Raw Intel

BAE Systems Land & Armaments LP has secured a $184.4 million contract modification from the U.S. Marine Corps for the production of 30 Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) variants equipped with medium caliber cannons. The award is part of a larger contract that could reach $3.86 billion if all options are exercised. The Department of War […]View the full article

The United States carried out strikes on multiple Venezuelan military and infrastructure targets on Friday, including air bases and port facilities in and around Caracas, according to local reports. Confirmed targets included Isla Margarita near La Guaira, Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda Air Base in Caracas, the port at La Guaira, El Libertador Air Base, Fort […]View the full article

Lockheed Martin has delivered the first Sentinel A4 radar from Low-Rate Initial Production 2 to the U.S. Army and completed the first phase of Initial Operational Test and Evaluation, the company said. As noted by Lockheed Martin, the delivery represents the first of 19 Sentinel A4 systems planned under the LRIP 2 phase. The company […]View the full article

A long-range Iranian Shahed-type one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicle struck a radar system at the United States-operated Naval Support Activity Bahrain, according to video footage circulating online showing the moment of impact at the facility. Video footage reviewed by regional observers shows a low-flying unmanned aerial vehicle approaching the base area before striking what appears […]View the full article

Polish defense technology company FlyFocus has developed the KURIER unmanned helicopter, a 600-kilogram-class logistics platform. The heavy drone system is designed to deliver cargo autonomously to units operating beyond conventional resupply reach. According to the company, KURIER is capable of carrying more than 200 kilograms of cargo and is intended primarily to support special forces […]View the full article

It has taken a week since we first discussed the 34 ships on the way. Now, thanks to our friend Charlie B., we have additional details…with an extra special addition on weapons. Let’s see what Santa has in store for us…besides a really cute fireboat avatar. It is nice, four years after we asked the question, to finally have an answer about fireboats.. Is there anything really shocking here? No, not really, but I would draw your attention to the fact that it seems that we are diverting funds from aircraft carriers to battleships…despite the fact that events over the last year, especially but not exclusively, have proven once again we are woefully short of aircraft carriers…

General Dynamics Land Systems has secured a $229.6 million contract to produce 50 Stryker Double V-Hull (DVH) A1 armored vehicles for the U.S. Army, continuing a production line that has delivered one of the service’s most combat-proven wheeled infantry platforms through more than two decades of operational use across multiple theaters. Army Contracting Command at […]View the full article

An Israeli drone manufacturer whose production facility was struck by an Iranian ballistic missile just two months ago has announced that its G3 reconnaissance drone platform completed operational readiness and training activities with unnamed security organizations over the past two weeks, with photographs showing the aircraft carrying blurred external payloads that were obscured, apparently for […]View the full article

Britain’s Ministry of Defence is still sitting on 42 SEPECAT Jaguar attack jets nearly two decades after the Royal Air Force retired the type, and nine more have already been shipped off to India to keep that country’s aging combat fleet flying, the UK Defence Journal reported. The figures came from a written parliamentary answer […]View the full article

Turkish Aerospace Industries, known by its Turkish acronym TUSAŞ, released new footage showing the KAAN P1 fighter jet prototype successfully conducting powered taxi tests, confirming the aircraft has moved into ground testing ahead of its first flight. KAAN is Türkiye’s fifth-generation stealth fighter program, a homegrown effort launched after the United States removed Türkiye from […]View the full article

My father would be having a cow. I can hear him now, "Stand up straight d@mnit. He's no better than you are." First a Saudi, then a Hawaiian, now a Dane. Bad national habit. View the full article

Hat tip Lee. View the full article

Americas Boeing won a $41.7 million delivery order for consumable and depot-level repairable parts for the KC-46 military unique program. The Boeing KC-46 Pegasus is a military aerial refueling and strategic military transport aircraft. In 2011, the DOD announced the Boeing Company as the winner of a competition to build 179 new KC-46 Aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force, a contract valued at roughly $35 billion. Boeing designed the KC-46 to carry passengers, cargo and patients. The aircraft can detect, avoid, defeat and survive threats using multiple layers of protection, which will enable it to operate safely in medium-threat environments. Work will take place in …

FC-1/ JF-17, armed (click to view full) The FC-1/ JF-17 Thunder is a joint Chinese-Pakistani project that aimed to reduce Pakistan’s dependence on western firms for advanced fighters, by fielding a low-cost multi-role lightweight fighter that can host modern electronics and precision-guided weapons. It isn’t a top-tier competitor, but it represents a clear step up from Pakistan’s Chinese MiG-19/21 derivatives and French Mirage III/V fighters. This positioning addresses a budget-conscious, “good enough” performance market segment that the West once dominated, but has nearly abandoned in recent decades. Pakistan has fielded JF-17s in squadron strength, with more on order…

What can one small ship, well trained, well led, and well armed do when she finds herself in the right place at the right time? I give you the USS ENGLAND, (DE 635), via Michael Peck at TheNationalInterest; The saga of the England began on May 18, 1944, when the England and two other destroyer escorts received orders to find a Japanese submarine reported heading toward the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. On the afternoon of May 19, the England's sonar detected the submarine I-16. What happened next is detailed in an account written by Captain John Williamson, who served as the England's executive officer during that time. In a March 1980 article in Proceedings Mag…

Americas The first low-rate initial production MQ-4C in the B8 configuration, with multi-intelligence capabilities, has been delivered to NAS Patuxent River on February 1. The B8 is the first production Triton to be upgraded to the multi-intelligence configuration to meet the Navy’s critical maritime intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting needs. Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, said it is building nine additional CH-53K aircraft for the USMarine Corps. The CH-53K will support the military in its mission to conduct expeditionary heavy-lift assault transport of armored vehicles, equipment and personnel to support distributed operations deep inland fro…

On yesterday's Midrats David Larter mentioned something in passing that I really had not pondered since he was still on the journalism gig in 2020: In a move with sweeping consequences for the U.S. Navy’s battle force, the service is canceling plans to add 10 years to the expected service lives of its stalwart destroyer fleet, a cost-savings measure that would almost certainly hamper plans to grow the size of the fleet. In written testimony submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Navy’s Assistant Secretary for Research, Development and Acquisition James Geurts said performing service life extensions on Burkes designed to bring them up from 35-year hull liv…

Labor Day is behind us, school is in session, and winter is coming. That can mean only one thing - it’s time for a Midrats mid-month melee! For the full hour LIVE this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern, we will take a bit from the headlines, a tad from the history books, and whatever shows up in the chat room or the studio line. From DC to Ukraine, to the other side of the International Date Line, we’ll try to squeeze it in. We'll distribute your defense, integrate your lethality ... whatever it takes. As with every melee, if it is interesting and in the maritime or national security arena - we’ll take it on. Open chat, open phones, open topic - come join us live if you can, but …

Americas Raytheon won a $72.8 million order, which provides non-recurring engineering in support of early identification, development, and qualification of corrections to potential and actual F135 propulsion system operational issues, to include safety and reliability/maintainability problems identified through fleet usage. Additionally, this order provides for continued engine maturation, evaluates component life limits based on operational […]View the full article

Americas The US Marine Corps has taken delivery of its first MQ-9 Reaper drone under a joint procurement deal with the US Air Force. The delivery was part of a $136 million deal awarded to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems in 2022 for eight MQ-9s to be delivered to the marines this year. Boeing won a […]View the full article