Raw Intel

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $10.9 million contract for Advanced Raptor Enhancement & Sustainment (ARES) for the F-22 Program Office. This contract vehicle provides support for the necessary supplies and services to sustain and modernize the F-22 Raptor, including modernization hardware kit procurement and services such as upgrades, enhancements and fixes, as well as performance-based logistics services. The F-22A Raptor is an advanced tactical fighter aircraft. Lockheed Martin received a $7 billion five-year contract to maintain the USAF fleet of F-22 Raptor stealth fighters, in December 2019. Work under the new deal will take place in Texas. Estimated completion d…

There was not a sea battle to be fought in that little war ... but there are lessons for our Navy all in it. I ponder my #1 lesson 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=2ouXuomqzRQ:332CV29lP8w:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=2ouXuomqzRQ:332CV29lP8w:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=2ouXuomqzRQ:332CV29lP8w:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=2ouXuomqzRQ:332CV29lP8w:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/…

There is something going on more than the usual spring maneuvers in Russian occupied Ukraine. The below from Der Spiegel is in Crimea ... so not an easy jump further in to mainland Ukrainian territory ... but ... still. Moscow has been relocating military units near the Ukraine for weeks. Trains with tanks, howitzers and transporters are also rolling into the Crimea, annexed by Russia . A huge new army camp has arisen in the east of the Black Sea Peninsula, as satellite images available to SPIEGEL show. About 30 kilometers from the town of Marfivka near the coast, the Russian military has gradually built a makeshift base, as this animation shows. If the area was …

Americas General Electric Aviation won a $111.9 million contract modification, which procures 20 T408-GE-400 turboshaft engines, peculiar support equipment, and associated engine, programmatic and logistics services in support of CH-53K Lot 4 low rate initial production and spares. The CH-53K is the United States Marine Corps’ (USMC) heavy lift replacement for the CH-53E. The most powerful helicopter in the Department of Defense, the CH-53K is a new-build helicopter that will expand the fleet’s ability to move more material, more rapidly throughout the area of responsibility using proven and mature technologies. Work will take place in Lynn, Massachusetts. Expected comple…

Are we giving China an opening in one of the last places we would want them to be? Maybe ... but if not, at least someone just decided to put down a marker on an important bit of forgotten real estate. Details over at USNIBlog. 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=zbWS1ByajDQ:sTdiSLvjIIQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=zbWS1ByajDQ:sTdiSLvjIIQ:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=zbWS1ByajDQ:sTdiSLvjIIQ:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=zbWS1ByajDQ:sTdiSLvjIIQ:F7z…

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $724 million contract modification for the Aegis Weapon System (AWS). Under the follow on contract, the contractor will conduct full development and lifecycle engineering for the Aegis Weapon System (AWS) fielding for cruisers, destroyers and Aegis Ashore configurations. The AWS contract will support the following efforts: Aegis Baseline 5.4.1 (Ballistic Missile Defense 4.2) development; BL 9 (BMD 5.X) development; Aegis BMD In-Service support; BMD ground and flight test support; modeling and simulation support; Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Test Complex combat system engineering, testing, site support, modernization, technical and logistics …

Americas The United States aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk headed to a scrapyard in Texas and too large to slip through the Panama Canal, reports MercoPress. The ship must sail around South America. In her 16,000-mile trip this weekend the impressive vessel “rested” for a few hours in Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile as she was crossing the Magellan Strait towed by a couple of tugs. Jane’s reported, that the Brazilian Navy is in the process of receiving its seventh and final modernised Skyhawk fighter jet. The acceptance of the AF-1B jet, tail number N-1004, was initiated on March 7 and is expected to take three to four weeks. Five AF-1 single-seat and two AF-1A twin…

As we briefly reviewed last summer, Turkey's bullying action from the Aegean to Cyprus to Libya was having the effect of pushing surrounding nations closer together - and getting the attention of larger powers on the other side of the Mediterranean as well. After a series of provocations by Turkey, it was only natural that the nations of the Eastern Mediterranean would either have to fold or stand up. They've taken the later option; Egypt, Cyprus and Greece have demanded respect for the sovereignty and sovereign rights of states in their maritime areas in the eastern Mediterranean. The demand came in a joint statement from the three countries’ foreign ministers du…

In the 1970s we left the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) - a church my family had been members of through my matriarchal line since it appeared on the North American continent. We left because each Sunday became a running battle between the parishioners and the ministers over the church's support of the communists in Nicaragua. This was a tough sell in a part of a the country highly influenced by their Cuban neighbors' staunch first-person experience with that blood-soaked ideology - but PCUSA was well past the institutional capture turn and the Presbyterian Church of American (PCA) was yet widely known and Evangelical Presbyterian Church (United States) didn't even exist. …

Americas Northrop Grumman Aerospace won a $298.2 million contract modification to repair common unmanned aircraft system components for the US Air Force. The deal provides for repair services for “common items” for both the RQ-4B and MQ-4C Triton. It will support reparable National Stock Numbers (NSNs) which encompass the Air Vehicle, multiple sensor packages, Mission Control Element, and Launch and Recovery Element. In addition, this effort includes support engineering services covered under the engineering delegation authority for NSNs transferred to and under the management of the 407 Supply Chain Management Squadron. Work will take place in California, Utah, Virginia,…

