Raw Intel

A spinning umbrella built to save armored vehicles from a kamikaze drone sounds like something out of a cartoon, but Russia’s military has patented exactly that. The Combined Arms Order of Zhukov Academy, one of the Russian Armed Forces’ premier officer training institutions, has designed and patented a rotating cartridge launcher meant to protect vehicles […]View the full article

Strategic bombing campaign theory has only been with us for a century. People are still arguing everything from the utility of B-17s over Germany, B-29s over Japan, or B-52s over Vietnam, but the theory has always held promise for those who are trying to find a way to achieve from the air what would otherwise be outsourced to a long bloody slog paved with the bodies of young men in the mud. Books are filled with the results—hundreds of thousands of civilians burned alive, starved, or crushed under rubble to take out one railroad junction moving soldiers and supplies, a ballbearing factory seen as the key to war production, mining the approaches to a port bringing in food,…

The U.S. Army just bought a small fleet of drones from a company most people have never heard of, and interestingly, only one company even bothered to bid for the job. The Army awarded Integrate DG LLC a contract worth up to $27.8 million to supply its Alphawing drone system, along with support gear and […]View the full article

F-16F “Desert Falcon” (click to view full) The most advanced F-16s in the world aren’t American. That distinction belongs to the UAE, whose F-16 E/F Block 60s are a half-generation ahead of the F-16 C/D Block 50/52+ aircraft that form the backbone of the US Air Force, and of many other fleets around the world. The Block 60 has been described as a lower-budget alternative to the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, and there’s a solid argument to be made that their performance figures and broad sensor array will even keep them ahead of pending F-16 modernizations in countries like Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore. The UAE invested in the “Desert Falcon’s” development, and the …

Americas Parsons Government Services won a $953 million deal for US Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) Air Base Air Defense services. The deal provides the USAFE-AFAFRICA with a layered base defense capability. According to the DoD, the capability will be employed across various sites within the area of responsibility. Work will take place in various locations throughout Europe and Africa. Estimated completion date is July 20, 2031. Lockheed Martin won a $19 million contract modification to to procure 16 Operational Data Integrated Network Base kits, to include software installation and integration support for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fig…

Some ships are just cursed, snakebit, or ... well ... just a LCS. Light a candle for the crew of USS Little Rock (LCS-9). Our friend Megan Eckstein doesn't mean to pick on the handicapped, but she's a professional and has a job to do; Littoral combat ship Little Rock lost power while operating at sea and had to return to port on Jan. 22, according to a Navy spokesman. The four-year-old LCS was conducting sea trials following a 19-month maintenance period in the dry dock at BAE Systems Shipyard in Jacksonville, Fla. The ship departed Naval Station Mayport on Jan. 21 for the contractor’s trials, LCS Squadron 2 spokesman Lt. Anthony Junco told Defense News. During the oper…

What do the numbers tell us about the USN's expected fleet during the rest of what we call the Terrible 20s? We are going to spend an hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern digging in to that question with returning guest Matthew Hipple, active duty Surface Warfare Officer & former president of the Center for International Maritime Security. As a starting point for our conversation we will reference his May 9th article over at CIMSEC, "20 Years of Naval Trends Guarantee a FY23 Shipbuilding Plan Failure." "The FY23 Shipbuilding Plan proposes a 10-year drop in fleet numbers that deviates in spirit from every shipbuilding plan since 2012. During this dangerous decade, the…

Americas BAE Systems won a $72 million deal for the manufacture and delivery of five Columbia-class submarine components. Work will be performed in Louisville, Kentucky (100%), and is expected to be completed by May 2030. Fiscal 2023 National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund funds in the full amount will be obligated at time of award, of which […]View the full article

Americas Raytheon Technologies has unveiled its next-generation electro-optical intelligent-sensing capability to allow military pilots to detect threats faster and more accurately. Called the RAIVEN, the new threat identification system can identify multiple objects optically and spectrally at once in real time. It uses artificial intelligence (AI), hyperspectral imaging, and light detection and ranging, enabling pilots […]View the full article

