my Tuesday article, I spun off this discussion just to focus on Defiant. Well, I did more than that. I deleted it all. It was just too complicated. The frigate announcement was the second, after the LST announcement, of steps we are taking after the cancellation of my poor, abused baby—he Constellation Class FFG. I guess BBG-1 would be the third, so there is a lot of news floating around the U.S. Navy information space this holiday season. In summary, we are going to do what was first proposed…

Russia’s Kalashnikov Concern has delivered a batch of newly developed electric transport vehicles to a military unit for use in the combat zone, the company announced. According to the company, the shipment included Izh-Enduro electric motorcycles and Izh-ScootWay electric scooters produced in-house and equipped with universal trailers for cargo transport. All vehicles were supplied with […]View the full article

The United States Air Force and Northrop Grumman are accelerating production capacity for the B-21 Raider stealth bomber as the aircraft advances through testing and early manufacturing, the company announced in February 2026. Final assembly of the next-generation bomber is underway at Northrop Grumman’s facility in Palmdale, California, with the first operational aircraft scheduled to […]View the full article

The United States Central Command said it conducted a strike on the Kuh-E Barjamali ballistic missile assembly facility in Iran, releasing before-and-after imagery dated March 1 and March 7, 202. The facility, located in the Barjamali Hills southeast of Tehran, was identified as a production site for close-, short-, and medium-range ballistic missiles. The strike […]View the full article

Lockheed Martin has received an $850.4 million Navy contract modification to continue work on the Trident II (D5) Life Extension 2 program. The award, announced April 15, goes to Lockheed Martin Space of Titusville, Florida, under a cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to an existing contract. It covers advanced design and development work for the Strategic Systems Programs’ […]View the full article

Poland’s twelfth F-35 has completed ground and flight testing and is ready for delivery, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced on X, adding that production of the next four aircraft is nearing completion at Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth, Texas factory. The announcement, posted directly by Kosiniak-Kamysz on his official […]View the full article

A stretch of Polish sky running along the country’s most sensitive borders is about to go quiet. Starting June 10, 2026, Poland will enforce a new restricted airspace zone along its eastern frontier with Ukraine and Belarus, blocking most low-altitude flights for three full months in a move the government has justified on national security […]View the full article

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces recruited 11,177 personnel in Fiscal Year 2025, surpassing 10,000 for the first time in three years and marking a 1,453-person increase over the previous year. The turnaround reversed three consecutive years of declining recruitment that had culminated in fiscal 2023, when the SDF hit a record-low recruitment rate of just 51 percent […]View the full article

Only two bidders remain in the running for Canada’s nearly $5 billion program to supply new armored and unarmored land utility vehicles to the military, and one of them is Brampton-based Roshel, CityNews reported, citing reporting from Cristina Howorun. Roshel has built its reputation almost entirely outside Canada despite being headquartered just outside Toronto. Founded […]View the full article

Earlier this year, I got a quick brief on the upscaled version of Saildrone’s surface unmanned system, which has a solid dozen years of proven performance at sea. I will admit, I was not fully sold when the program first started with the 7-meter Explorer’s deployment to CENTCOM a half dozen years ago, but they’ve proven their utility. Now, let me put some figures in front of you: Displacement: 457 metric tons Length: 53 meters Speed: 20 knots That sounds like a pretty big drone, doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t. That is a WWII-era PC-461-class submarine chaser. There’s your reference point in size, and from my seat, mission. What are the figures for Saildrone’s Spectre? Displac…

Combat medics from Ukraine’s 1st Separate Medical Battalion traveled to Sweden last week to share their experience evacuating wounded soldiers under drone threat, meeting with medical personnel from the Swedish Armed Forces’ Life Guards regiment, according to a Life Guards post and a LinkedIn account from the Ukrainian company that built the ground robot involved […]View the full article