Can a military organization suffer from attention deficit disorder? There are very few moments in time – the mid-1990s was a rare one – where a nation’s national security apparatus has the luxury and white space to get distracted and complacent. 2021 is not one of those times. With a new leadership team in place in DOD, are we sure they are focused on the important challenges of China, North Korea, Iran, and Russia? What are the top distractions that those concerned with the proper stewardship of our nation’s defense need to make sure don’t entice away time, money, and effort? With his recent article, Don’t Let the Department of Defense Become the Department of Dist…

With what looks like sabotage of the Nordstream 1 & 2 pipelines under the Baltic Sea bringing a momentary focus on critical infrastructure on the seabed, now is the perfect time point everyone to Pierre Morcos and Colin Wall's 2021 CSIS commentary, Invisible and Vital: Undersea Cables and Transatlantic Security. In the national security arena, when conflicts arise people will discuss Ground Lines of Communication (GLOC) and Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC) - concepts military professionals concerned with keeping beans, bullets, lawyers, guns, and money flowing have focused on for all of human written history. In our age, where so much of what goes over GLOC and SLOC…

Americas The US Navy’s Tactical Combat Training System Increment II (TCTS II) pod made its first flight on December 11, 2020. A flight with the pod on two F/A-18Es took place on December 15. The TCTS II system, developed by Collins, is the first certified encrypted, multi-level security training pod that communicates with both airborne and ground equipment. The Boeing F-15EX fighter jet completed its first flight Tuesday, paving the way for the early delivery of the first two of the new fighter jet to the Air Force later this quarter, Boeing announced. According to the company, the jet took off from St. Louis Lambert International Airport and completed a 90-minute test f…

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Sea-Giraffe-1X_slideshowpic1-300x169.jpg Sea Giraffe 1X 3D (click to view full) Swedish defense giant Saab is to offer its Sea Giraffe 1X 3D, active electronically scanned array (AESA) naval radar to the US market, showcasing it at the Maritime Security East Conference in Norfolk, Virginia this week. At 650 pounds, the radar is suitable for small patrol boats, giving them the ability to detect unmanned aerial vehicles for the first time. With no forced cooling requirements, and a minimal number of line-replaceable units (LRUs), it requires little power or upkeep. All maintenance, including LRU repair, can b…

Americas DigiFlight won a $13.8 million contract modification for programmatic support for the Apache Attack Helicopter. The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a twin-turboshaft attack helicopter. It is equipped with two turboshaft engines, each providing 1,265kW. The American AH-64D has General Electric T700-GE-701 engines and the UK Apache is fitted with RTM322 engines from Rolls-Royce / Turbomeca. Work will take place in Maryland. Estimated completion date is May 23, 2022. The US Army’s 4th Infantry Division participated in a Counter-Small UAS home-station training session at Fort Carson, Colorado, from April 19-May 7. This is the first time such training was held at home-station…

Remember, as they are mostly a military contractor, indirectly you are paying for this. From the irreplaceable Christopher Rufo; Beginning last summer, Raytheon launched a critical race theory-inspired training program called Stronger Together, encouraging employees to “becom[e] an anti-racist today.” Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes supported the campaign by signing an Action for Diversity & Inclusion statement, promising to “promote diversity” and “cultivate meaningful change for our society,” then asking all Raytheon employees to sign the pledge and “check [their] own biases.” ... Raytheon asks white employees to deconstruct their identities and “identify [their] privile…

While the world's eyes are focused on Russia and Ukraine - and probably will for the foreseeable future - the People's Republic of China is not standing still. How can China use this moment to her advantage? What possible lessons can China take away from the Ukraine conflict so far, and perhaps more importantly, how should it impact how we and our allies look at China? Returning to Midrats to discuss these and related questions this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern will be our guest Dean Cheng. Dean is the Senior Research Fellow for Chinese political and security affairs at the Asia Studies Center of The Heritage Foundation. He specializes in Chinese military and foreign polic…

Did the Ukrainians manage to hit a Russian navy patrol boat with Grad rockets? I'm sure regulars here have been tracking this for a few days;Russian Nav's Project 22160 patrol ship Vasily Bykov was damaged by a Ukrainian multiple launch rocket system in the Black Sea near #Odesa. The ship sank today. There is no information about its crew yet. pic.twitter.com/C5a3pY1IgK — Ukraine Reporter (@StateOfUkraine) March 7, 2022 You need to be careful in this war and when something sounds too good to be true, often it is. Sometimes, it isn't. Hard to tell;One of two Russian warships made famous for its attack on Snake Island in the Black Sea last month has been destroyed, accordi…

For obvious reasons, the navalists amongst us (guilty) have an ear out for Odessa. Not only is it the last significant port on the Black Sea under the control of Ukraine, it has a history from the dawn of time as the key to any conflict in this area. The Russians must take it during this campaign. As such, this got my attention today; The Ukrainian military is reporting Russian warships in the Black Sea are shelling villages near the coast close to the nearby port city of Odesa. These attacks specifically targeted the settlements of Lebedivka, Sanzheika, Zatoka, and Bilenke, according to a Wednesday Facebook post from Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces. These vi…

Americas Leidos won a $12.5 million contract modification for the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory Autonomous Littoral Connector (ALC) project. The ALC project integrates autonomy onto connectors (vessels) to deliver equipment, fuel or supplies from ship-to-shore and throughout the littoral environment; improves autonomous beaching, well deck ops, payload integration; conducts an Amphibious Assault Direction System spiral; and adds autonomous navigation to multiple vessels. This modification provides for the execution of Option 7, Contract Line Item Number 0015, for an additional vessel (AV) and design, build and test of AV #1. Work will take place in Virginia and is e…