Raw Intel

China and Egypt have agreed to cooperate on the local production of armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), signaling a new stage in bilateral defense ties. The deal was formalized through a memorandum of understanding signed today between Egypt’s Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) and China’s NORINCO, officially known as the China North Industries Corporation. According […]View the full article

Last week was the story of the HMS JERVIS BAY and her crew during the Battle of Convoy HX84. When we finished last week, HMS JERVIS BAY was out of the fight and the convoy was scattered - but she did her job. By the time they realized that the Jervis Bay had been terribly alone, an hour had been lost. The convoy had been given time enough to break up and begin to flee. ...and so the pocket battleship ADMIRAL SCHEER, unopposed now, closed in. However, there was a Canadian ship, the SS BEAVERFORD, armed with one 4 inch & one 3 inch gun who turned towards the SHEER and her six 11 inch, eight 5.9 inch guns and eight 21 inch torpedo tubes. What was the BEAVERFORD? Beave…

Show LinksThe Congress, the Golden Fleet, and the Shipbuilding Industrial Base in 2026 You can listen at this link, subscribe to the podcast, or via the Spotify widget below. SummaryIn this episode of Midrats, Sal and Mark engage with Eric Labs, a senior analyst at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), to discuss the complexities of shipbuilding costs, the role of the CBO in providing independent estimates, and the challenges faced by the U.S. Navy in maintaining and expanding its fleet. Eric shares insights on the differences between CBO and Navy cost estimates, the impact of maintenance on overall ship costs, and the importance of a skilled labor force in shipbuilding.…

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said early Saturday it detected the launch of Iranian ballistic missiles toward Israel, signaling the first wave of retaliation following coordinated United States and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets. Military officials confirmed missile launches were identified by Israeli early warning systems as air defenses were placed on heightened alert nationwide. […]View the full article

AeroVironment said on April 20 it has secured a $14.6 million production contract from the U.S. Army for its VAPOR Compact Long Endurance unmanned aircraft system, an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing platform built for small-unit operations. The award falls under the Army’s Company-Level Directed Requirement Small Uncrewed Aircraft System program, Tranche 2, and is […]View the full article

The U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne Division at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska is training soldiers to detect, evade, and counter small drones using commercial off-the-shelf aircraft loaded with tennis balls to simulate explosive drops. Donovan Fredericksen, a training developer and integrator with U.S. Army Pacific’s G3 Home Station Training Team supporting the 11th Airborne Division, […]View the full article

A German company that makes the transmission inside the Leopard 2 main battle tank has started production of its 4,000th unit, marking a milestone that speaks directly to how central one piece of engineering has been to Western armored capability for more than four decades. RENK Group AG, headquartered in Augsburg, Germany, announced on June […]View the full article

A Taiwanese military unit that once had nine administrative vehicles at its disposal now has just one it can actually drive, according to a claim a lawmaker raised directly to the island’s defense minister this week, Taiwan’s FTV News reported. Kuomintang legislator Ma Wen-chun pressed Defense Minister Wellington Koo during a Legislative Yuan questioning session […]View the full article

A California drone maker best known for supplying Ukraine’s secretive kamikaze drone fleet has landed another $88.1 million in orders to deliver long-range precision strike systems. AEVEX Corp., a Solana Beach, California-based defense technology company, announced on July 28, 2026, that it secured new production orders totaling $88.1 million to deliver long-range precision strike capabilities […]View the full article

The U.S. Army will send its M1E3 Abrams prototype to the 1st Cavalry Division for testing, the division confirmed in a social media post responding to an Army announcement about the next-generation tank. The 1st Cavalry Division said it will receive both M1E3 prototypes and XM30 prototypes, testing the vehicles and providing feedback that will […]View the full article

Romania has received its first K9 self-propelled howitzers, K10 ammunition resupply vehicles and K12 vehicles from South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace under its tracked self-propelled howitzer program. Romania signed a contract worth nearly $1 billion with Hanwha on July 9, 2024, for 54 K9 howitzers and 36 K10 resupply vehicles, along with ammunition and tracked and […]View the full article

