Raw Intel

A next-generation stealth fighter that nearly stalled out over a funding dispute severe enough to cost two British officials their jobs has received a $6.1 billion vote of confidence from the three countries building it. The Global Combat Air Programme, known in Britain as Tempest, awarded an 18-month, £4.6 billion ($6.1 billion) contract on July […]View the full article

At some point in the post-WWII era, someone looked over at that quiet, unassuming man and thought, “He’s just a banker.” Really? Picture in your mind a British officer from WWII. This man, John Cruickshank, is almost right from central casting Just a junior officer flying a slow seaplane out of the Shetland Islands, taking his crew north. Just another patrol. Flying Officer Cruickshank was twenty-four years old when he piloted a Consolidated Catalina anti-submarine flying boat from Sullom Voe on 17 July 1944 on a patrol north into the Norwegian Sea. The objective was to protect the British Home Fleet as it returned from the unsuccessful Operation Mascot raid on the German…

Super Tucano Embraer’s EMB-314 Super Tucano trainer and light attack turboprop continues to rack up global orders, solidifying its position as the globe’s pre-eminent manned counter-insurgency aircraft. The latest order set of about $180 million expands the plane’s footprint into 3 African states: Angola, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania. They join Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Indonesia as customers for this aircraft. The Super Tucano is known as the A-29 or ALX in Brazil, but abroad, it’s the EMB 314 successor to Embraer’s widely-used EMB 312 Tucano trainer. A-29 is better for marketing, though, and Embraer is trying to shift the designatio…

Are you comfortable with that phrase? You should be. If not, head on over to my extended commentary at USNIBlog and get religion. 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=vKWi0m6i3CE:a7JNG-rUGgQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=vKWi0m6i3CE:a7JNG-rUGgQ:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=vKWi0m6i3CE:a7JNG-rUGgQ:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=vKWi0m6i3CE:a7JNG-rUGgQ:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/vKWi0m6i3CEView the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $1.4 billion deal from the US Air Force for the C-130J mission sustainment support effort. This contract provides for contractor logistics support and sustainment of the C-130J aircraft fleet. The C-130J is equipped with a Honeywell dual-embedded global positioning system/inertial navigation system (GPS/INS), an enhanced traffic alerting and collision avoidance system (E-TCAS), a ground collision avoidance system, SKE2000 station keeping system, and an instrument landing system (ILS). Work will take place in Georgia. Expected completion date is January 31, 2032. General Dynamics won a $20 million contract modification to support Virginia an…

Especially for Finland, but less so for Sweden, their neutrality in Europe is in a large measure a Cold War relic. For old NATO hands like your humble blogg'r, this is a great moment. Though they were not NATO, you could find in most NATO HQs and operations, including Afghanistan, Finns and Swedes. Superb professionals and friends. To see them come fully in to the fold is just plain right - not just from a security perspective, but on a baseline of NATO's grown common values and shared baseline respect for the rule of law and liberty. They are great nations for those who value Western civilization. A historic day! Today, Sweden and Finland hand in letters expressing the…

Americas General Atomics won a $35.9 million deal, which procures spares necessary for the successful operational capability of the Marine Air Ground Task Force Unmanned Aircraft System Expeditionary Medium Altitude Long Endurance MQ-9A Block 5 Reaper air vehicles, ground control stations and ancillary equipment for the Navy. Work will take place in California, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, Florida, South Carolina and Canada. Estimated completion will be in December 2026. New students who graduated to fly the B-52 bomber this fall will be operating the eight-engine aircraft with four crew members instead of the usual five. The bomber has two pilots, one navigator, a…

Americas Raytheon won a $21.6 million modification, which adds hours to finalize the design, integration, and to conduct test and evaluation in support of Phase Two for the Maritime Strike Tomahawk (MST) rapid deployment capability. Additionally, this effort provides for joint flight test to be performed which will provide additional data for MST integration of […]View the full article

