Raw Intel

Americas General Atomics won a $305.2 million deal for MQ-9 Reaper contractor logistics support. The deal provides for program management, contractor filed service representative support, depot repair, depot maintenance, sustaining engineering support, supply and logistics support, configuration management, tech data maintenance, software maintenance and inventory control point/warehouse support for the MQ-9. The Reaper is designed primarily to disable or destroy time-sensitive targets and has a secondary function as an intelligence-gathering platform. The service branch will obligate $65.4M at the time of award from its fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds. Work w…

There are but a few options here, none of which speak well of our Navy or its leadership – but we have to look at where this is with clear eyes. I have tried to be as clean-slate optimistic as possible with the CNO, Admiral Gilday. On a lot of actual Navy issues, I find him incredibly well informed, intelligent, and thinking in the right direction – but that is only part of his job. Another part of his job is to be a good steward of the position of the CNO, the Navy’s apolitical stance in line with our national traditions, and to ensure that all his Sailors can expect fair and equal treatment and consideration under his command. In the last respect, I can no longer giv…

Americas Serco won a $22 million contract action in support of the Program Executive Office (PEO) “SHIPS” PMS 400D mission to design, build, outfit and test all DDG 51 guided-missile destroyer-class ships, increasing the design performance capability of the DDG 51 class ships. The Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) class guided missile destroyers provide a wide range of warfighting capabilities in multi-threat air, surface and subsurface environments. The US Navy currently has seven new DDG 51 Flight III destroyers under construction, Work will take place in Washington DC. Estimated completion date is September 8, 2022. JF Taylor won an $8 million deal for F-35 high fidelity crewsta…

Americas Champion Aerospace won a $9 million contract to procure 252 175 ampere (amp) Transformer Rectifier Unit (TRU) retrofit kits (240 for the F/A-18E/F fleet and EA-18G squadrons, and 12 for the EA-18G Growler capability modification operational test in support of upgrading the current 150 amp TRU to a 175 amp TRU). Work will be performed in Liberty, South Carolina, and is expected to be completed in December 2023. General Electric Aviation said it and the US Air Force finished testing the firm’s second adaptive engine, which it hopes the military will adopt for the F-35 jet, and is ready to move into the engineering and manufacturing development phase. Middle East …

In the first year of this blog ~18-yrs ago, we blowtorched the Navy for throwing away our riverine capability forcing the Army in Iraq to "reacquisition" fishing boats, and generally surrendering a primary logistics path - rivers - to the enemy. We covered the rise and rebuilding of riverine in our Navy, and if you followed the tag, the ahistorical stupidity of our Navy at once again throwing it away due to having the attentions span of a squirrel. Wherever there is war with any significant river systems, having a mature, well equipped riverine force is essential to controlling that logistics corridor and having the ability to defend from and project force quickly using t…

Americas Elbit America won a $10 million order deal with no options for the procurement of integrated avionics processors in support of the V-22 aircraft. Work will be performed in Haifa, Israel; and Fort Worth, Texas. Work is expected to be completed by December 2024. Annual working capital funds (Navy) in the full amount of […]View the full article

M1A2 SEP (click to view full) America’s M1 Abrams tanks come in a number of versions. In addition to the M1A1 that is now standard, the US Army is beginning to field its M1 TUSK for urban warfare. It also operates the M1A2 System Enhancement Program (SEP), currently the most advanced standard variant. This Spotlight […]View the full article

Americas Donald Trump has vowed to construct a ‘Golden Dome’ – similar to Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’ missile defense – as he build :”the most powerful military of the future”. The first step, he told a joint sitting of the United States Congress is to fund a “state-of-the-art missile shield to protect our homeland”. The initiative aims to shield US from a rapidly evolving array of aerial threats, including a range of ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles. Trump’s latest announcement to the Congress is being seen as the official renaming of the US’ flagship security initiative, initially launched as the “Iron Dome for America”. Researchers at the Purdue Applied Research Ins…

