Raw Intel

This is one of those DivThu that could be a, in a word, tome. As such, I am only going to pull a small portion of the things I normally would. You will have to do some reading yourself. Trust me on this, depending on your areas of concern, you will find many items worse than I will pull out on today's post. Poison wrapped in a few nice marshmallows...but poison nonetheless. The focus of this week's DivThu is what is going on at the US Naval Academy. I've had all sorts of people, from active duty to retired USNA alumni (and others...ahem) reach out to me - a NROTC guy - because they want to get the word out concerning what is going on. Not only do they love their school, t…

Did you catch Biden's speech where he introduced him nomination for Secretary of Defense? In it, if you look at a certain angle, you can see an outline of what you can expect from him - broadly - for national security priorities. I have quotes and details over at USNIBlog. Come by and give it a read and tell me what you think. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=jU_INXPF9fs:1AVju-Le09Y:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=jU_INXPF9fs:1AVju-Le09Y:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=jU_INXPF9f…

Americas The US Navy awarded Raytheon Technologies a $232.8 million deal to procure material and support equipment for depot maintenance facilities and unit level support equipment, as well as to provide program administrative support for non-recurring sustainment activities and supplies, services, and planning for depot standup and expansion in support of the for the F-35 Lightning II Program. Work will take place in Connecticut, Florida, Oklahoma. Japan, Norway, Australia, Indiana, Netherlands, North Carolina and Arizona. Expected completion will be by September 2025. The Navy awarded Raytheon a $225.7 million deal for AIM-9X Block II and Block II+ System Improvement P…

Americas The United States intends to test-fire the Patriot air defense missile system in Palau on June 15, the island’s ambassador to Washington D.C. has disclosed. The 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, from Okinawa will be deployed to Palau for this event. The firing is part of Exercise Valiant Shield which will involve Palau and Micronesia for the first time this year. The Patriot unit is to be deployed at Airai, according to Island Times. Laurel Technologies Partnership won an $12 million deal for production of Launch Control Unit (LCU) MK 235 Mod 17 and Mod 18 and associated components in support of the MK 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS). The LCUs a…

Americas Raytheon won a $52 million delivery order for the improved Bradley acquisition system Commander’s Viewer Unit. The Bradley fighting vehicle system is manufactured by BAE Systems Land & Armaments (formerly United Defence) and includes the M2 infantry fighting vehicle and the M3 cavalry fighting vehicle. The new Improved Bradley Acquisition System (IBAS) Block 2 includes enhanced capabilities to improve operational efficiencies and lethality and provides life-cycle cost and reliability improvements. The most notable enhancement to IBAS is the high definition high resolution color imagery. The performance completion date is March 31, 2026. Using military service…

Another DivThu that is somewhere between a Rorschach test and "it speaks for itself." Like so many of these "DEI" conferences, I would first have you note that they in no way actually reflect either "what the fleet looks like" or what the nation "looks like" - two otherwise meaningless measures of effectiveness that they demand of everyone but rarely meet themselves. They are some of the least diverse and inclusive gatherings you can find. Though they can be found almost anywhere leaching funds from various location in DOD, the most cringy are usually found at the service academies where institutional capture or fear lets their branch of the diversity industry pretty much…

Regular readers know the importance of the United States being the world’s premier sea power, but that is inside the lifelines of our corner of the national conversation. For a whole host of reasons we have discussed here over the years and on Midrats – in spite of our nation surrounded by the fruits of the open seas – the larger American public does not see it. We suffer, in essence, from our success. The time when the free flow of goods across the globe was not a given has slipped well out of living memory. Except for older cohort GenX and older, no one even remembers the regional threat the Soviet Red Banner Fleet aspired to be right before the empire she served colla…

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $22.6 million contract modification, which adds scope to procure 22 Electro-Optical Distributed Aperture System shipsets for Distributed Aperture System for Technology Refresh-3 developmental and operational testing, Block 4 testing, the Electromagnetic Environmental Effects aircraft, and a spare sensor set provision in support of F-35 Lightning II next generation capabilities. Work will take place in Texas. Estimated completion will be by July 2023. MH Systems won a $24.7 million deal for the purchase of aircraft painters manpower support. This contract provides for the augmentation of 402d Aircraft Maintenance Group organic forces for dep…

Americas Dominion Energy won a $27.5 million order for design and construction of Energy Resilience and Conservation Investment Program P505 electrical distribution upgrades at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina, and the implementation of selected energy conservation measures for lighting improvements. Work will be performed in Beaufort, South Carolina, and is expected to be […]View the full article

One thing we touched on during last Sunday's Midrats was the growing unease that the Russo-Ukrainian War would not end before the stockpiles of preferred weapons and the ammunition they use runs out. There has been discussions about both sides of the war burning through their stockpiles at unsustainable rates while the war seems to be expanding. The Russians are having issues even with their assumed relatively deep bunkers - but much of that is bottlenecked by an early 20th Century logistics train on a 21st Century battlefield. Their problems keeping their army equipped is not the more interesting story. The Ukrainians would have run out of weapons and ammunition months a…