Americas Austal USA has conducted a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a final assembly station in Alabama. The project supports the ongoing expansion of the company’s existing waterfront center in Mobile, which will also receive design improvements and a new ship lift system. Austal wrote that the upcoming station will include three bays for managing large steel components used to develop US Navy and Coast Guard vessels such as the Offshore Patrol Cutters and TAGOS-25 ocean surveillance systems. The US Army has turned to industry partners for a new, lightweight radar to be fitted on its high-altitude surveillance balloons. A request for information (RFI) wa…

The United Arab Emirates is reportedly supplying Chinese-made FK-2000 short-range air defense systems to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) via Chad, according to a report published Sunday by Clash Report. The FK-2000, developed by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), is designed to counter a variety of aerial threats, including fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, cruise […] The post UAE sends Chinese air defense systems to Sudan’s RSF first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Amid growing competition in the U.S. defense industry, Anduril Industries announced Friday that it has been chosen by the U.S. Navy to develop designs for the service’s future carrier-ready Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). “The US Navy has selected Anduril to develop designs for carrier-ready Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA),” the company said. “We are focused on […] The post Anduril joins U.S. Navy’s carrier drone fighter race first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Russian forces have begun deploying cavalry units in assault operations against Ukrainian positions, reviving tactics long thought obsolete and raising outrage over the use of animals in combat. Ukrainian troops say at least one such unit has already been engaged and destroyed by a drone strike during a recent offensive. According to footage released by […] The post Ukrainian drone strike destroys Russian cavalry unit first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

New satellite imagery appears to show a stealthy adaptation of China’s Z-20 medium-lift helicopter, a platform long regarded as a near-clone of the U.S. H-60 Black Hawk. Defense analyst Andreas Rupprecht shared the image on social media, writing: “And maybe another surprise… this is rumoured to be the stealthy Z-20.” The newly surfaced image, which […]View the full article

Echodyne, a radar technology company based in Washington state, announced today that California-based Zone 5 Technologies has selected its radar system for integration into the Paladin Low Collateral Effects Interceptor (LCEI), an autonomous counter-drone solution. The Paladin is the first drone of its kind to be added to the Department of War’s Blue UAS Cleared […]View the full article

If you’ve been looking for a more substantial reason for the latest news coming from Japan, you’re thinking right. The last month or so since the new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, took office, you’re hearing a lot of superficial symptoms of a larger issue. Hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi was voted in by parliament as Japan’s first female prime minister on Tuesday, emulating her hero, Britain’s late leader Margaret Thatcher, after a whirlwind few weeks of political wrangling. … She is a regular visitor to the Yasukuni shrine, which honours Japan’s war dead - including some executed war criminals - and is viewed by some Asian neighbours as a symbol of its past milita…

Russian combat aviation dropped a record 5,717 aerial bombs on Ukrainian territory in January 2026, marking the highest monthly figure since the start of the full-scale invasion, according to calculations published by Militarnyi. Data compiled by the OSINT experts show that Russian forces increased the use of aerial bombs by 26 percent compared with December […]View the full article

Singapore’s Ministry of Defence on Feb. 27 announced plans for the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) to acquire three Gulfstream G550 Maritime Surveillance Aircraft to enhance early warning capabilities against maritime threats, Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing said while presenting the ministry’s annual spending plans in parliament. The acquisition is intended to strengthen Singapore’s […]View the full article

Caracal USA said in March 2026 it had been awarded a government contract to supply CAR814 A2 Patrol rifles to various agencies in Belize. The Idaho-based manufacturer said the agreement covers delivery of 5.56x45mm NATO rifles designed for military and law enforcement use. According to a statement from Caracal USA, the CAR814 A2 Patrol rifle […]View the full article

EOS Defence Systems USA demonstrated its Sling Blade counter-drone system during the U.S. Army’s Summit Strike live fire exercise, conducted by the 10th Mountain Division. The combined arms exercise focused on the planning and integration of emerging technologies within a contested, large-scale combat environment, drawing together multinational forces and industry participants to coordinate effects across […]View the full article