Raw Intel

Russian state defense conglomerate Rostec announced the delivery of a new batch of Su-30SM2 Flanker-C multirole fighters and Su-34 Fullback fighter-bombers to the Russian military, according to a statement from the manufacturer, framing the handover as part of an ongoing effort to modernize a combat aircraft fleet that open-source trackers say has absorbed dozens of […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force jet meant to finally retire a training aircraft older than most of the pilots flying it is running years behind schedule, even as the service quietly started shopping for companies to upgrade the replacement before it has fully entered service. The Air Force posted a notice on July 8 seeking companies […]View the full article

A British firm building uncrewed patrol boats for NATO navies just crossed the billion-dollar valuation mark, with Kraken Technology Group announcing the close of a $175 million Series B funding round on July 9 that values the company at $1 billion. The round, led by Digital Transformation Capital Partners, or DTCP, arrives less than a […]View the full article

The Belgian government announced plans to acquire the Norwegian-built NASAMS air defense system, according to a press release from manufacturer Kongsberg, signing a cooperation agreement with the Netherlands at the NATO summit in Ankara, Türkiye, that would bring 10 NASAMS batteries into Belgian service as the centerpiece of the country’s first serious rebuild of its […]View the full article

NATO has handed three American and European tech companies the chance to reshape how the alliance’s 32 member nations talk to each other during a real air war, awarding contracts to Anduril, Palantir, and French firm Athea SAS on July 7 as part of a competition to build the software backbone for the alliance’s next-generation […]View the full article

German engineering firm RENK just locked in more than $308 million in future business keeping one of Europe’s newest tracked infantry vehicles actually moving, extending its transmission supply agreement with Rheinmetall for the KF41 Lynx on July 9. The expanded framework agreement, worth more than €270 million ($308.72 million) including options, covers the supply of […]View the full article

A soldier crewing an Army Bradley Fighting Vehicle spots a target through swirling dust or pitch darkness using a sighting system built decades ago, and the Army just committed nearly $56 million to keep engineers refining that system for years to come. DRS Network & Imaging Systems, a subsidiary of Leonardo DRS based in Melbourne, […]View the full article

Leidos received a contract modification worth roughly $27.2 million on behalf of USSOCOM to buy what the military calls All Up Rounds, meaning fully assembled, ready-to-fire missiles rather than components or prototypes, for the AGM-190A Havoc Spear Small Cruise Missile program, with the work centered in Huntsville, Alabama, and expected to run through February 2029. […]View the full article

The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command awarded ReconCraft LLC, a boatbuilder based in Anchorage, Alaska, a $24.96 million contract for autonomous low-profile vessels, a category of uncrewed watercraft the military has openly borrowed from the same low-visibility, semi-submersible design smugglers pioneered to avoid radar and visual detection while running narcotics through open water. Autonomous low-profile […]View the full article

Key Topics:Reflection on America’s 250th celebration and patriotic observances, including the significance of the World Cup and tall ships. Analysis of Iran’s naval activities and the prospects of extended punitive campaigns in the Gulf. Insights into Ukraine’s ongoing conflict, new missile capabilities, and the normalization of long-range conventional st… Read more View the full article

To everything there is a season. Over the last 18 months, a lot of national, personal, and political capital was invested by the present administration to try to get Ukraine and Russia to the negotiation table to stop a war that has been going on longer than WWII. This is not just a war between brothers like the U.S. Civil War, where—as fights between brothers are—things become more brutal and go longer than expected, but it is a war where both sides are limited on what they can do to bring the war to any end outside complete victory. For Ukraine, the war is existential. Should Ukraine lose, she would be lucky to become little more than a rump Belarus after Russian force…

A torpedo-tube-launched robot built to secretly plant mines from American submarines just got another $14 million push toward becoming operational, as the U.S. Navy exercises new contract options with General Dynamics Mission Systems to keep developing the system. The Navy Sea Systems Command awarded the Massachusetts-based defense contractor a modification worth roughly $13.97 million on […]View the full article

The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a $502 million contract to provide ongoing support services for the Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight and Pilot Night Vision Sight system, known in Army circles by the shorthand M-TADS/PNVS, the combined sensor and targeting package mounted on every AH-64 Apache helicopter in the U.S. fleet. The M-TADS/PNVS, also […]View the full article

An uncrewed patrol boat just fell out of an airplane at 1,300 feet and splashed down ready to go to work, and the company behind it says nobody has ever pulled that off before. Kraken Technology Group and Capewell announced on July 8 that they completed the world’s first extracted-load airdrop of an uncrewed surface […]View the full article

Every precision strike, every navigation-guided munition, and every soldier’s handheld GPS unit ultimately depends on a network of ground stations most Americans will never see, and the Space Force just handed Lockheed Martin $105 million to keep that invisible backbone working for the next generation of GPS satellites. The contract, awarded July 7, covers modifications […]View the full article

The U.S. Space Force just handed two young rocket companies a shot at billions of dollars in Pentagon launch business, expanding the exclusive club of firms trusted to carry America’s most sensitive satellites into orbit. Impulse Space and Relativity Federal joined a $5.6 billion contract vehicle called National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1 […]View the full article

Ukraine just secured a German promise to bankroll production of one of its most closely guarded new weapons, a jet-powered strike drone capable of hitting targets deep inside Russian territory, in a deal signed on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Ankara, Türkiye. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha announced the agreement on X, confirming […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Air Force says it shot down another Russian fighter jet, announcing the kill in a brief statement that leaned more on bravado than battlefield detail. “Good news from the Air Force! Today we subtracted another Russian air terrorist! Glory to Ukraine! More to come!” the Air Force said in its official statement. The claim […]View the full article

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense confirmed on July 6 that the country’s air force has begun operating JF-17 Thunder fighter jets, releasing a video showing two of the Chinese-Pakistani aircraft taking off and landing on training sorties, the first official acknowledgment that the long-promised fighters have actually entered service. OSINT analyst Guy Plopsky examined still images […]View the full article

Germany’s military is preparing to become one of the largest owners of a satellite fleet on the planet, second only to Elon Musk’s Starlink, with plans to put as many as 1,200 satellites into orbit by 2030 as part of a sweeping bet that future wars will be won or lost based on who controls […]View the full article