Americas A US Navy EA-18G is back flying again five years after it was grounded after a mid-air collision. Formerly attached to VAQ-133, the electronic attack jet is now assigned to VAQ-129. More than 2,000 man hours were spent fixing the aircraft back to a serviceable state. Lockheed Martin won a $111 million contract modification, which adds scope for the development of a Common Reprogramming Tool (CRT) minimum viable product, as well as establishing network connections required to establish the CRT development network and selection of a service-oriented architecture needed to commence development of enhanced reprogramming tools in support of efforts to replace legacy …

As most of you have noticed, we could do a DivThu twice a day every day for the last nine months or so ... but this is supposed to be a side-show and not a primary subject of cdrsalamander. As the Front Porch knows, when we started this almost a decade and a half ago, we were pretty much it in going after the diversity bullies, their commissariat and constellation of grievance driven rent seekers. We are no longer alone. The issue broke out above the ambient noise a few years ago, and now has some top-shelf advocates such as Christopher Rufo going at it full time. It is great to have company, but we still need to keep the drum beat going. I've decided to do the …

Americas During an Employment Concept Exercise in Spain, the US Air Force’s KC-46A carried out the first operational refueling of a foreign aircraft on April 18. The aerial refueling tanker passed fuel to Spanish Hornets during the flight. Four KC-46A tankers are deployed to Moron Air Base for this Employment Concept Exercise. The US Air Force announced on April 26 that it had selected the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail to replace its Boeing E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. The USAF plans to award a contract in fiscal year 2023 and requested $227 million in research, development, test, and evaluation funds for the programme starting in its FY 2023 b…

Americas Toyon Research won a $9.1 million ordering agreement, which provides for analysis tools and performance analysis to support the E-2D aircraft and provide support equipment for E-2D performance analysis. Additionally, this order provides two E-2D Delta System Software Configuration (DSSC)-4 mission computer upgrade kits to support analysis of E-2D DSSC-4 in an operational environment, as well as develop system requirements to update the E-2D All-source Track and ID Fuser data fusion engine to accept data from tactical information web services. This order continues efforts in support of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Topic N111-016 titled, “Optimizing Tr…

If it seems like a long time ago, I guess it was. For me at least, it seems not. As I do every year, this is how I saw it. View the full article

Events in the Second Russo-Ukrainian War (or whatever it is being called, this is what I call it with the 1st being in 2014), are moving fast. It seems anything you write will be OBE in a few hours, but write one must. Case in point; going in to the weekend Germany was stuck in, "We are pausing NS2..." and we find our way to Monday where she is giving the nod for artillery, fighter jets, anti-aircraft, and anti-armor weapons to Ukraine as fast as they can get there and announcing an unprecedented increase in defense spending. So, today let's focus on something that isn't quite as sexy as air superiority or logistics convoys, but may be the most important news of the day; …

Are you aware that NATO nations have already been attacked by Russia? Well, their merchant ships in the Black Sea have. If you know your European history, you know the seriousness of this ... yet, it is out of most people's scan. Links and thoughts over at USNIBlog. Come by and give it a read. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=lFjwNzdVUz8:w0kBNOsXTLM:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=lFjwNzdVUz8:w0kBNOsXTLM:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=lFjwNzdVUz8:w0kBNOsXTLM:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds…

Americas General Dynamics won a $122.8 million contract modification for lead yard support and development studies and design efforts related to Virginia Class submarines. This contract modification includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the modification to $164,071,626. Work will take place in the continental US. Expected completion will be by August 2025. Raytheon Intelligence and Space won a $12.1 million deal or non-personal and non-commercial services for operations and maintenance services of the Cobra King radar system. Work will be performed at Patrick Space Force Base, Florida; and various overseas locations on board the US Nav…

It is a beautiful place today when you drive by it, but then you notice a curious red dragon facing a wood. The Welsh soldiers were just seven months out of training when they entered into combat at Mametz Wood. Many had never fired a round in combat, and used broomsticks rather than rifles at drill practice. In sharp contrast they faced the elite Lehr Regiment of Prussian Guards - highly-trained professional soldiers who were deeply entrenched in the dense woods. Their trenches were dug into chalk and thick wire stretched through the battleground, while the wood was heavily fortified with machine guns.As part of the Battle of the Somme was the Battle of Mametz Wood; Ma…

Americas Bell Textron Inc. has delivered the 189th and final AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter for the US Marine Corps at Amarillo Assembly Center in Texas, concluding the Program of Record for the latest H-1 platforms. With the delivery of 160 UH-1Y Venom choppers in 2018, the marine corps now has 349 H-1s in service. The Bell AH-1Z Viper was developed to replace the older two-bladed AH-1W Super Cobra. Meanwhile, the UH-1Y replaced the UH-1N Twin Huey constructed specifically for the US Army. The US Navy is developing a torpedo-tube launch and recovery system for nuclear attack submarine-launched underwater drones. Submarines currently require a dry deck shelter and divers …