Raw Intel

Sadly, not everyone subscribes to the Midrats Podcast, I wanted to build off part of yesterday’s podcast on the latest developments in the US Navy’s drone programs. My big takeaway is that the surface force—and the subsurface drone programs as well—are not going to (or more likely be allowed to) repeat the same mistake for our Navy and the nation made when the pointy-nosed people at NAVAIR killed the promise that was the X-47B a dozen years ago. Though my desire is for ‘more faster’, when I take a deep breath and step back, on balance, this leaves me quite happy with the plan. Joseph Trevithick over at TWZ has a great summary of the state of play. The Naval Sea Systems Co…

The U.S. Army has initiated the deployment of counter-drone technologies on its armored platforms in response to the evolving threat posed by low-cost, first-person-view (FPV) unmanned aerial systems. The move reflects a growing recognition within the Army’s leadership that these small, improvised strike drones represent a credible challenge on the modern battlefield. According to the […] The post U.S. armored vehicles get anti-drone protection first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

China is advancing efforts to challenge one of the world’s most widely exported combat drones, the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2, with a new domestically developed system undergoing flight testing. At the AVIC test range, engineers are putting the CH-3D combat drone through a series of evaluations. The aircraft, developed by China’s state-owned aviation giant AVIC, is […] The post China targets Bayraktar TB2’s market dominance with new armed drone first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Cambodia has begun withdrawing heavy weapons from its border areas with Thailand, marking the start of a joint disarmament plan aimed at reducing tensions following months of military standoff. Cambodian state media released footage showing the removal of rocket artillery and self-propelled guns from designated sites in Preah Vihear Province. According to Cambodian reports, the […]View the full article

Promotion and selection are zero-sum games. For every bad leader given the nod, a better leader is left on the cutting room floor. No system is perfect, there will always be bad selections and the correct selections. The key is if your system is very good at making the good selections, and minimizes the odds of bad selections. If you are unhappy with the results of the system you have, then you should change it. Systems in a rut generally trend towards increasing error, as they have lost the ability to self-correct as circumstances and requirements demand. A little positive disruption, if you have the right disruptive agent, will make a system better. A gentle way to dis…

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said on Thursday, January 1, that it handed over decrypted routing data and a flight controller from what it claims was a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle involved in an alleged attack on President Vladimir Putin’s residence near Lake Valdai to a representative of the U.S. embassy’s military attache office. According to […]View the full article

Hanwha Aerospace confirmed on February 2, 2026, that it has signed a contract with the Norwegian Defence Material Agency to supply the Chunmoo Multiple Rocket Launcher System to the Norwegian Armed Forces. According to the company, the agreement is valued at approximately $922 million and covers the delivery of 16 Chunmoo launch vehicles, a package […]View the full article

The Israel Ministry of Defense confirmed that a cargo ship carrying military equipment, including dozens of Humvees, trucks, and additional military gear, arrived and was unloaded at the Port of Haifa over the weekend as part of ongoing logistical support for Israel Defense Forces operations under Operation Roaring Lion. According to a statement from the […]View the full article

The United States Navy has issued a request for proposals for its Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS), seeking a new jet trainer aircraft and associated training systems for Navy and Marine Corps aviators, according to a March 26 solicitation from the U.S. Department of War. Proposals are due by June 29, 2026. The program is […]View the full article

Austin-based defense startup Aeon has carried out another successful test of its Zeus advanced tactical weapon system, the company announced, continuing a rapid development cycle that has seen the small firm push its guided mini-missile through repeated build-and-iterate testing rounds. Aeon founder and CEO Naweed Tahmas confirmed the test in a public statement: “Another day, […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has officially codified and cleared for service the Pliushch, a ground-based unmanned reconnaissance and relay platform developed by Ukrainian defense technology company Robotic Complexes, the firm announced Thursday. The certification opens the door to formal procurement by Ukrainian armed forces units and marks another milestone in Kyiv’s effort to field domestically […]View the full article

