Raw Intel

Ukraine’s largest private weapons manufacturer, Ukrainian Armor, has begun mass production of new VOLS military buggies in response to battlefield demand for a low-cost, versatile vehicle designed for logistics and frontline support. According to a report from Oboronka, the company identified a gap in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ equipment compared to Russian units, which employ […] The post Ukraine’s private company begins mass production of VOLS buggy first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Americas The Pentagon’s blue-sky research agency recently announced that it selected 10 organizations to develop enhanced, less bulky night vision goggles to keep the crimp out of servicemembers’ necks. And so they can see better at night. The program, dubbed Enhanced Night Vision in Eyeglass Form (ENVision), will be divided to solve those problems in two separate technical areas. The five organizations selected in the first technical area will try to reduce the size and volume of night vision goggles. The Netherlands will base its soon-to-be received MQ-9A Reaper medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles in the Caribbean region. The Royal Netherlands Air F…

Officially the Navy may have a “new mission” but it is just putting in to law what has been in existence since the first Stone Age man outfitted his fishing canoe as a war canoe. In a modern society, words mean things and even what is self-evident must on occasion be put in writing. What is “Title 10?” That is what tells our Navy what it’s mission is. We now have newTitle 10 language, in Section 8062(a):“The Navy, within the Department of the Navy, includes, in general, naval combat and service forces and such aviation as may be organic therein. The Navy shall be organized, trained, and equipped for the peacetime promotion of the national security interests and prosperity…

The People's Liberation Army Navy has her capital ships underway and under construction. The Japanese Navy continues her plans to grow in a way not seen in a century, and the lessons on the other side of the Eurasian landmass in Ukraine are shuffling long held assumptions concerning food, fuel, demographics, and economics. We're going to cover this and more Sunday from noon to 1pm Eastern with returning guest Dean Cheng. Dean is the Senior Research Fellow for Chinese political and security affairs at the Asia Studies Center of The Heritage Foundation. He specializes in Chinese military and foreign policy, and has written extensively on Chinese military doctrine, technolog…

At the end of the day, when we are all called home, how would you want to be remembered? As a naval officer, what legacy do you wish to leave? Few mortals know the day and time, but if you are looking for a benchmark, you would be hard pressed not to look to Captain Paul Rinn, USN and say, "That. Him. There." As skipper of the frigate Samuel B. Roberts, Capt. Rinn took his crew into the war-torn Persian Gulf where they joined other U.S. warships protecting Kuwaiti tankers that had been reflagged as American vessels during the Iran-Iraq War. Returning from a convoy on April 14, the frigate struck an Iranian contact mine, which blew a massive hole in the hull. The explosi…

The KHAN ballistic missile system, developed by Türkiye’s Roketsan, was spotted at an Indonesian Army installation in East Kalimantan. The missile platform, identified as the ITBM-600, was seen at the Raipur A base of the 18th Field Artillery Battalion (Yonarmed 18/Buritkang Tenggarong) on August 1, 2025. This was first reported by the defense-focused platform Sahabat […] The post Indonesia receives first KHAN ballistic missile system first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Americas Raytheon won a $10.8 million delivery order for deploy and retrieve systems in support of the AN/AQS-20 mine-hunting program. The AN/AQS-20C sonar mine-hunting system is the U.S. Navy’s latest mine-hunting technology, which is integrated into the littoral combat ship mine countermeasures mission package. Work will take place in Washington and Those Island. Estimated completion will be by December 2023. DARPA has announced its new X-plane concept, a low-cost long-range seaplane that can fly up to 10,000ft. However, the aircraft will utilize the “wing-in-ground effect” to extend its range so that it can serve as a strategic or tactical transport. Middle East &amp…

Americas Boeing won a $7.6 million contract modification for integration of the legacy strap pack assembly for remanufactured AH-64E aircraft. The AH-64 Apache is a twin-engine, four bladed, multi-mission attack helicopter designed as a highly stable aerial weapons-delivery platform. The AH-64E features improved digital connectivity, the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System, more powerful T700-GE-701D engines with upgraded face gear transmission to accommodate more power, capability to control UAVs, full IFR capability, and improved landing gear. Work will take place in Mesa, Arizona. Estimated completion date is January 31, 2024. An exoskeleton, worn by US Air…

Many know about the second USS LAFFEY (DD-724), the "ship that would not die," but what about the first? Put yourself in the shoes of its first, and only, Captain. Your ship is only been commissioned seven months. Heck, she still smells of shipyard. You don't care though. Sure, it took you 15-years after you graduated from Annapolis to make LCDR, but that's OK. Promotions were slow from 1925 to the buildup before the war. Two years later you get command of brand new destroyer, the USS LAFFEY (DD-459) just five months after Pearl Harbor. You get through your shakedown cruise and five months in to command you bring your crew of 208 Sailors in to combat. Less than a month …

