Raw Intel

Americas Canadian government documents have disclosed that Lockheed Martin is required to deliver nine F-35s to Canada by December 1, 2027. The last aircraft will have to be delivered before December 31, 2031. The Liberal government plans to purchase 88 U.S.-built F-35s as part of a project expected to cost taxpayers between $15 billion and $19 billion. Critics of the purchase have noted, however, the full lifecycle cost for the planes is estimated at $77 billion. According to Defense News, Argentina has kicked-started the process for procuring four Boeing-made CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters from the US. Aimed at fulfilling a requirement first issued in 2011, the h…

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…

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…

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…

While the rest of the world paused to focus on COVID-19 the last year, even though the pandemic started there, the People's Republic of China did not stop her long, steady push out to the world to take the place she feels she in entitled to. From the border of India to South America and back to the Western Pacific, China feels the wind at her back. Where is China signaling she will be be the greatest challenge to her neighbors and the global community? Returning to Midrats this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern for the full hour 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 Her…

There are some smart decisions being made by the Army when it comes to what the cool kids call “long range fires” (I don't care if they call in medium) … and the products are blue and gold. Via Sydney Freedberg at BreakingDefense; Instead of picking a single missile to be its thousand-mile Mid-Range Capability, the Army has chosen to mix two very different Navy weapons together in its prototype MRC unit: the new, supersonic, high-altitude SM-6 and the venerable, subsonic, low-flying Tomahawk. ... Lockheed Martin won the OTA contract, worth up to $339.4 million with all options, to integrate the two missiles – both built by Raytheon – into the Army fire control systems, v…

1. Make the metrics. 2. Adjust the metrics. 3. Make the metrics look good. Those who have served on staffs in large bureaucracies know these three steps. To get there, on any subject, you first have to get good data sets – otherwise garbage in, garbage out. Looking desperately to avoid investing time and resources to investigate their epic failure as a primary player in our national humiliation in Afghanistan, the State Department seems to want to update their data. The State Department, as part of an agency-wide modernization effort, is focused on using its vast inventory to further its diplomatic mission. The State Department’s Enterprise Data Strategy, released in Sep…

The Afghan army and government the Soviet Union left behind lasted over 3-yrs. The Afghan army and government the USA left behind lasted barely 1 month. This is a nugget everyone needs to hoist onboard. It is bolded and underlined for a reason. For those in the elder GenX cohort and older, we remember vividly all the comments made, especially after its fall, of the failures of the Soviet Union. We liked to talk about its stifling bureaucracy, oppressive government nomenklatura, busy body rules, crumbling infrastructure, military infested with political officers pushing ideology, corruption, and almost comical government officials - all so assured of their power, such bel…

If you don’t wake up every morning cursing those responsible for defense and China policy in the 1990s … the gobsmackingly short sighted arrogance of it all – then what use are you, actually? With a few exceptions, from partially completed CV rusting in Ukraine to teaching the Communist Chinese how to MIRV ICBM warheads, to opening up our best research institutions to spies an assets, the USA was beset internally by unserious people with the attention span of a hamster and the historical perspective of a newborn in serious jobs requiring long-term thinking and decision making. The harvest of this decade of frivolity continue to ripen, and via Jeremy Bogaisky, at Forbes – …

You know the names; Guadalcanal, Savo Island, Cape Esperance, Santa Cruz, Tassafaronga. There were other less known fights during the Solomon Islands Campaign, but those are the major ones ... some even had USN warships named after them. During the campaign, the United States suffered over 10,600 killed, 40+ ships sunk, and over 800 aircraft lost. Imperial Japan suffered over 86,000 dead, 50+ ships sunk, and 1,500 aircraft lost. These islands are critical to control/protect the sea lines of communication from the Indian Ocean in to the Pacific Ocean - from the United States to Australia. After WWII, this was generally an Australian sphere of influence, but as always, the …

