Raw Intel

Lockheed Martin has secured a $991 million contract to produce electronic warfare upgrade kits for 432 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters across three U.S. military services and a substantial international customer base, in one of the largest single F-35 modernization awards in the program’s history. The Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River, Maryland, issued the […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force awarded a $4 billion contract on June 8, to keep its training bases running for the next decade, selecting 19 companies to provide everything from aircraft maintenance and fire services to IT support, grounds keeping, and human resources across eleven Air Education and Training Command installations, including several of the Air […]View the full article

Albania has become the third country in the world to buy Turkey’s domestically built BORAN howitzer, signing a contract with Turkish state manufacturer MKE just days before NATO leaders gather in Ankara for this year’s summit, defense outlet Ulusavunma reported. The deal covers six BORAN 105mm towed howitzers along with an undisclosed quantity of ammunition, […]View the full article

I can think of few 18-month periods where shipbuilding, the merchant marine, and the importance of a strong maritime sector in the U.S. has been a more active topic. Near the center of this conversation—or at least a few paragraphs in—is a long-time friend of the show, Dr. Sal Mercogliano. He joins the Midrats Podcast today from 5-6 PM Eastern. Join us live at this link if you can, but if you miss it, refresh this page later Sunday night and the podcast links will be up. Sal is the Chair of the Department of History, Criminal Justice and Political Science at Campbell University; a former merchant mariner; and a contributor to USNI Proceedings, Sea History, Naval History, …

A fire broke out overnight Sunday at a WB Electronics facility in Skarżysko-Kamienna, Poland, adding another name to a growing list of European defense manufacturers hit by fires, explosions and suspected sabotage in 2026. The blaze started shortly after midnight in the plant’s assembly department, according to Radio Kielce, which cited a spokeswoman for local […]View the full article

As we have covered here through the years, the USCG used to be the most equal opportunity and race neutral of the uniformed services. Then a decade ago, Congress removed the requirement at the USCG Academy that it could not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin – and once that firewall was gone, we were off to the identity politics Olympics. I would like to point your attention to two ALCOAST messages; 452/20 and 195/20. Both went out December 15th, 452/20 about five hours before 195/20. You can read the full messages at the hypertext links above. Before you do that, let’s establish a few assumptions. 1. The diversity commissariat used to …

While the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier and her battlegroup heading east of Suez for a bit of showing the flag, with her Dutch and American friends along for comic relief, the Arabian sea the last week seemed to wake up. The chief of Israel’s armed forces spoke with his British counterpart on Sunday, the Israeli military said, after London accused Iran of carrying out an attack on an Israeli-managed ship off Oman last week that killed a Briton and a Romanian. Lieutenant-General Aviv Kohavi and Britain’s Staff General Nick Carter “discussed recent events in the region and common challenges faced by both countries,” said an Israeli military statement... In case…

This is kind of strange and different ... so of course, it is kind of growing on me. Via Megan Eckstein at Defense News; The U.S. Navy has promised a first deployment for its new aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford by this fall — but that deployment won’t be a typical one, the head of Naval Air Force Atlantic told Defense News. Ford won’t fall under the operational command of a regional combatant commander. Rather, it will conduct a “service-retained early employment” period where the Navy keeps full control over the ship’s activities and schedule, Rear Adm. John Meier said. The Navy keeping COCOM hands off their ships for awhile ... good. Nice habit. We should do this more…

We talked about them a little bit on yesterday's Midrats, but I can't keep them out of mind - so, we'll start out the week looking at one hell of a fleet the Japanese seem to be building; On the morning of September 1, the Japan Jiji News Agency suddenly reported news that the Japanese Ministry of Defense is preparing to build two new large warships. Its main features are: the standard displacement is about 20,000 tons, equipped with SPY-7 large radar originally used for land-based missile defense systems, equipped with American-made Standard-3 Block 2A anti-ballistic missiles, and Standard-6 long-range air defense missiles, made in Japan, Type 12 anti-ship missiles, and…

Americas Sikorsky won a $34 million modification, which exercises an option to provide validation and test tooling in support of achieving a production quantity at full rate of up to 24 CH-53K aircraft per year. Work will be performed in Salt Lake City, Utah (86%); and Stratford, Connecticut (14%), and is expected to be completed […]View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $34.7 million modification, which provides program management, software engineering, software engineering transformation, and cyber support to develop the Beyond Line of Sight F-35 Capability. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (50%); and San Diego, California (50%), and is expected to be completed in February 2026. Fiscal 2023 research, […]View the full article

Americas Raytheon won a $34.4 million modification to exercise options and provide incremental funding for engineering and technical services in support of SeaSparrow missile systems programs. This contract action combines purchases for the US government; and the governments of Japan, and Chile, under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work is expected to complete December 2025. […]View the full article

Americas The United States Air Force (USAF) F-22 Raptor made its debut at Exercise Pitch Black, Australia’s largest air warfare exercise. Deployed from Kadena Air Base, Japan, a contingent of six F-22s integrated seamlessly with a diverse array of allied aircraft, demonstrating the platform’s interoperability and combat capabilities. Lt. Col. Ryan Nickell, commander of the 27th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, highlighted the exercise as an invaluable opportunity to operate alongside partners from both NATO and the Asia-Pacific region. The expansive Australian airspace provided an ideal environment for the Raptors to showcase their full performance envelope. Ottawa-based W…

Taiwan has taken delivery of its first batch of U.S.-made Altius-600M purpose-built loitering munitions from defense firm Anduril Industries. According to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, Minister Wellington Koo met on Tuesday with Anduril founder Palmer Luckey in Taipei following the drone handover. The meeting took place amid ongoing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and […] The post Taiwan receives U.S.-made Altius loitering munitions first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The U.S. Navy has awarded Raytheon, a business under RTX, a $205 million contract for continued production and support of the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS), a key point-defense system deployed across the Navy’s surface fleet. The contract, announced September 8, includes upgrades, overhauls, conversions, and the delivery of related equipment as part of a […] The post U.S. Navy awards Raytheon $205M contract for Phalanx systems first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Mack Defense has received an initial order for 86 M917A3 Heavy Dump Trucks (HDTs) from the U.S. Army as part of a new five-year contract valued at up to $221.8 million. The order marks the first delivery under the new agreement, which was awarded on June 24, 2025, and follows the successful completion of the […] The post Mack Defense secures new U.S. Army order for 86 M917A3 trucks first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The U.S. Coast Guard has awarded Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation a firm-fixed-price contract to supply two new G700 Long Range Command and Control Aircraft (LRCCA), citing the company’s exclusive capability to meet mission and schedule requirements. The contract, authorized under FAR 6.302-1, bypasses open competition due to Gulfstream’s status as the only qualified manufacturer able to […]View the full article

The Portuguese Air Force has formally signed a contract with ICEYE for the direct acquisition of a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite, marking the first time the service will fully own and control a space-based intelligence asset. The announcement, made jointly by ICEYE and the Portuguese Air Force, represents a major step in expanding Portugal’s […]View the full article

The United States struck the residence of Venezuela’s defense minister during air attacks on Caracas on Friday. Reports indicated that the home of Vladimir Padrino López, Venezuela’s Minister of Defense, was targeted during the bombing campaign. The strike was reported amid ongoing U.S. air operations over Caracas, where multiple military and government-linked sites have been […]View the full article

Raytheon, an RTX business, has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop an advanced sensing and targeting system intended to protect commercial shipping and naval logistics vessels from emerging threats such as unmanned surface vehicles, the company announced on Feb. 2, 2026. According to the announcement, Raytheon’s Advanced Technology team will […]View the full article