Americas Northrop Grumman Systems won a $25 million contract modification, which adds scope for fabrication and installation support to retrofit the Delta System Software Configuration 4.0 capabilities, to include tactical targeting network technology and the beyond line of sight in the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. Work will be performed in Dallas, Texas; Melbourne, Florida; Boulder, Colorado; Norfolk, Virginia (8%); Salisbury, Maryland; Ronkonkoma, New York (3%); and various locations within the continental US, and is expected to be completed in September 2025. Sikorsky won a $21.4 million modification, which exercises options to procure one CH53K containerized fligh…

Americas Boeing won an $18.6 million delivery order to procure the long lead components and parts in support of MH-47G rotary wing aircraft. The MH-47G aircraft provides US Special Operations Forces (SOF) heavy assault, rotary wing aircraft support. This contract action supports a requirement for replacement of the aging fleet of remanufactured MH-47G aircraft that has airframe components dating back more than 45 years and maximize commonality with the US Army’s CH-47F Block II aircraft. The Boeing MH-47G is a special operations variant of the CH-47 Chinook multi-role, heavy-lift helicopter. It is in service with the US Army Special Operations Aviation Command. The majori…

Americas Sikorsky won a $29.5, which procures logistics support analysis and products resulting from production engineering changes and diminishing manufacturing sources and material shortages to include technical publications, logistics support analysis and logistics product data in support of CH-53K aircraft production and fielding. The Super Stallion can be fielded from amphibious assault ships for the transportation of personnel and equipment. Estimated completion date is in December 2022. Work will be performed in Connecticut and the US. Northrop Grumman won a $245.8 million contract modification, which provides for the exercise of five option contract line items to…

Americas Northrop Grumman Aerospace won a $53.7 million deal for the RQ-4B Global Hawk. The contract provides for repair services for “common items” for both the RQ-4 GH and MQ-4C Triton. It will support reparable national stock numbers (NSNs) which encompass the air vehicle, multiple sensor packages, mission control element and launch and recovery element. In addition, this effort includes support engineering services covered under the Engineering Delegation Authority (namely Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages projects) for NSNs transferred to and under the management of the 407th Supply Chain Management Squadron. Northrop Grumman successfully com…

Our Navy needs a 4th USS Aaron Ward. Read all of this and tell me this isn't a name that needs to be active in our fleet. We also need a ship named after her CO, Adam Sanders. I'll just stick with the citations: The Presidential Unit Citation for Aaron Ward reads as follows: For extraordinary heroism in action as a Picket Ship on Radar Picket Station during a coordinated attack by approximately 25 Japanese aircraft near Okinawa on 3 May 1945. Shooting down two kamikazes which approached in determined suicide dives, the USS AARON WARD was struck by a bomb from a third plane as she fought to destroy this attacker before it crashed into the superstructure and spra…

Swedish defense startup Nordic Air Defence and military vehicle manufacturer Volvo Defense have announced a joint effort to develop a new mobile counter-unmanned aircraft system (CUAS), aimed at protecting military vehicles against the growing threat of cheap, weaponized drones. According to the two companies, the system—called VIPRO—will integrate Nordic’s Kreuger 100XR drone interceptor into Volvo’s […] The post Volvo, Nordic Air Defence team up on new anti-drone pod first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Americas Design West won a $21 million modification to exercise options to procure launch sequencers and associated kitted material in support of the MK 41 Vertical Launching System. This modification combines purchases for the Navy; and the governments of Finland, Australia, Germany, Norway, Canada, and the Republic of Korea under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) […]View the full article

Americas Systems Planning and Analysis won a $90.8 million deal for Trident II Strategic Weapons System technical support services supporting the Common Missile Compartment program, D5 Life Extension 2 program, Strategic Systems Program (SSP) Facilities Management, Activation and Assessments, and Missile Systems program. This contract also benefits a foreign military sale to the United Kingdom. […]View the full article

Huntington Ingalls Industries has received a series of contract modifications totaling over $142 million to finalize capability enhancements and change orders for the second ship in the Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier program. The U.S. Navy has awarded Huntington Ingalls Incorporated, based in Newport News, Virginia, a combination of contract modifications to support completion of […]View the full article

Watching our great Anglosphere partner New Zealand continue to debase herself in the face of the communist Chinese government should be as frustrating and disappointing to all free, liberty minded people as it is to me. Sophie Richardson puts the New Zealand government on report; New Zealand has signed on to a number of key initiatives led by other countries criticising the Chinese government’s ... Yet these remarks tend to be in the passive voice, sending a mixed message of wanting to criticise without irking Beijing. That squeamishness is reflected in other recent policies and remarks, including Labour’s peculiar position in the parliamentary debate over whether t…

Iron Dome concept (click to view full) On August 16, 2011, Rafael and Raytheon announced a partnership to market the Iron Dome system in the United States. This rocket interception system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has an all-weather range of up to 70 km (43.5 miles). To make the system mobile, the detection/tracking radar and battle management/control parts of the system are carried on trucks, while the missile firing unit is mounted on a trailer. Then in November 2011 the Jerusalem Post reported that the US Army had expressed interest to protest its bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. South Korea is also reportedly interested. While exports remain tentative…