Raw Intel

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $108.8 million modification for AEGIS combat system engineering agent (CSEA) efforts for the design, development, integration, test and delivery of Advanced Capability Build 20. The Aegis combat system uses powerful computers and radar to track and guide weapons to destroy enemy targets. More than 100 Aegis-equipped ships have been deployed in five navies worldwide. Aegis, not an acronym, refers to the shield of the mythical Greek God Zeus. Work will take place in Moorestown, New Jersey. Expected completion date will be in December 2021. The US Air Force has successfully demonstrated that the F-16’s Electronic Warfare System can receive sof…

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 …

Under the prior Democratic administration, we saw seabags full of personal and institutional capital - not to mention a lot of actual capital - expended on the farcical "Great Green Fleet." As it is with all non-value added political vanity projects (remember "Lean-In Circles"), the Navy doesn't keep them across administrations because they are just foolish and wasteful in addition to being just domestic policy objectives and personal positioning on the Navy's dime. With the Biden Administration, the Gaia cult has returned and sadly the present SECNAV feels that he needs to make another run with the same talking points supporting a neo-pagan doomsday cult that has been wa…

I know that seems like a rather high bar to meet, but after a quarter century, TQL may have met its match. Details, if you can believe them, are over at USNIBlog. Come by and behold the madness. 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=Ehtqiu1HydE:TRdoLYDABgk:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=Ehtqiu1HydE:TRdoLYDABgk:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=Ehtqiu1HydE:TRdoLYDABgk:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=Ehtqiu1HydE:TRdoLYDABgk:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner…

For a moment today I put on my Chinese Red Hat, and suddenly had a bit of strategic claustrophobia. Why? A map. All it took was a map perspective. Come on over to USNIBlog to see the obvious hidden in plain sight. 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=1wQYX1fpJ7I:VPmaLWVQA1E:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=1wQYX1fpJ7I:VPmaLWVQA1E:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=1wQYX1fpJ7I:VPmaLWVQA1E:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=1wQYX1fpJ7I:VPmaLWVQA1E:F7zBnMyn0Lo ht…

Americas An F-35B fighter assigned to US Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 (VMFAT-501) has crashed north of North Charleston. The mishap aircraft was part of a two-ship flight that took off from MCAS Beaufort. The second F-35B landed safely at Joint Base Charleston. Officials are now trying to find the F-35B that went down […]View the full article

This FbF I'd like to take a moment to recognize someone who is, in my mind at least, fullbore. He did not do anything exceptional in war or other usual benchmarks to make FbF ... but he did something more. He brought to life to a huge audience the great deeds of others in the naval service. He did it in a way that made people think about the example set and the lessons that could be useful for today and the future. Brain cancer took him this week, too soon, but he left behind a legacy generations will benefit from. Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, Neptune's Inferno, Ship of Ghosts, A Fleet at Flood Tide and more. Regulars here know these books and their author, Ja…

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…

Americas Lockheed Martin Space won a $25.7 million contract modification for Trident II (D5) missile production and deployed systems support. Work will be performed in Utah,Colorado, California, Florida and various places below one percent (0.2%). Work is expected to be completed July 1, 2025. The Trident II Strategic Weapon System (SWS) is deployed aboard Ohio-class (Trident) submarines and consists of: the Trident II (D5) Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM); Reentry System; and supporting Shipboard Systems. The Pentagon announced on August 1 that the L3Harris and Air Tractor team has won the Armed Overwatch program. Armed Overwatch will provide Special Operatio…

Americas Huntington Ingalls won a 41.7 million contract modification to exercise options for accomplishment of follow yard services for the DDG 51 Class destroyer program. The DDG 51 class guided missile destroyers are warships that provide multi-mission offensive and defensive capabilities. Destroyers can operate independently or as part of Carrier Strike Groups, Surface Action Groups, and Expeditionary Strike Groups. Work under the modification will take place in Mississippi, Washington DC and Maine. Estimated completion will be by April 2023. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won a $23 million deal, which provides initial product support maintenance of the F-35 Lightning II…

Israel-based Aero-Sentinel has developed the G2 Premium unmanned aerial vehicle, a reconnaissance drone designed for extended endurance, near-silent operation, and advanced algorithmic tracking for defense and security missions. According to Aero-Sentinel, the G2 Premium is engineered to meet the demands of covert surveillance in contested environments. The system combines 80 minutes of flight endurance with […] The post Aero-Sentinel’s G2 Premium drone redefines covert reconnaissance first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

