Raw Intel

Swedish fighter jets were scrambled Monday to intercept two Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bombers flying over the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Air Force said. The bombers were accompanied by two Su-30 fighter jets, and the mission was carried out under Sweden’s Quick Reaction Alert system in coordination with NATO allies. The aircraft were operating in international […]View the full article

Leonardo DRS has successfully integrated its Maritime Mission Equipment Package onto an autonomous unmanned surface vessel, delivering a new counter-drone capability designed to detect, track, identify, and defeat aerial unmanned threats in the maritime domain. The company announced the integration ahead of its showcase at the Navy League Sea-Air-Space Symposium, where the M-MEP will be […]View the full article

Soldiers from the Multi-Functional Reconnaissance Company, 3rd Mobile Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), trained with the Tactical Electronic Warfare System–Infantry mounted on an Infantry Squad Vehicle for the first time during a Joint Readiness Training Center rotation held April 7–17, 2026. The exercise marked the first field evaluation of TEWS-I integrated onto the ISV […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy successfully completed two demonstration flights of the Joint Direct Attack Munition Long Range variant in early April, clearing a significant milestone in the weapon’s development path toward fleet service. The test events validated safe separation from the launching aircraft, confirmed compatibility with existing aircraft interfaces, and demonstrated controlled powered free-flight and navigation […]View the full article

Shield AI announced on April 20, 2026, that the U.S. Navy has selected the company to provide contractor-owned, contractor-operated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services in support of naval and joint force operations. Under the arrangement, Shield AI will compete for up to $800 million in task orders alongside other selected industry partners, delivering persistent ISR […]View the full article

EOS Defence Systems USA demonstrated its Sling Blade counter-drone system during the U.S. Army’s Summit Strike live fire exercise, conducted by the 10th Mountain Division. The combined arms exercise focused on the planning and integration of emerging technologies within a contested, large-scale combat environment, drawing together multinational forces and industry participants to coordinate effects across […]View the full article

Kirkland-based Echodyne announced Monday at the Counter UAS Technology Europe 2026 conference in London that its EchoShield radar has been selected as the primary radar system within Trust Automation’s Small-Unmanned Air Defense System, known as SUADS — a counter-drone platform being delivered to the U.S. Air Force under a $490 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract awarded […]View the full article

California-based Saildrone has announced a new class of unmanned surface vessel called Spectre, a 52-meter (170-foot) platform capable of reaching speeds up to 30 knots and designed to deliver persistent anti-submarine warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and strike capability to naval operations. The announcement, made at the Sea Air Space conference, marks the most ambitious […]View the full article

Since the first man from Tribe-A returning from harvesting figs from the big tree on the other side of the river heard a zing of an arrow zipping by his head, fired from a canoe belonging to Tribe-B, a guaranteed part of conflict between two groups with access to waterborne trade has been this: commerce raiding. Every naval power should have this concept in the mix of its fleet design, especially if your rivals depend on the seas for a significant portion of their food and raw materials. It isn’t a mission beneath a navy. It isn’t a lower form of naval war. No. Indeed, when practiced properly, it is a war-winning form of war at sea. It would require super-human strength…

Ukrainian drone developer Wild Hornets has announced the serial deployment of its Hornet Vision Ctrl remote control technology, a system that enables operators to pilot the company’s STING interceptor drone from distances of up to 2,000 kilometers from the front line — including from ordinary civilian locations such as apartments or hotel rooms. The announcement […]View the full article

Ukrainian defense manufacturer UkrArmoTech has launched factory trials of a prototype tracked armored personnel carrier called the Skif, marking the company’s first venture into tracked armored vehicle development after establishing itself as one of Ukraine’s leading producers of wheeled armored platforms. The announcement was reported by Defense Express. For UkrArmoTech — known for wheeled armored […]View the full article

While the Maduro snatch-n-grab focused everyone’s attention on the Western Hemisphere for a moment, once again, global events moved attention elsewhere. Regardless of where the news of the moment may be, the economic and political situation in Central and South America is getting renewed attention on a scale not seen in a long time. On this week’s Midrats Podcast, we’re going to dive right in with our guest, Colin Dueck. We go live at 5 PM Eastern for a full hour. You can listen live and join the live chat at this link. If you’re reading this after the show, check the Substack later Sunday for podcast links. Colin is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise …

France’s 27th Mountain Infantry Brigade is using the ORION 26 exercise to test and implement a series of tactical modules designed to advance the brigade’s thinking on light mobility and decentralized combat, the unit announced April 18, 2026. The exercise represents a significant doctrinal experiment for one of France’s premier mountain warfare formations, translating concepts […]View the full article

Videos and images circulating on the Chinese social media platform Weibo show a convoy of multiple mobile missile launchers traveling through what appears to be a Chinese city, with open-source analysts identifying the vehicles as probable transporter-erector-launchers associated with the DF-27 anti-ship ballistic missile system fitted with a hypersonic glide vehicle. The footage, captured by […]View the full article

Baltimore-based BlackSea Technologies publicly unveiled its Comet unmanned surface vessel at the Sea-Air-Space exposition, displaying the platform armed with missiles for both air defense and surface strike missions. The company announced its presence at Dock D2, making Comet one of the most heavily armed unmanned surface vessels shown publicly by a U.S. manufacturer. Photographs of […]View the full article

The U.S. Army’s Capability Program Executive for Mission Autonomy has issued a formal solicitation asking defense industry to develop an unmanned ground vehicle capable of evacuating wounded soldiers and delivering supplies through the most dangerous stretch of the modern battlefield — the zone immediately behind the front lines. The document describes what the Army calls […]View the full article

The U.S. Department of State has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Germany valued at an estimated $11.9 billion, covering eight complete shipsets of Aegis-based Integrated Combat Systems along with a comprehensive package of weapons, sensors, and support equipment. The determination, which must still clear a congressional notification process before it becomes a binding […]View the full article

A Norwegian passenger jet from the airline Norwegian was placed in a holding pattern on the evening of 15 April while two Norwegian Air Force F-35 fighters scrambled from Evenes Air Station to intercept an unidentified aircraft approaching Norwegian airspace. The military alert took priority over civil air traffic as the fighters launched on a […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces have announced a combat milestone with no documented precedent in modern warfare — operators from the Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) division of the 412th Nemesis Brigade successfully intercepted a Russian Shahed attack drone using an interceptor drone launched from an unmanned naval platform. The engagement took place within a maritime operational […]View the full article

U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll publicly acknowledged before Congress that the American military is actively adopting lessons from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, calling Ukraine’s wartime innovations a fundamental transformation of how humans engage in armed conflict. Driscoll made the remarks during a congressional hearing, speaking directly to Ukraine’s battlefield performance since Russia’s full-scale invasion began. […]View the full article