Americas Raytheon won a $41.1 million for the Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM) Block (BLK) one spare parts for sustainment and support of in-service ESSM BLK 1 Guided Missile Assemblies. This delivery order includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this delivery order to $49,251,821. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. […]View 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…

Americas General Atomics won a $33.7 million contract, which provides for logistic support, maintenance services, supply chain and spares management, and sustainment support in support of the MQ-9 Reaper aircraft and its dual control mobile ground control station. The MQ-9 Reaper is the primary offensive strike unmanned aerial vehicle for the US Air Force. It is part of a remotely piloted aircraft system. A fully operational system consists of several sensor/weapon-equipped aircraft, ground control station, Predator Primary Satellite Link, and spare equipment along with operations and maintenance crews for deployed 24-hour missions. Work will take place in Arizona, Bahrai…

OK, that may be a stretch but we may have an opening to discuss the logistics and maintenance holes that everyone else was ignoring this century. I'm not a fan of all he has plans for 2021, but I am encouraged by a recent statement. Details over at USNIBlog. Come on by and tell me your thoughts. 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=4-1vGL_D2kA:2QuwJRWKFt0:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=4-1vGL_D2kA:2QuwJRWKFt0:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=4-1vGL_D2kA:2QuwJRWKFt0:V_sGLiPBpWU http:…

Since I started reading military history when I was ... well ... able to read ... there have been two types of leaders that I have always found interesting at moments when all is lost. One represents the worst example, and one is the best. When I say, “all is lost,” I'm not talking about fighting retreats or "Horatius at the Bridge" situations when forces are engaged in holding actions to buy time, but those moments when defeat is a forgone conclusion. There is no real hope for victory but a leader has to make decisions as to what they are willing to do and sacrifice - not just themselves, but for those they lead. If they decide to continue to fight or carry out their d…

Americas US hypersonic missiles can strike within six inches of a target after traveling thousands of miles at Mach 5 or faster, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said. Speaking at a conference of the US Association of the Army on Tuesday, McCarthy referred to a March 19 test of the missile, which was fired from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. It flew at hypersonic speed, defined as five or more times the speed of sound, before striking its “designated impact point,” the Army said. The test reportedly demonstrated that the weapon, which consists of a warhead, guidance system and thermal protection, can fly five times the speed of sound, maneuver in varying…

General Sir Patrick Sanders, GBR A, Chief of the General Staff (GBR), made a statement, in part, this week that at first I thought was a bit of an exaggeration; "This is our 1937 moment," the army chief said, referring to the crucial period leading up to World War Two. "We are not at war - but must act rapidly so that we aren't drawn into one through a failure to contain territorial expansion… I will do everything in my power to ensure that the British Army plays its part in averting war." The challenge means the army must modernise, embracing new technologies such as cyber warfare and long-range missiles, but also retain traditional soldiering skills. General Sanders s…

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…

Are you numb when it comes to news of the maritime power growing on the other side of the Pacific? I hope not, but if you are the numbers are such that it should burn through to what few nerves you have left. We have been at this here for what; Long Game is this ... #90 (and that isn't even the number of China posts we've done over the years) a decade and a half or so? Well, no rest folks. We are well inside the quickening. Don't avert your eyes from the numbers. Let them soak in. Hoist them aboard. Ponder. Plan. Prepare. I'll let our friend The Other Sal warm things up for you; China’s new shipbuilding orders up 182.1% in first four months "China’s newly r…

I find it interesting what parts of our history people like to bring up ... and why. Often what is even more interesting is what they don't bring up ... and why. One American hero you hadn't heard too much the last half year or so is Sergeant William Carney, United States Army. In March 1863, Carney joined the Union Army and was attached to Company C, 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry Regiment, the first official black unit recruited for the Union in the north. Forty other black men served with him, including two of famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass' sons. Within a few months, Carney's training would be put to the ultimate test during the unit's first major comba…