Americas Northrop Grumman was awarded a $16 million deal by the Naval Air Systems Command for non-recurring engineering in support of the redesign of the MQ-4C Triton aircraft Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Airborne Recorder (BAR), the BAR ground station, and the test aircraft radar BAR due to diminishing manufacturing sources for the Navy. Work will […]View the full article

(click to view full) In March 2008, the Bell Boeing Joint Project Office in Amarillo, TX received a $10.4 billion modification that converted the previous N00019-07-C-0001 advance acquisition contract to a fixed-price-incentive-fee, multi-year contract. The new contract rose to $10.92 billion, and was used to buy 143 MV-22 (for USMC) and 31 CV-22 (Air Force […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) confirmed Monday that its special operations unit “A” conducted a drone strike on the Russian-occupied Saky military airfield in Crimea overnight, damaging and destroying multiple combat aircraft and a stockpile of aviation munitions. According to an official statement released on August 4, unmanned aerial vehicles operated by the SBU successfully penetrated […] The post Ukrainian strike destroys Russian fighter jet first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The development of Türkiye’s first fifth-generation fighter aircraft has reached a new phase – the second KAAN prototype has entered the system integration stage. According to Ulusavunma, the two new prototypes—currently undergoing advanced assembly—are being built with improved internal systems, drawing from flight data collected during the two successful test flights of the initial P0 […] The post Turkey makes progress toward KAAN jet production first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) scrambled fighter aircraft on Sunday after four civilian planes violated temporary flight restrictions over Norfolk, Virginia, prompting multiple intercepts and aerial escorts. According to NORAD, the series of incursions into restricted airspace occurred throughout the day on October 5, 2025, and required immediate responses under the binational command’s […] The post Four planes intercepted after violating no-fly zone in Virginia first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Australia’s Hypersonix Launch Systems has secured A$46 million ($30 million) in new funding to advance its hydrogen-powered hypersonic aircraft and engines. The Series A round was led by UK-based national security and frontier technology investor High Tor Capital, joined by European backers, QIC Ventures, and the Australian Government’s National Reconstruction Fund Corporation. The investment is […]View the full article

Ukrainian emergency crews were forced to deploy robotic demining systems after a Russian Shahed attack left unexploded submunitions scattered across a residential neighborhood in the city of Vyshhorod. The strike, which targeted civilian buildings during an overnight assault, caused casualties and extensive property damage. According to a statement from Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (DSNS), the […]View the full article

The United States Air Force confirmed the completion of Exercise Virtual Flag: Coalition 26-1, a large-scale multinational distributed battle management exercise hosted by the 705th Combat Training Squadron at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, integrating U.S. and allied forces in a simulated high-end Indo-Pacific conflict. According to the U.S. Air Force, the exercise brought […]View the full article

Taiwan has confirmed that the third batch of its ordered M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks has been completed in the United States and will be shipped to the island, as the military moves closer to fielding the new armored units into its operational force structure. The third batch of 28 M1A2T tanks has finished production […]View the full article

United States Central Command (CENTCOM) released new operational details on Feb. 28 about Operation Epic Fury, confirming that United States and partner forces conducted large-scale strikes against Iranian military targets beginning at 1:15 a.m. Eastern Time under orders from the President of the United States. According to the CENTCOM statement, the operation targeted elements of […]View the full article

Ukrainian forces destroyed a unit of Russian heavy multiple launch rocket systems in occupied Crimea using a long-range one-way strike drone, according to Militarnyi. The strike targeted Russian rocket artillery systems before they could be employed against Ukrainian positions. According to Militarnyi, the attack took place near the settlement of Karakul in Russian-occupied Crimea and […]View the full article

Boeing has been awarded a $11.95 million contract modification to install an Increment 3 retrofit kit on a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. The award exercises an option under an existing cost-plus-fixed-fee order and covers both the retrofit kit installation and associated ancillary support to upgrade the aircraft’s anti-submarine warfare capabilities. Naval Air […]View the full article