Denver-based AZAK has been added as a seventh company to the U.S. Army’s Infantry Last Tactical Mile program, a competition for uncrewed ground vehicles that would carry supplies to front-line infantry, evacuate wounded soldiers and extend radio networks near the forward line of troops, the company said. AZAK announced the news in a LinkedIn post […]View the full article

Americas Raytheon demonstrated to the US Army that it can fire the Stinger missile from a Javelin Lightweight Command Launch Unit. The missile successfully took down an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) during the demonstration at Eglin Air Force Base. The LWCLU’s primary mission is as the launcher for the Javelin missile, however its superior optics also allow for stand-alone Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance missions. A category 2 deficiency for the KC-46A aerial refueling tanker is prevent pilots from taking off in the tanker until the On-Board Inert Gas Generation System (OBIGGS) countdown timer reaches zero. OBIGGS will fill the fuel tanks with nitrogen to p…

SE=SL-RD-NL+DI-PL If you want to bench test an old Cold Warrior, put something like this out; The Navy has created a new task group on the East Coast to ensure it has ready destroyers that can deploy on short notice to counter the Russian submarine threat in the Atlantic Ocean.OK, Mallory Shelbourne's latest at USNINews got my attention.The plan is to take destroyers that have recently completed deployments and are awaiting maintenance availabilities and make them ready for training and operations in the Atlantic. ... The creation of the new task group comes as the Navy has refocused assets and efforts on the Atlantic region due to Russia’s undersea capability. The servi…

Our American system of government, by design, has a lot of healthy churn. So far this century we’ve seen a Democrat Clinton hand power to a Republican Bush who handed power to a Democrat Obama who handed power to a Republican Trump who handed power to a Democrat Biden. There is enough churn to make hyper-partisans of all types frustrated, but for the mass in the middle and everyone else, really, this is a good thing. Like a body of water, national politics needs vigorous competition and change. It keeps things healthy. For those in the national security arena, domestic politics can be a distraction. Programs, requirements, and threats do not work in election cycles. For …

What the RAF was doing is not new. What the RAF was doing is not isolated to the United Kingdom. Via SkyNews this is what broke earlier this week. (NB: first reports and all - as you will read downpost); The head of RAF recruitment has resigned in protest at an "effective pause" on offering jobs to white male recruits in favour of women and ethnic minorities, defence sources have claimed. The senior female officer apparently handed in her notice in recent days amid concerns that any such restrictions on hiring, however temporary and limited, could undermine the fighting strength of the Royal Air Force (RAF), the sources said. Official racial discrimination is wrong. It …

CH-53K concept (click to view full) The U.S. Marines have a problem. They rely on their CH-53E Super Stallion medium-heavy lift helicopters to move troops, vehicles, and supplies off of their ships. But the helicopters are wearing out. Fast. The pace demanded by the Global War on Terror is relentless, and usage rates are 3 […]View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $97 million contract procures aircraft armament equipment such as internal adapters and weapon umbilical cables required to employ long-range strike weapons, which allows for internal carriage and employment of the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Extended Range weapon for F-35 Lightning II aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, […]View the full article

Americas SkyAlyne and KF Aerospace have procured three De Havilland Dash 8-400 regional airliners for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Future Aircrew Training (FAcT) program. Upon arrival, the planes will have their cabins reconfigured and fitted with solutions to be used for Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator and Air Combat Systems Officer courses. The selection of the locally-built systems was driven by the Dash family of aircraft’s proven performance under the Canadian Air Force, particularly the older Dash 8-100 models, the consortium explained. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has received a $34.8-million contract to continue its support services for the US Mar…

The U.S. Air Force, working with Northrop Grumman, successfully completed a full-scale qualification test of the stage-two solid rocket motor for the LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on July 20. The test was conducted by the 717th Test Squadron at Arnold Engineering Development Complex, a key site for high-fidelity propulsion and systems evaluation. The […] The post U.S. Air Force completes Sentinel rocket motor test first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article