Saab has presented the first GlobalEye airborne early warning and control aircraft built for the Swedish Air Force, a business jet-based radar plane that will replace the two older surveillance aircraft Sweden gave to Ukraine. The company unveiled the aircraft on Oct. 15. The jet will now go through a phase of testing and verification […]View the full article

When trying to get a grasp on the best way to secure the nation's security and interests, why should Americans look to the sea? Do American's assume or take for granted what three-quarters of a century of American dominance of the high seas gifted them? Is this assumption in danger? Where do we stand and what steps need to be taken to secure what every American living assumes is their birthright? To discuss this and related issues this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern will be one of our favorite guests, Dr. Jerry Hendrix, CAPT USN (Ret.), and author of the upcoming book, To Provide and Maintain a Navy; Why Naval Primacy is America's First, Best Strategy. Since retirement, …

I don't know who lead it will be or what crisis will cause it, but at some point we will realize that the golden calf idol of a procurement process we seem to think is a god is not only false, it is evil. An entire generation going or two of acquisition professionals have grown up in a system that consistently fails the nation. It doesn't have to be this inefficient or this ineffective, but it is. Latest datapoint is the overthinking and self-doubt is the replacement for the Super Hornet. We have individuals who know what needs to be done - and if they had their way we would be a long way down the road to a modern fighter to replaced the butched-up 1970s runner-up th…

Americas Boeing won a $12 million order, which provides production engineering support in support of the integration and installation of weapon systems on the F/A-18 E/F and EA-18G aircraft for the Navy. The US Navy F/A-18 E and F Super Hornet are maritime strike attack aircraft. The Growler is a derivative of the combat-proven two-seat F/A-18 Hornet, the US Navy’s maritime strike aircraft. The primary missions of the aircraft are electronic attack (EA) and suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD), particularly at the start and ongoing early stages of hostilities. Work will take place in Maryland and Missouri. Estimated completion will be in July 2022. The US Missile Def…

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 2022; what is it actually for? Before we address that question, we should remind everyone of the most well known quote from NATO’s first Secretary General, Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay; The Soviet Union is dead three decades on, and besides a spot of bother inside the Iron Curtain when it existed and a bit in the Balkans, Georgia, and yes Ukraine … Europe has been at peace from major wars for a very long time. This is a good thing we should want to keep going. To do that, you need to demonstrate strength and resolve, and it can’t always be from the USA. We are just one election, domestic squabble, or national disaster away f…

We haven’t really discussed the imbroglio presently roiling USMC-world around General Berger, USMC and “USMC Force Design 2030.” Well, today we’re going to step in – second hand. The document itself isn’t as interesting to me per se as the reaction to it. Berger is trying to look at where we are today, what challenges the nation faces, what the USMC’s role in addressing that challenge is, what resources provided to do it, and has come up with a path he and his staff believes best addresses the challenge. No plan of vision is perfect. There are always weaknesses and imperfections, but decisions do need to be made. The old guard, or as Bob Work - Former Deputy Secretary of …

If it seems like a long time ago, I guess it was. For me at least, it seems not. As I do every year, this is how I saw it. View the full article

Complacency, a self-serving bureaucracy, and a willful forgetfulness of the fundamentals of war is a common thread in most 21st Century defense establishments in the developed world, but these very human conditions are worse in some nations than others. Germany stands out. If you want a sobering view of the military situation of our German allies, Der Spiegel has a staggering report that provides a stark view of what small budgets, ill-fitting reforms, and just plain anti-military politicians can do to a nation who is - whether they want it or not - a keystone to NATO's continental defense. Though it isn't quite fair to use the end of the cold war force levels - everyone'…

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $180 million modification for the production of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Interceptors and associated one-shot devices to support the US government. The THAAD Interceptors and associated one-shot devices will be procured under fixed-price incentive (firm target) contract line items. THAAD is a United States Army anti-ballistic missile defense […]View the full article