Raw Intel

There are good things, smart things, happening in The Philippines; "Meetings have already been set and probably we may have the Japanese and the Australians join in," Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez told Reuters. "They would like to join in for joint patrols to make sure that there's the code of conduct and there's freedom of navigation," adding it was still "an idea under discussion". If the plan materializes, it will be the first time the Philippines has joined multilateral maritime patrols in the South China Sea, a move that would likely anger Beijing, which claims most of the sea as its territory. The United States - quietly and wit…

As the U.S. decides who will be president for the next four years a review of procurement spending indicates that the Trump Administration has shown little difference in appropriations versus previous administrations, despite claims to have radically increased spending. The upshot is that the last four years saw about $2.9 in spending appropriated in inflation-adjusted dollars, which was larger than Barak Obama’s second term, but less than the Obama Administration’s first term. President Trump’s campaign speech claims of spending during his term relative to previous terms are incorrect. President Trump claimed this year that military spending in the 90s “used to be ‘mi…

Do you ever listen to someone from this think tank or that, or read one of their reports and wonder, "Where do they get their funding?" Some think tanks are quite open on where their funding comes from, many are not. Does that matter? I'm pondering over at USNIBlog. Come by and ponder with me. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=hgcN6EQgR0g:m9CTKAdfoE8:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=hgcN6EQgR0g:m9CTKAdfoE8:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=hgcN6EQgR0g:m9CTKAdfoE8:V_sGLiPBpWU http…

Thinking and planning are easy. Words can have flexible meaning and an artful planner can devise all sorts of trap doors, detours, and branches to allow their ideas a certain degree of flexibility. Math, however, is hard. Budgets are even harder. They are math with personality. We have reviewed the challenges of what we’ve come to call “The Terrible 20s” for over a decade. Now that we find ourselves here, what does this upcoming decade hold now that we no longer see the 20s dimly through the haze, but can see its details in sharp relief? The first step in solving a problem is to admit it. That is easy for individuals as it only takes one entity to take the step – it is…

A foundation stone of DivThu for over a decade and a half is this simple concept: in a multi-ethnic and multi-racial nation, the most destructive thing that can be done by leaders who value it is to encourage people to divide themselves along racial, ethnic, or other sectarian lines. No society in human history has ever prospered by doing so, Martin Luther King Jr. was right, the only solution is to judge someone by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. We once extended this concept to include race, creed, color and nation origin. Not only is that the only way to promote unity, and from that unity receive national strength and cohesion, but also …

C-5 Galaxy (click to view full) When it was introduced, back in 1970, the C-5 Galaxy was the largest plane in the world. It also has the highest operating cost of any US Air Force weapon system, owing to extremely high maintenance demands as well as poor fuel economy. Worse, availability rates routinely hover near 50%. To add insult to injury, the Russians not only built a bigger plane (the AN-124), they sold it off at the end of the Cold War to semi-private operators, turning it into a commercial success whose customer list now includes… NATO. Meanwhile, the USA still needs long-range, heavy load airlift. The AN-124’s commercial success may get its production line res…

Americas Rolls-Royce won a $21.8 million contract modification, which exercises an option to provide depot repair of T56-A-427 engines utilized on E-2 Hawkeye aircraft, to include repair of the power section, torque meter, gearbox and accessories in accordance with Navy depot manuals and approved repair practices. The Hawkeye is an s an American all-weather, carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. Work will take place in Texas, Canada and Indiana. Expected completion date is January 2022. The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford completed Combat Systems Ship’s Qualifications Trials, a milestone in validating its defenses, the US Navy said. The five…

After yesterday's post, you might thing this is ice week ... and maybe it is. Have you pondered lately the state of Russian, American, and ... yes ... Chinese icebreakers? Of course you have ... so you'll want to run over to USNIBlog and ponder what bubbled up in the last month. 'Tis the season, dontchaknow. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=QF3ncHb-4i0:xksX97DejdE:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=QF3ncHb-4i0:xksX97DejdE:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=QF3ncHb-4i0:xksX97DejdE:V_sGLiPBp…

New year, new decade, and a new President. Where should be be looking to have the right view on changes to strategy and maritime power? What existing trends are getting stronger, weakening - and what new things are starting to show up on the scope? Our guest for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern to cover the full natsec waterfront as we find it will be returning guest James R. Holmes, PhD. James holds the J. C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the Naval War College and served on the faculty of the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs. A former U.S. Navy surface-warfare officer, he was the last gunnery officer in history t…

Americas Sikorsky won an $8.4 million delivery order for the repair of 17 motor controls and five actuator mechanical control processors in support of the CH-53K aircraft. All work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut. This contract contains no options, and work is expected to be completed by March 2027. Annual working capital funds (Navy) […]View the full article