Russia’s official position on negotiations with Ukraine hardened further on Monday when Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that it is “difficult to imagine” how talks with what he called the “current Kyiv regime” could take place, adding that Kyiv was taking every possible step to obstruct the peace process. The statement arrived three days […]View the full article

Ukraine’s most powerful long-range strike weapon, a six-ton cruise missile capable of hitting targets 3,000 kilometers (1,865 miles) away, runs on the same free, publicly available flight software that hobbyists use to fly camera drones. French science outlet Futura reported that its journalists identified ArduPilot, an open-source autopilot system widely used across the unmanned aircraft […]View the full article

A second prototype of France’s next military helicopter just left the ground for the first time, and it did so wearing an all-black paint job that makes the aircraft look considerably more menacing than the calm, ambulance-style rescue helicopters most people associate with the civilian version. Airbus Helicopters announced that Prototype 2 of the military […]View the full article

Remember back in January the very confusing story about the conflict between Anthropic and the Department of War? Well, at the end of last week, it broke back into the news. A U.S. judge on Thursday permanently blocked the Pentagon’s “supply-chain risk” designation against Anthropic, ending a months-long standoff over military access to the company’s frontier AI models. The dispute began early this year when the Pentagon pressed Anthropic to remove safety guardrails from Claude, a demand ​that escalated into a blacklisting and triggered lawsuits and federal agency bans. I’m not going to go into a lot of the details that are floating out there. It gets real complicated, r…

Over the last few years, I have come to the firm opinion that both structurally and culturally, the US Navy is incapable of fixing itself. We have run out of time and are actually past time. To continue to work inside the same infrastructure, policies, laws, and personalities and expect a different result is insanity. We need relief from Congress. Yes, that Congress. We need a new law and mindset towards acquisition and program management in line with a Goldwater-Nichols replacement. The latest datapoint is the absolute state of our cruiser fleet. Like so many of the problems we have with the quality, quantity, and utility of the fleet we have today, this was all una…

Prince Philip passed today after a long and full life defined by service and duty. I first posted this years ago when he left his official duties, but thought it was the right thing to do to bring it back. As a nod to his service - serving as men of privilege and education should - let's take a moment today to recognize a good XO. Hargreaves was a yeoman aboard the destroyer HMS Wallace on which Philip, son of Prince Andrew of Greece, had been appointed first lieutenant - second-in-command - at the age of 21. In July 1943, engaged in the Allied landings in Sicily, the ship came under repeated bombardment at dead of night and its crew realised that they would probably …

Americas Five defense contractors have been awarded contracts for the second phase of development of the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle, which is planned to replace the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. Point Blank Enterprises, Oshkosh Defense, BAE Systems and Land Armaments, General Dynamics Land Systems and American Rheinmetall Industries will share a $299.4 million deal to develop digital designs of the new IFV. President Joe Biden told US intelligence officials that he thinks a cyber breach could lead to a “shooting war” with a major global power. “I think it’s more likely we’re going to end up—if we end up in a war, a real shooting war, with a major power—it…

Americas Raytheon won a $10.8 million delivery order for deploy and retrieve systems in support of the AN/AQS-20 mine-hunting program. The AN/AQS-20C sonar mine-hunting system is the U.S. Navy’s latest mine-hunting technology, which is integrated into the littoral combat ship mine countermeasures mission package. Work will take place in Washington and Those Island. Estimated completion will be by December 2023. DARPA has announced its new X-plane concept, a low-cost long-range seaplane that can fly up to 10,000ft. However, the aircraft will utilize the “wing-in-ground effect” to extend its range so that it can serve as a strategic or tactical transport. Middle East &amp…

Americas Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky has delivered its 5,000th Hawk medium-lift helicopter to the US armed forces. The chopper is a variant of the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter deployed for international military and civilian operations. “For more than 40 years the Black Hawk has remarkably supported Soldiers in every major contingency operation the Army has […]View the full article