Raw Intel

Six Russian military aircraft operating in Baltic airspace in a single day triggered a joint NATO scramble involving French and Swedish fighter jets, the latest reminder that the skies above one of Europe’s most sensitive stretches of territory remain an active theater of aerial friction between the alliance and Moscow. NATO Air Command confirmed that […]View the full article

More than 40 of Northrop Grumman’s most advanced ground radar systems are already in the hands of U.S. Marines and airmen, and the company is pushing the system hard to international buyers as demand for mobile, multi-mission air defense sensors surges worldwide. Northrop Grumman published a capability overview on June 4, highlighting the operational status […]View the full article

A First-Person View (FPV) drone, the cheap remote-controlled kamikaze weapon that has killed more soldiers in this war than almost any other single weapon type, struck a Ukrainian military Humvee directly in the windshield during a combat mission in the Zaporizhzhia direction. The crew inside survived. The glass held. Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence directorate, known by […]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

Two of the U.S. defense industry’s most closely watched companies announced they are joining forces to compete for one of the Army’s most significant ground combat modernization programs, pairing a combat-proven Israeli-American cannon system with Silicon Valley’s most prominent defense technology firm. Elbit Systems of America and Anduril Industries announced a strategic teaming agreement on […]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

An Israeli armor company is heading to Eurosatory later this month with three new vehicle protection systems, each targeting a category of threat that has grown sharply more lethal on the modern battlefield: mines, top-attack munitions, and shaped charge warheads that conventional armor struggles to stop. Plasan, the Kibbutz Sasa-based survivability specialist with more than […]View the full article

Every now and then I hear about some vague connection between the USAF and the liquor Jeremiah Weed. Though the USAF is better known for its anime swords, I guess they can up their game a bit by creating some legends of their own to justify a connection to a drink. I’d prefer Robin Olds and a bucket of champagne vibe, but I’m not USAF, so that’s up to them. What about the U.S. Navy? Sadly, General Order 99 took the wind out of our sails a bit, but I had a thought recently. I ran into this pic. Just get a look at these ballers. I dug around a bit and found the backstory via the Navy SEAL Museum: Aboard the USS Burrfish (SS 312) near Peleliu in the Pacific Ocean, part of a…

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

America’s military campaign against Iran has been running for three months, and the Army is already writing checks to close one of the capability gaps it exposed. A $68 million contract awarded June 3, 2026, to Griffon Aerospace of Madison, Alabama, will deliver the next generation of one of the U.S. military’s most widely used […]View the full article

The U.S. Army awarded California-based AeroVironment a $117 million contract on June 3, 2026, to deliver 82 of the company’s P550 unmanned aircraft systems, giving ground commanders an organic reconnaissance and targeting capability that requires no runway, no catapult, and no launch crew beyond the soldiers already in the unit. AeroVironment (AV) is one of […]View the full article

Finland is set to begin manufacturing a new class of affordable surveillance and drone-detection aircraft at the country’s only aircraft factory, with the first prototype test flight scheduled within days, Titta Puurunen of Finnish public broadcaster Yle reported June 3. The program belongs to Sensofusion, a Finnish defense technology company that employs more than 100 […]View the full article

Show LinksUkrainian FP-1/2 drone attacks Russian frigate Admiral Essen at the Novorossiysk Naval Base Ukrainian attack on the Kronstadt Naval Base Attack on Kuwait International Airport Saronic commentary by John Konrad on gCaptain AV-8B closes its story MQ-25A opens its story AUKUS update SummarySal discusses the ongoing Ukraine conflict, its historical cont… Read more View the full article

In both comments and via a couple of email/DMs yesterday, there were some sincere questions about why no one is talking about installing the “newer” design MK-57 VLS cells that we see in the three ships of the Zumwalt Class. In isolation they appear to be fine VLS cells, but are creatures of the time and place in which they were designed. Let’s go back to their first name: the MK-57 Peripheral Vertical Launch System (PVLS). They are a custom solution for the DDG-1000 Class designed in the Age of Transformation™ in the first decade of this century. It is an evolutionary dead-end riding on a white elephant. The MK-57 has a common problem found on most designs from this dec…

The U.S. Navy is doubling down on what it considers its most capable air and missile defense radar at sea, committing $516 million to keep the system integrated, tested, and ready across the fleet. Raytheon Missiles and Defense, the Marlborough, Massachusetts-based defense arm of RTX Corporation, secured a $515.8 million contract modification this week to […]View the full article

An Israeli defense firm is preparing to show off a laser weapon at Eurosatory later this month that can burn through a drone in under two seconds while drawing only a fraction of the power that comparable directed-energy systems require. Esh-Tech, a laser-focused defense technology company based in Omer, Israel, announced DroneLight on June 3, […]View the full article

Ukrainian forces struck the Russian Baltic Fleet corvette Boyky at Kronstadt Naval Base on the night of June 2-3, 2026, in the same overnight operation that set the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal ablaze on the opening day of Putin’s annual economic forum, with Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces and the Security Service of Ukraine confirming the […]View the full article

Canada announced on June 2 that it finalized a deal in January 2026 to purchase 26 HIMARS rocket artillery systems from the United States for approximately $1.9 billion, giving the Canadian Army its first long-range precision strike capability and a weapon that Ukraine has used to devastating effect against Russian logistics, ammunition depots, and command […]View the full article

A Ukrainian defense technology company has unveiled a heavy quadcopter drone designed specifically for satellite-controlled strikes, precision minelaying, and logistics resupply at ranges and from positions that conventional radio-controlled drones cannot reach, delivering a capability that Ukrainian frontline units requested directly as the nature of drone warfare on their front evolved in ways that ground-based […]View the full article

Ukraine struck a major Russian oil terminal in Saint Petersburg and hit a military industrial target near the Baltic Fleet’s Kronstadt base on the night of June 2-3, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirming the operations were part of his “long-range sanctions” campaign designed to make Russia’s war economy pay a direct price for its attacks […]View the full article