Raw Intel

Video published online shows Ukraine using an interceptor version of its Bars jet-powered drone to destroy a Russian Geran-5, the first footage of the Ukrainian missile-drone being used against Russia’s own jet-powered attack drones. The clip, shared by the Ukrainian military, shows the interceptor launched from a ground launcher before it strikes the Geran-5. The […]View the full article

This is a Monday where those of us on the Front Porch will just nod our heads a bit and grin in that way that only the confidently smug can smile. You know one of my regular statements, and it does not matter if we are talking aircraft, surface ships, or ground forces (I give a pass to submarines): When war comes, you will quickly realize that not only do you not have enough guns, but the ones you do have are too small in caliber. Let’s go back 18 years or so for a couple of quotes from, well, me. First, from April 09, 2008’s post, It always comes back to the gun..., People always try to get rid of the gun - but the cold hard facts of the reality of thousands of years of…

General Dynamics Land Systems will show a version of its M-SHORAD Increment 4 air defense system mounted on a Ford Ranger pickup truck at the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting in Washington, D.C., which runs October 12 to 14. The display puts a short-range air defense and counter-drone package on a commercial pickup, […]View the full article

British defense technology company Stratonex Defence Technologies has unveiled VARAN, a modular unmanned ground vehicle concept designed to accompany and support forward units on the battlefield, with swappable mission equipment and the ability to navigate without satellite positioning. The company introduced the vehicle on social media and on its website, describing VARAN as a payload-agnostic […]View the full article

The United States is now sending Ukraine only 12 Patriot air defense interceptors a month, about a quarter of what Kyiv received under President Joe Biden, and is holding back some missiles Ukraine has already paid for, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Zelenskyy made the comments in an interview with Bloomberg in Kyiv published on Oct. […]View the full article

A drone strike sank a merchant ship carrying Ukrainian and Azerbaijani sailors off Romania’s Black Sea coast on Oct. 23, 2026, killing one crew member and leaving three missing, prompting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to condemn what she called another Russian escalation in the Black Sea. The Comoros-flagged Khoryv sent a distress […]View the full article

A missile strike likely hit the Proton plant in the Russian city of Orel, a manufacturer of optoelectronic equipment whose components are used in Russia’s Iskander-M ballistic missiles, Pantsir-S1 air defense systems and Kh-71 cruise missiles, according to the monitoring channel Exilenova+. Local authorities declared an aviation and missile danger alert in Orel during the […]View the full article

France has ordered several hundred more MX-10 DAMOCLES kamikaze drones from KNDS France and Delair, and the quadcopter munition has won its first export customer, Luxembourg, which signed a contract worth just over 1.6 million euros ($1.8 million) for an initial capability. The French Ministry of the Armed Forces activated an optional tranche of its […]View the full article

Russian state defense conglomerate Rostec has described its T-80BVM main battle tank as an “assassin,” claiming the gas turbine-powered vehicle is quiet and well camouflaged enough to make fast, unnoticed flanking moves on the battlefield. In a promotional statement, Rostec said the modernized tank can play several roles: a “steel battering ram” that breaks through […]View the full article

The U.S. Army has awarded Longbow LLC a $419.6 million contract to supply fire control radar systems and post-production support for the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, keeping work on the Apache’s distinctive mast-mounted radar going into the next decade. The contract, announced on Oct. 22, 2026, covers the AH-64D and AH-64E versions of the helicopter […]View the full article

U.S. Army infantry soldiers have fired Spike NLOS long-range missiles from a light, air-droppable utility vehicle for the first time, completing 17 engagements in a three-day live-fire demonstration at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, Lockheed Martin said. All of the shots were launched from an Infantry Squad Vehicle – Utility, or ISV-U, a version of the […]View the full article

A French Mirage 2000D ground-attack jet crashed late on Oct. 20 near the village of Rogéville in Meurthe-et-Moselle, in eastern France, as it was returning from a mission, killing at least one of its two crew members, while rescuers continue searching for the second. The French Air and Space Force said the accident happened at […]View the full article

A heavy-lift cargo drone built by BAE Systems subsidiary Malloy Aeronautics has shot down several one-way attack drones with laser-guided rockets during a Pentagon experiment in Florida, firing one rocket after another without having to land and reload. The modified aircraft, known as the TRV-150, carried a three-pod launcher loaded with BAE Systems’ APKWS rockets […]View the full article

Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation is looking at artificial intelligence and other new software to speed up the design of future aircraft and cut the cost of developing new versions of existing ones, the state-owned planemaker said in a statement on its social media. UAC, which builds nearly all of Russia’s military and civil aircraft, from […]View the full article

The German Army has received its first heavy-lift cargo drone, with the 131st Supply Battalion in Bad Frankenhausen, Thuringia, taking delivery of an uncrewed aircraft from Portuguese manufacturer TEKEVER to test how drones can haul equipment and supplies to troops in the field. The Bundeswehr in Thuringia announced the handover on Oct. 13, describing it […]View the full article

About 30 of Poland’s South Korean-built K2 tanks are sitting in military workshops with various faults, most of them at the army base in Braniewo in the country’s northeast, Radio ZET reported, and some of the damage involves the engines of a fleet that has grown to more than 200 tanks delivered so far. The […]View the full article

Latvian company NATRIX, already a supplier of ground drones to Latvia’s armed forces, showed its battle-tested unmanned ground vehicle to Finnish military and security officials on Oct. 8, driving it through forest terrain and hauling cargo at an unmanned ground systems demonstration in Mikkeli, Finland. The event was organized by Millog, the Finnish defense maintenance […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $332.8 million contract to help its cyber defenders collect, store and analyze network data where it is gathered, so the information can be shared across the military’s common cyber warfare system instead of sitting in separate tools. Enlighten IT Consulting, a Columbia, Maryland-based subsidiary of shipbuilder and defense […]View the full article

The trees are showing their fall colors; we’re inside a month from a mid-term election; European cities are burning…but the rest of the world keeps churning from the tip of South America to the steppes of Eurasia. Mark and I will try to hit the wave tops this Sunday from 5-6 p.m. Eastern in our ever-popular Free-for-All format. The show’s live chat will be up and running if there’s a topic that’s a bee in your natsec bonnet, you’d like us to cover…otherwise, grab a drink, and find a chair and enjoy the conversation. You can join LIVE at this link. If you’re reading this after the show, just check the Substack page later on Sunday for the podcast upload. Don’t miss it! Lea…

NATO plans to buy six portable kits that can jam satellite navigation signals and the radio links drones use for control and video, so its trainers can expose ships, aircrews and drone operators to realistic interference during exercises. Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, the alliance command in Norfolk, Virginia, that leads NATO’s training and modernization […]View the full article