In the wake of Ukraine’s successful strikes on the Russian Black Sea Fleet using low-cost, agile unmanned surface vessels (USVs), the global defense community has shifted focus to a domain once considered niche. Yet, long before Kyiv’s sea drones earned battlefield credibility, a little-known American platform had already proven its potential — and was quietly […] The post U.S. Navy had a war-ready naval drone in the ’90s — and scrapped it first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

OK, full disclosure, I have a little bit of battered child syndrome on this topic. On my first sea duty, we saw the odd retirement ceremony, but they were for senior enlisted or a Commander/Captain leaving after 20-25-30 or so. I don’t remember the details. That is a good retirement ceremony. In my first year of shore duty, that changed. I got roped into the preparation and planning of a 2-star admiral’s retirement ceremony that to this day is over the top. At the time it was unseemly. Untold hours and money were spent on this Broadway-like ceremony. Some of it was just cringe, but it was done. Dozens of officers and enlisted personnel were expended on this individual…and…

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that relations between the United States and China “has never been better,” following President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea and subsequent military talks in Malaysia. In a statement posted on X, Hegseth wrote, “I just spoke to President Trump, and we agree […]View the full article

A top-secret US government body called the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched a new solicitation seeking proposals for a high-rate, energy-efficient method of producing nitric acid directly from air and water. The initiative, known as the High-Efficiency Nitrogen Oxidation, or HNO3 program, is aimed at protecting critical U.S. defense-industrial supply chains and […]View the full article

Ukraine’s military intelligence confirmed the delivery of a newly developed armed patrol boat to the Main Directorate of Intelligence on January 1, describing it as a New Year’s transfer to support maritime operations. According to a statement released by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine, the specialized vessel was purchased and handed over by […]View the full article

Lithuanian defense units equipped with unmanned aerial systems from Granta Autonomy demonstrated their capabilities during a high-level visit attended by Frederik X and Queen Mary of Denmark, alongside Gitanas Nausėda and First Lady Diana Nausėdienė, according to a statement released by the Vilnius-based company. The visit took place at formations of the National Defence Volunteers […]View the full article

Iran launched a new wave of ballistic missiles and attack drones toward Dubai on Saturday, triggering explosions across the city and prompting emergency security measures by authorities in the United Arab Emirates, according to official statements and regional reporting. The attacks targeted one of the Middle East’s largest urban and tourism centers, with air-defense systems […]View the full article

The United States Navy has safely undocked the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Albany (SSN 753) on March 26 at Naval Submarine Base New London. According to the Navy, USS Albany arrived at Submarine Base New London in the summer of 2025 and has since undergone a range of repairs, structural inspections, and upgrades to […]View the full article

I mentioned in passing on Sunday’s Midrats Podcast a graph attributed to Bloomberg that wandered into my feed right before the show. Here it is. It’s not new. It came out a few years ago. I’ve looked for the original article, but no joy. However, it has been picked up in quite a few places with no challenge, so let’s assume it is ligit. The implications here are absolutely critical, as it should impact a lot of the planning assumptions people have been using as they look at a rising China and the moment that it passes the U.S. economically. Not wanting to get head-faked, I looked around for other data that might show similar data. There’s more. That shows the same inflec…

Pete Hegseth, the United States Secretary of War, unveiled the Trump administration’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget on Thursday, calling it a “generational down payment” on American national security and framing it as the most ambitious military investment in modern history. The announcement, made via Hegseth’s official social media account and accompanied by a promotional […]View the full article

Sudan’s military appears to have used a Turkish-made HİSAR-A surface-to-air missile during an attempt to repel a drone attack over Khartoum, offering open-source evidence that Turkish-made HİSAR-A air defense missiles may be in use by the Sudanese Armed Forces. Rich Tedd, an OSINT analyst who tracks military hardware through imagery and wreckage identification, published photographs […]View the full article

Turkish defense manufacturer Roketsan conducted a live-fire test of its TAYFUN Block-3 ballistic missile, striking a free-moving, unmanned surface vessel roughly 7 meters (23 feet) long, built to represent a small fishing boat, with a live warhead traveling at hypersonic terminal speed. The company described the hit as achieved with surgical precision, and Turkish officials […]View the full article