Raw Intel

Russia and India are currently in discussions for the delivery of additional S-400 “Triumf” air defense systems, even as a major data leak has exposed sensitive details of their existing contract and reports have surfaced of the system malfunctioning in the field. The original $5.5 billion deal, signed in 2018 for five S-400 systems, has […] The post Russia and India weigh new S-400 deal first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Lockheed Martin, working alongside the Japan Ministry of Defense (JMOD) and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), has completed the initial activation of the Aegis System Equipped Vessel (ASEV) shipset 1 radar system, including all four AN/SPY-7(V)1 antennas. The milestone was achieved on schedule at Lockheed Martin’s Production and Test Center in Moorestown, New Jersey, […] The post Japan’s new SPY-7 radar enters key testing phase first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Skydweller Aero and Nokia Federal Solutions have announced they were selected by the U.S. Navy for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to demonstrate an airborne 5G communication hub capable of supporting military operations in denied or infrastructure-limited environments. According to a joint announcement issued October 29, the initiative—officially titled “Intelligent Radio Access Network […]View the full article

South Korea’s Hanwha Systems has opened a major new defense manufacturing complex in Gumi, unveiling a large-scale expansion aimed at strengthening its radar and combat systems production capacity as exports continue to grow. The company held a completion ceremony on Tuesday for the new site, which was built with an investment of 2.8 trillion won […]View the full article

Russia appears to be moving closer to deploying its nuclear-capable Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile system, also known as RS-26, on the territory of Belarus. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this week that, “The relocation of the Oreshnik system to the territory of Belarus is nearing completion. We understand where it will be deployed.” Zelenskyy […]View the full article

Initial reports claimed that Ukraine’s Air Force had shot down a Russian Su-34 Fullback strike aircraft during operations over southern Ukraine, with the incident initially linked to combat activity near the Black Sea region. The aircraft was first believed to have been engaged during a combat mission in the south, where Russian tactical aviation has […]View the full article

In 2026, could UPS run all their ground delivery operations using 1965 Dodge A100 vans? Sure they could. They could hire a whole new cadre of specialized mechanics to maintain the old girls. They’d need some place in the desert to keep a bunch of non-roadworthy A100s for spare parts, since many of those parts have not been manufactured in decades. For those parts that cannot be found, they can pay someone exorbitant prices to build replacement parts no one else but UPS needs. They could then create entire facilities where every so-many-thousands of miles, the A100 will be stripped down to the frame and rebuilt so they’d be, “as good as a new build” and go right back out t…

Anyone who has visited major military and aerospace exhibitions such as the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget in France, Farnborough International Airshow in the United Kingdom, IDEX in the UAE, or AUSA in the United States has likely noticed the many display models that stand out for their detail and close resemblance to real […]View the full article

The German Army is moving to equip its corps-level artillery formations with long-range loitering munitions capable of striking targets between 200 and 300 kilometers away, according to remarks delivered by Lieutenant General Heico Hübner, Deputy Inspector of the Army and Commander of the Military Basic Organization, during a keynote address at the parliamentary evening of […]View the full article

GE Aerospace has completed the Assembly Readiness Review for its XA102 adaptive cycle engine, clearing a critical design and manufacturing milestone in the U.S. Air Force’s Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion program and positioning the company to compete for the next program phase later this year. The ARR validates that the XA102 engine design, manufacturing processes, […]View the full article

Every mortar round fired by an American soldier depends on a small set of metal fins at the back of the shell to spin it into stable flight, keep it on course, and make sure it lands where the gunner intended. Without those fins, a mortar round tumbles, loses accuracy, and becomes a danger to […]View the full article

Esh-Tech, the Israeli laser defense company behind the pulsed-laser counter-drone system DroneLight, raised $18 million in a funding round led by Kinetica Ventures, the company announced June 30, 2026. The Defence Blog previously reported on DroneLight’s public debut, where the system’s central claim was a radical departure from how laser weapons have traditionally worked: instead […]View the full article

An unmanned boat has launched a drone into the air over open ocean, all without a single person on board either vehicle, and the demonstration could change how the Royal Navy watches its own waters. British maritime robotics company ACUA Ocean and American sensor and drone manufacturer Teledyne FLIR Defense confirmed they completed two days […]View the full article

The U.S. Army is preparing to select a new infantry fighting vehicle that will replace the Bradley after more than 40 years in service and serve as the backbone of the Army’s armored formations for decades to come. Known as XM30, the program has two finalists, General Dynamics Land Systems and American Rheinmetall Vehicles, both […]View the full article

The U.S. Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps evaluated a dual-mode flying buggy called the SkyRunner during Scarlet Dragon 26-3, an experimentation exercise held at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on Sept. 16. Soldiers tested the vehicle’s ability to shift between driving and flying in austere conditions at Holland Drop Zone. The SkyRunner pairs an off-road buggy chassis […]View the full article

Russian state defense conglomerate Rostec is pitching its new 30 mm ZAK-30 “Tsitadel” anti-drone gun as a direct competitor to Western systems such as Germany’s Skynex and the U.S.-made Phalanx, saying its combat use has shown advantages in automation, cost per shot, and effectiveness on the world market. Rostec made the claim in a statement […]View the full article

For those no longer on active duty or civilian employee of DOD, you haven’t had a chance yet to received your “extremism training.” Thanks to the Salamander underground, we now have a copy for everyone. On a scale of 1 to 10 where a “1” is a solid, well done presentation, and a “10” is an intellectually sloppy, ham-fisted, neo-zampolit led struggle session, I will give this a 6 … edging towards a 7. It was a huge lost opportunity. Officially, this was in response to the storming of the Capitol on 06 JAN. For those who did not catch my comments at the time, you can read them here and here. There would not have been a standdown without that event, but a broader net was th…

Americas Shipyards could suffer if the US Navy does not order additional Arleigh Burke Class destroyers, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was told this week. Hicks visited Bath Iron Works in Maine, a General Dynamics subsidiary founded in 1884 whose primary customer is the US Navy, and the Naval Sea Systems Command’s Portsmouth, Naval Shipyard, to discuss a decrease in orders for Navy destroyers, the Pentagon said. According to the Eglin Air Force Base, the US Air Force successfully detonated a hypersonic missile warhead for the first time this week. The Drive reported that the prototype warhead, designed for the in-development Air Launched Rapid Response Weapon, …

Americas Toyon Research won a $9.1 million ordering agreement, which provides for analysis tools and performance analysis to support the E-2D aircraft and provide support equipment for E-2D performance analysis. Additionally, this order provides two E-2D Delta System Software Configuration (DSSC)-4 mission computer upgrade kits to support analysis of E-2D DSSC-4 in an operational environment, as well as develop system requirements to update the E-2D All-source Track and ID Fuser data fusion engine to accept data from tactical information web services. This order continues efforts in support of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Topic N111-016 titled, “Optimizing Tr…

When we started Midrats, President Obama hadn't even been President for a year, I only left active duty 4-months ago, Russia was mostly forgotten about except for Secretary of State Clinton famous "Reset/Overload," anyone worried about China was considered an alarmist, and no one really knew what a "podcast" was except for a very small group of to-online weirdos. One day our friend Claude Berube convinced the two of us and the late Raymond Pritchett that people might be interested in hearing us chat about those things that we find interesting. That was 13-years ago - and Midrats is still going strong. Come join us for the full hour Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern as we take a q…