Raw Intel

The Pentagon’s top research arm, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), launched a new research program on April 23, 2026, calling on industry and academia to develop autonomous underwater vehicles capable of reaching full-ocean depth — the deepest points on the planet — at a fraction of the size of anything that exists today. The […]View the full article

Lockheed Martin picked up a nearly $50 million contract modification to sustain the combat systems aboard the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship fleet, extending support for a program that has faced years of scrutiny but remains an active part of the American surface fleet. Naval Sea Systems Command awarded the $49,893,672 modification on April 22, […]View the full article

Lockheed Martin has secured a $177.5 million contract modification to design and build three new F-35 flight science aircraft — one for each variant of the jet — as the U.S. military moves to prevent a testing capability gap and prepare the program for its next major upgrade block. Naval Air Systems Command awarded the […]View the full article

European defense company Destinus has completed a flight test of its Ruta Block 2 precision deep-strike system, validating a fundamentally redesigned launch architecture that allows the weapon to be stored, transported, and fired from sealed containerized modules. The test confirmed the performance of two critical enabling technologies: an in-line booster configuration and foldable wings and […]View the full article

A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier has been confirmed operating in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, after open-source flight tracking data exposed its position days before an official acknowledgment. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed on Thursday that USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) was sailing in the Indian Ocean within its area of responsibility as […]View the full article

Overland AI has integrated its autonomous driving system onto the U.S. Marine Corps’ Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary Fires platform, demonstrating the ability to maneuver an unmanned ground vehicle through contested terrain without human intervention. The Seattle-based company announced the milestone on April 23, 2026, marking its first publicly confirmed work with the Marine […]View the full article

Ukraine has converted an Antonov An-28 light turboprop aircraft into an airborne drone interceptor platform, arming it with drone-launched interceptors to hunt Russian Shahed long-range one-way attack drones in flight. The effort — documented in footage published by well-known Ukrainian pilot and volunteer Tymur Fatkullin — represents one of the most unconventional counter-drone solutions to […]View the full article

Peru selected the F-16 Block 70 fighter jet built by Lockheed Martin, signing a technical agreement on April 20, 2026 — but the procurement that Washington called a success triggered an immediate political crisis in Lima that is still unfolding. In 2024, the country launched a formal competitive bidding process. Lockheed Martin responded with a […]View the full article

The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), better known as the Humvee, was born in the late 1970s. The U.S. Army concluded that its aging fleet of jeeps and light utility vehicles could not survive the demands of a modern battlefield. The service needed something faster, tougher, and far more versatile. In 1983, AM General […]View the full article

The U.S. Army is sending prototype versions of its next-generation Abrams tank and a brand-new infantry combat vehicle to Fort Hood, Texas, this fall — putting cutting-edge armor into the hands of soldiers for the first time. Troops from the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, part of the 1st Cavalry Division, will be the first […]View the full article

Just as you were struggling through your East Coast commute on Wednesday or finishing up your networking after Sea, Air, Space 2026, Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell rolled this out. John C. Phelan served as the 79th Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) for 393 days. Just under a month more than a year. Since the announcement of his departure Wednesday afternoon, there has been a lot of speculation as to why. Within the first couple of hours I heard at least a half dozen earnestly described reasons why that were, if anything, just guessing and speculation. Some were ham-handedly using this as an opportunity to promote a personal project, agenda, or worldview. This is neither the…

Ukraine continues to receive American weapons through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List without interruption, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed this week — but he was equally direct about what that pipeline still cannot fix. The flow of U.S. arms has held. The air defense shortfall has not. “Regarding arms supplies from the United States, they have […]View the full article

For the first time, Ukrainian military instructors with direct frontline combat experience have arrived in Germany to train Bundeswehr units — a striking reversal of the training relationship that has defined Western military assistance to Ukraine since 2022, according to Militarniy. The deployment, confirmed by German Army Inspector Lieutenant General Christian Freuding in an interview […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Tencore and France’s Shark Robotics have signed a memorandum of understanding and announced the creation of a joint venture, the companies disclosed at the Ukraine-EU Business Forum in Brussels, according to Oboronka. The agreement was announced under the Build with Ukraine initiative — a framework pushing Ukrainian defense companies to establish co-production partnerships with […]View the full article

A fire broke out aboard USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) late Sunday night while the destroyer sat pierside at HII Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, injuring three sailors. The blaze was reported at approximately 9:45 p.m. on April 19, 2026, and was extinguished by the ship’s crew before outside fire services were needed. One sailor was transported […]View the full article

The Belgian Armed Forces have completed their first training exercise integrating unmanned ground vehicles into active operational scenarios, fielding Polish-made robotic systems across a range of missions including nighttime reconnaissance and target identification. The exercise, conducted in Belgium, marked the Belgian military’s debut use of UGV platforms in a structured field environment — putting soldiers […]View the full article

Israel’s air war against Iran is generating serious money for the country’s defense industry. Elbit Systems announced on April 22 that it has been awarded several contracts totaling approximately $200 million for the supply of advanced airborne munitions to the Israel Ministry of Defense — all tied directly to Operation Roaring Lion, Israel’s ongoing military […]View the full article

French defense-electronics firm Thales announced on April 21 that Denmark has signed a contract for the SAMP/T NG long-range air and missile defense system — the first export deal ever signed for the next-generation Franco-Italian platform. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2028, and the agreement makes Denmark the third country to operate the system, […]View the full article

A Russian drone was shot down over Kyiv on Wednesday by a Hellfire missile, with the intercept witnessed by numerous observers on the ground and from windows across the capital. The shootdown drew significant attention not for its outcome — drones over Kyiv have become a grim routine — but for what appeared to have […]View the full article

The U.S. Department of State approved a $200 million Foreign Military Sale to the Dutch government covering 530 AGM-114R2 Hellfire missiles — a significant jump from the 386 missiles cleared in a $150 million deal just two years ago. Lockheed Martin Corporation in Orlando, Florida, is the principal contractor. The package also includes technical assistance […]View the full article