Raw Intel

Venezuela accused the United States of carrying out a “very serious military aggression” early Saturday, after explosions were reported in Caracas and surrounding regions, according to an official government statement. In a statement released in the early hours, the Venezuelan government said it “repudiates and denounces to the international community the very serious military aggression” […]View the full article

One of the foundation stones of any understanding of the national security requirements of the United States is a requirement to fully understand that we are primarily a maritime and aerospace power. That is our comparative advantage. Aerospace isn’t just air-breathing aircraft, it includes space. For far too long, narrow-thinking people for the most base reasons have neglected space. Like many things, we gained a huge advantage over everyone else, and then decided the money would be better spent buying votes and currying favor with…whoever was going to help buy votes. From Carter’s malaise to Obama’s obsession with using NASA for “Muslim outreach” when it wasn’t trying t…

Kuwait’s Ministry of Defense confirmed that Ali Al Salem Air Base was targeted by multiple ballistic missiles earlier today, with Kuwaiti air defense forces successfully intercepting the incoming threats, according to an official military statement released Saturday. Debris from the interception reportedly fell in areas surrounding the base, but authorities said defensive systems neutralized the […]View the full article

An Iranian missile and drone attack on March 27 struck Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, wounding multiple United States service members and damaging several aircraft, including an E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft and aerial refueling planes. According to Air & Space Forces Magazine, citing people familiar with the matter, […]View the full article

A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier appears to have been operating north of Madagascar en route to the Arabian Sea after an onboard aircraft transmitted its position, according to open-source flight tracking data. Data from Flightradar24 shows a Bell-Boeing CMV-22B Osprey with the callsign “CHOSEN2” flying near the Comoros Islands earlier in the day. The aircraft, […]View the full article

Lockheed Martin has secured a $61 million U.S. Army contract to develop and demonstrate two of the most consequential near-term upgrades to the Patriot air defense system: a containerized missile launcher and a hemispherical guidance device that eliminates one of Patriot’s most significant tactical limitations, the inability to engage threats approaching from outside a fixed […]View the full article

The Ukrainian startup behind the autonomous Shahed interceptor system announced this week by Ukraine’s Defense Minister has a name, a price tag, and a detailed technical story: MaXon Systems, a Kyiv-based defense technology company, built an interceptor drone that kills Shaheds on autopilot for approximately $3,500 per unit, Defender Media reported in an exclusive interview […]View the full article

A firearm attachment once reserved almost exclusively for special operations units is quickly becoming standard-issue equipment for ordinary infantry soldiers worldwide, according to a July 3 report from German defense outlet hartpunkt. The report examines the growing military adoption of what the article calls signature reducers, the more technically accurate term for devices commonly known […]View the full article

An electric cargo drone that did not exist ten weeks ago just spent days flying nonstop supply runs for one of the U.S. Army’s biggest technology experiments, hauling everything from field rations to medical gear into locations a traditional cargo plane could never reach. Pyka, an autonomous aviation company based in Alameda, California, announced this […]View the full article

RENK Group inaugurated three new machining centers at its Rheine, Germany facility Monday, part of a plan to more than triple the company’s annual transmission output by 2030, the company said. RENK aims to grow production at its headquarters in Augsburg to exceed 2,000 transmission units per year by 2030. The company has been transferring […]View the full article

Americas The Marine Corps and the Air Force successfully tested bi-directional data sharing on the F-22 and F-35 in exercises in Arizona and Nevada for the first time. The test was reportedly the latest demonstration of the network architecture underpinning its Advanced Battle Management System. Fifth-generation fighters are generally only able to communicate with each other and to command and control centers, but not with fighters in other classes because they use digital languages that aren’t compatible. But the gatewayONE system can translate between those formats, allowing the aircraft to more fully gather and share data and intelligence. The service announced that th…

Americas The US Air National Guard Air Force Reserve Test Center (AATC) is planning to modify two KC-135s to equip them with a new communications, sensors and defensive pod. While tentatively called the Gladiator Pod, it is expected to enter flight testing on a few KC-135s in 2023. AATC intends to pack communication, defensive, and sensor technologies inside the shell of a Multipoint Refueling System (MPRS) Pod. The MPRS consists of a single refueling pod mounted on each wing of a KC-135 to support probe and drogue refueling. The communication systems that will be packed inside the Gladiator Pod will allow the KC-135 to act as a data node and host on the Advanced Battle M…

For coming up on two decades, the United States military has been engaged - if you want to call it by the medal they give everyone for it - a Global War on Terrorism. As we have invested two decades, trillions of dollars, and thousands dead across the globe in response to the attacks of September, 2001 - our best friends have been with us. They do this of their own free will, and share the good fortune and bad with us in our contact of the war. Today’s Midrats is a wide ranging discussion on the history, theory, and application of American leadership with our guest, Gray Connolly. Gray Connolly (Graham Alfred Frederick Connolly) is an Honors graduate in Arts and Law f…

Decades of peace and relative stability in Europe is suddenly shattered as armies start to mobilize on a scale not seen since WWII. No, not 2022...but 1987. What is there to learn for today from what could have happened at the end of the Cold War? In addition to the above teaser questions, this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern with our guest Michael Cee we will dive in to the research, tools, wargaming, and art of creating alternative historical fiction about what may have happened with the wrong people in the wrong positions of power at the wrong time in the late 1980s. Michael is the creator and author of World War III 1987, a blog that takes a detailed look at a hypothetical…

A pivot of history around a man. For over two decades the American military occupied a foreign country on the other side of the planet, supporting an oppressive local government that was mostly known for its anti-democratic habits and corruption. Over the two decades of occupation, thousands of Americans and her allies who also contributed forces died in order to keep a clear threat to global peace contained. During the previous presidential election in the USA, the candidate who won made repeated statements that he planned to withdraw all American forces from that country. Two decades were long enough, and he was insistent that he was a man of his word. The new president…

On Sept 30/08, “The USA’s National Cybersecurity Initiative” focused on the belated but growing reaction to recent uses of cyber-attacks as an adjunct to warfare, and by the growing rate of attempted intrusions into American systems from countries like China. “Secure Semiconductors: Sensible, or Sisiphyean?” discussed the growing realization within the US military that massive […]View the full article

Electro Optic Systems (EOS), the Australia-based defense technology firm, has announced its first international order for a 100-kilowatt-class high-power laser weapon system. According to a company release issued Tuesday, a European NATO member state has placed a €71.4 million (approximately $82 million) order for the system, which will be produced at EOS’s Singapore facility and […] The post Mystery NATO customer buys Australian-made laser weapon first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The United States will provide Ukraine with 65 Mobile Strike Force Vehicles (MSFV) under a new round of military assistance funded through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), according to a report from Ukrainian defense outlet Militarnyi. The vehicles will be manufactured by Textron Systems Corporation, which will also supply spare parts to support ongoing […] The post U.S. to send 65 MSFV armored vehicles to Ukraine first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The U.S. Air Force has acquired the wreckage of a downed UH-1 Iroquois helicopter and transported the iconic airframe to Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, where it will serve as a hands-on teaching platform for accident investigation and flight safety courses. The helicopter, nicknamed “Huey,” crashed during a training mission at the Wyoming Air National […] The post U.S. Air Force buys crashed UH-1 helicopter first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

China’s state-owned defense conglomerate Norinco has developed a new low-cost suicide drone that mirrors the Iranian Shahed-136 in appearance and purpose, signaling Beijing’s drive to make mass-produced loitering munitions available for future conflicts. The Feilong-300D, revealed earlier at the Zhuhai Air Show, drew fresh international attention following reports that its unit price could be as […]View the full article