Raw Intel

Poland’s state defense group has signed agreements with two American companies to begin domestic assembly of Hydra 70mm unguided rockets, establishing a production and logistics center in Poland for a munition that its military plans to deploy across attack helicopters, air defense batteries, and fixed-wing aircraft. Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, Poland’s state-owned defense industrial conglomerate known […]View the full article

Poland is arming its M28 Bryza light transport aircraft for drone combat, with the first prototype set for modification to carry barrel weapons after a contract between the Armed Forces Support Inspectorate and the executing contractor is signed, according to Major General Ireneusz Nowak, who disclosed the program at the Defence24 Days conference during a […]View the full article

Spanish defense technology company UAV Navigation, the guidance and navigation division of Grupo Oesía, has launched VECTOR-300, a new high-performance autopilot designed specifically for mass-produced loitering munitions and counter-UAS interceptors. The VECTOR-300 was announced on May 12, 2026, and represents a deliberate pivot in autopilot design philosophy. Where most advanced autopilots are engineered for capability […]View the full article

CSG group and Turkish armored vehicle maker FNSS unveiled the CFL-120 Karpat medium tank at the IDEB 2026 defense exhibition in Bratislava, presenting a joint European-Turkish development program that combines a proven tracked hull with Leonardo’s HITFACT MkII turret and a 120mm main gun capable of engaging the same armored targets as a main battle […]View the full article

GE Aerospace has completed the Assembly Readiness Review for its XA102 adaptive cycle engine, clearing a critical design and manufacturing milestone in the U.S. Air Force’s Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion program and positioning the company to compete for the next program phase later this year. The ARR validates that the XA102 engine design, manufacturing processes, […]View the full article

Elbit Systems of America has received a $212 million delivery order from the U.S. Army for continued production of the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular system, with deliveries scheduled through 2028. The delivery order, announced May 12, 2026, continues production under a program originally awarded in 2023. Bezhalel Machlis, President and CEO of Elbit Systems, described […]View the full article

Raytheon has secured a contract from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to supply SeaRAM ship self-defense systems for Australia’s Sea3000 General Purpose Frigate program, the company announced. Under the contract, Raytheon will supply SeaRAM launchers, Blast Test Vehicles, and technical services to support installation and testing for the first three ships in the Sea3000 program, which are […]View the full article

HDT Robotics has delivered Hunter WOLF unmanned ground vehicles to the U.S. Army’s 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division at Fort Polk, Louisiana, as part of the Army’s Ground Optionally Autonomous Transport program. The delivery supports a week-long Operator New Equipment Training event at which HDT will train soldiers to operate, employ, and maintain the platform […]View the full article

More than once, mostly on the Midrats Podcast, I have said something to the effect, “Bravo Zulu to the Iranian engineering team who developed the Shahed. Everyone is copying them left, right, and sideways. Even the Americans are trying to steal their engineering valor.” Well, belay my last: I was not just wrong, but mind-numbingly wrong. Let’s set the record straight. The Shahed drone is as American as apple pie—OK, perhaps apple strudel! The Dornier Drohne Anti-Radar (DAR) was an unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Dornier GmbH to detect and destroy enemy radar installations, especially those used for air defense, within a defined target area. The development project w…

Smart Shooter, the Israeli developer of AI-powered rifle-mounted fire control systems, has secured a $10.7 million follow-on U.S. Army contract for its SMASH 2000LE fire control system, with delivery scheduled for the third quarter of 2026. The award was issued through PAE Defensive Fires and will be executed through Atlantic Diving Supply, Inc., according to […]View the full article

Stockholm-based defense investment firm Front Ventures closed a €5 million (approximately $5.4 million) share raise on May 8 to fund early-stage defense technology companies in Ukraine and Sweden, with the raise oversubscribed by 278 percent in a signal of how urgently private capital is chasing battlefield-proven innovation. The raise, structured as a rights issue of […]View the full article

Russian military aviation influencer Ilya Tumanov, who administers the widely followed Fighterbomber Telegram channel, has released the first photograph of Tu-160 serial number 8-04, named Deynekin, following its upgrade to the “M” standard. Previous imagery had shown the Deynekin undergoing modernization at the Kazan Aircraft Production Association plant as far back as 2020, making the […]View the full article

French-supplied CAESAR self-propelled artillery systems appeared publicly for the first time in Armenia during rehearsals for the country’s Republic Day parade, scheduled for May 28 in central Yerevan, signaling a concrete and visible shift in Armenian military hardware away from its traditional Russian-origin inventory. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had previously announced that the government […]View the full article

Ukrainian defense company Inguar Defence has unveiled a new six-wheeled armored recovery vehicle built on a domestically developed triaxle 6×6 chassis, filling a critical battlefield gap that has forced Ukrainian units to leave damaged equipment exposed or rely on inadequate recovery solutions since the full-scale invasion began. Artem Yushchuk, CEO of Inguar Defence, announced the […]View the full article

American forces deployed Hornet strike drones during the Balikatan 2026 exercise in the Philippines, using the small pneumatic-launched weapons to destroy maritime targets simulating Chinese ZBD-05 amphibious assault vehicles in live-fire drills — marking one of the first confirmed appearances of the system in the Indo-Pacific theater. Balikatan 2026, the annual U.S.-Philippine bilateral exercise, ran […]View the full article

India successfully flight-tested an advanced Agni ballistic missile equipped with Multiple Independently Targeted Re-Entry Vehicle (MIRV) capability on May 8, 2026, launching from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha and striking multiple separate targets with a single missile. India’s Ministry of Defense confirmed the test through its official social media account, […]View the full article

The U.S. Army has fielded Mobile Fire Teams in Lithuania, adapting a concept developed and battle-tested by Ukrainian forces fighting drone swarms since 2022 and deploying it along NATO’s eastern flank as part of the Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative. Soldiers from the 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 52nd ADA Brigade conducted zeroing operations […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy is set to commission a warship in Ohio for the first time in the nation’s 250-year history, with USS Cleveland scheduled to formally enter active service on May 16 during a ceremony at North Coast Yard in the city that gave the vessel its name. USS Cleveland, designated LCS 31, arrived in […]View the full article

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has selected Odon, Indiana, as the site for a new mid-tier coupled arc jet and laser facility, the company announced, marking a concrete step forward for Project Helios. The site selection followed what Kratos described as an extensive, multi-state competitive review. Michael Johns, Senior Vice President at Kratos, confirmed the […]View the full article

Pratt & Whitney has completed a fully digital assembly readiness review for its XA103 adaptive engine, clearing the last major design-phase hurdle before the company begins procuring physical hardware for the first test build of an engine it says will outperform anything currently flying. The review, conducted entirely within Pratt & Whitney’s digital engineering environment, […]View the full article