There is no FbF today. This is no time for such things. This is a weekend to think of other things. 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=0okd9FN63u8:dNaj1DChDSM:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=0okd9FN63u8:dNaj1DChDSM:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=0okd9FN63u8:dNaj1DChDSM:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=0okd9FN63u8:dNaj1DChDSM:F7zBnMyn0Lo http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/FAFV/~4/0okd9FN63u8View the full article

Resupply through thousands of miles of hostile waters to your forces well inside the enemy's aircraft reach and a day's sail or two from their home bases. Your navy intends to bring and keep the fight in to the enemy's backyard, stay there, and defeat them at sea in order to give your nation dominance in their enemy's backyard. One force has well over a century of dominance in all the world's oceans. A superb tradition of training and combat excellence in these exact waters. They have fewer, but larger ships ... but as well trained as their crews are, they are also under the stress of constant threat and being far away from home waters. The other force also has a traditi…

With the Russo-Ukrainian War in its 3rd week, everyone is starting to see a new normal emerging in Europe, our alliances, and global posture. What are the assumptions time has left behind, what concepts are playing out well, and what surprises at sea and ashore have been a surprise? What will the next phase look like? This Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern EagleOne and Sal are bringing back the melee format with an eye on Ukraine. Open topic, open phones, green range ... bearings free. Join us live if you can, but it not, you can get the show later by subscribing to the podcast. If you use iTunes, you can add Midrats to your podcast list simply by clicking the iTunes button at t…

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $22.6 million contract modification, which adds scope to procure 22 Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System shipsets for Distributed Aperture System for Technology Refresh-3 developmental and operational testing, Block 4 testing, the Electromagnetic Environmental Effects aircraft, and a spare sensor set provision in support of F-35 Lightning II next generation capabilities. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion will be by July 2023. MH Systems won a $24.7 million deal for the purchase of aircraft painters manpower support. This contract provides for the augmentation of 402d Aircraft Maintenance Group organic forces for dep…

Hydras & Hellfires (click to view full) The versatile Hydra 70mm rocket family is primed for a new lease on life, thanks to widespread programs aimed at converting these ubiquitous rockets into cheap laser-guided precision weapons. Conversion benefits include cost, use on both helicopters and fighters, more precision weapons per platform, low collateral damage, and the activation of large weapon stockpiles that couldn’t be used under strict rules of engagement. Firms all over the world have grasped this opportunity, which explains why strong competition has emerged from all points of the compass. America’s “Advanced Precision-Kill Weapon System (APKWS)” is one of t…

As everyone here is probably aware ... the drivers of sectarianism, division, and strife think they have the wind at their back and are on the march. There were some minor victories here and there for those who desire unity, equality, and a just society based on individual character - but make no mistake, the forces of division are on the march again. Those who desire to move to a point of unity for the citizens in our little experiment is self governance have for too long given the benefit of the doubt to people we should not have. We have let people slowly back away from the vision of a unified nation as best outlined by MLK over half a century ago, and now we find ou…

Americas General Atomics has announced the availability of a short takeoff and landing (STOL) wing and tail kit for the MQ-9B. The American company had demonstrated STOL capability on a modified Gray Eagle Extended Range platform last year under its Mojave initiative. The new MQ-9B STOL kit can fold upwards so that the unmanned air vehicle can be parked on the deck or in the hangar bay, of an aircraft carrier or amphibious assault ship. Raytheon won a $272.7 million performance-based logistics requirements contract to provide logistics, repair, and upgrade support for 15 Multi-Spectral Targeting System Forward-Looking Infrared components in support of MH-60R and MH-60S h…

Americas According to the US Navy, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division has completed five weeks of integrated test evaluations of the AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) system. The Dahlgren Division, based in Virginia, performed interoperability testing with the G/ATOR system, preparing first by verifying the command’s infrastructure functionality, including power accessibility, radar data recording abilities and data analysis capabilities. The G/ATOR system, made by Northrop Grumman, is designed to detect low-observable targets with low radar cross sections such as rockets, artillery, mortars, cruise missiles and drones. Northrop Grumman is des…

The last few weeks have been filled with discussions about possible Russian use of tactical nuclear weapons – probably in a demonstration first – because of their collapsing conventional war in Ukraine. There are lots of different scenarios/vignettes you can go through and could spend all day or more on each one, but I’d like to pull one out for you today that brings together a few threads we’ve seen the last nine months. Here are the threads we are going to pull in to the primary subject of this wargame: the Russian Federation decides to demonstrate their willingness to use tactical nuclear weapons. Threads common to this war so far: Russian “gun decking” of material r…