As we discussed on Sunday's Midrats, if we can maintain it - energy independence has changed our strategic requirements even if our ossified and inertia bound DC establishments won't realize and act on it. We need to focus where the greatest threat is, and it isn't the Arab and Persian interface - it is west of Wake. Our friend James Holmes at Real Clear Defense is tapping everyone on the shoulder to remind them of the clear truth that is there for all to see. You can't and should not do everything: Sometimes, though, stability is an unlovely force. Bad ideas, as well as good, can command overwhelming support. In such cases, stability cements policies or strategie…

South Korea’s Army has conducted a live demonstration of an airborne FPV kamikaze drone launch from a KUH-1 Surion helicopter, testing its ability to intercept aerial targets in flight. The drill involved ejecting an FPV (First-Person View) drone, equipped with a live explosive charge, from a Surion utility helicopter. Once airborne, the drone was remotely […] The post South Korea tests kamikaze drone launch from helicopter first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

All the usual caveats apply; yes she is officially a communist country. On Freedom House's Freedom Index she scores a 19, right there with Russia and the Democratic Republic of Congo ... but one point better than Egypt's 18. Egypt. You know, the nation that is #4 in foreign aid from the USA, right between Jordan and Iraq. The nation that has everything from M-1 tanks to Apache helicopters and we conduct exercises with on a regular basis? Yes, that Egypt. So, yes with the caveats ... but that clearly is not a barrier to good partnerships. Sometimes - within reason - you take the world as it is. Of course, we fought a long and devastating (especially for the Vietnamese No…

There is one area of agreement among navalists, the US Navy is beset with a whole series of hard, long building problems, ignored for too long. Many, including our highest ranking uniformed leadership, seem incapable of not only acknowledging them, but coming up with a plan to address them. As we enter 2021 and the third decade of the 21st Century, what are our greatest challenges, and what are some steps we can take to start the process of meeting them? Returning to Midrats this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern to discuss this and related issues he raised in this recent article, The Navy Has Problems and Must Be Bold to Fix Them, will be Bryan McGrath, CDR USN (Ret.), Manag…

For the Russians, the chance for a quick victory faded early on in the war when they failed to keep Antonov Airport airport in Kyiv after their air assault on 24 FEB 22 and the Ukrainians responded with unexpected resolve. Ukraine was not the nation and army the Russians faced in 2014. However, even with the logistics nightmare, convoy issues, and the now well-meme'd farmers-stealing-abandoned-armor appearance of a rough time so far, the Russian continue to take ground. Slowly and steadily they advance. They've bypassed most of the major urban centers in the classic "bypass and haul ass" operational scheme of maneuver, but now they need to clean up their lines and their r…

One year and a week ago - 05 Feb 2020 - I wrote the below and posted it at USNIBlog as it became clear to me that we may have a pandemic on the way. It stands up well. As I read it again, it wasn't as much of about the coming pandemic, but in a way - a love letter to my Navy. It also is a story Fullbore worthy. I'm going to repost it in full as I wrote it at the time. Of course our Navy has a distinct culture. Unless you were born in to it – in which case you get a head start on everyone else – you walk in to it as a young man or woman to be shaped by it. The Navy’s culture slowly changes over time, shaped by its national culture and and trends, but there is…

What if at the same time Apollo 17 was taking off, the last manned landing on the moon, we had NASA appointing an administrator to see what could be done to improved the performance of the Mercury space capsule that put the first American in space a dozen of years later? Ponder your reaction, the press, and Congress. ...then click over to USNIBlog and behold the latest spasm involving LCS. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=C9kf09LNVb4:wUYE0bl-9vk:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=C9kf09LNVb4:wUYE0bl-9vk:-BTjWOF…

I guess to answer this post's title question, we could start by listing to what they are telling us. It really could be that simple. If things went sideways in Ukraine, what have the Russians been working on? They've told us and in places, showed us. Are we ready? I'm pondering over at USNIBlog. Come by and see what the General of the Army has to say. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=z2xSGKgpjc4:U8jshxJr-zg:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=z2xSGKgpjc4:U8jshxJr-zg:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogs…

Americas The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will soon start testing unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) on par with human-piloted vehicles being built under the Robotic Autonomy in Complex Environments with Resiliency (RACER) program. The DARPA RACER program will develop and demonstrate autonomy technologies that enable unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to maneuver in unstructured off-road terrain at the limit of the vehicle’s mechanical systems and at, or beyond, human-driven speeds and efficiencies. The US Space Development Agency is planning to deploy 144 transport layer satellites and 28 tracking satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO) by 2024 to detect mane…

I just dropped this tweet as an afterthought on twitter last night and it received a LOT of interest so I thought I would bring it over to the blog for review and discussion. Again, the Austrian Army is providing the best briefs on the Russo-Ukrainian War. Col. Markus Reisner, AUT Army sets the benchmark. If your German is iffy, you can get English subtitles in settings by going Settings<Subtitles/CC<English. The Kursk-Donbas side by side is exceptional at the 13-minute mark. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=aJhgQXCoD6g:koQ4UyYrX5…