Raw Intel

The best thing about LCS is that when you feel the need to take a break from the war in Ukraine, it delivers you news at just the right time. Via our friend Geoff Ziezulewicz at Navy Times;Since its commissioning in 2018, the littoral combat ship Omaha has developed cracks in its hull and superstructure that limit the speed it can travel and the sea states it can operate in.Four years old. Of course, cracks on warships are not new - we saw some issues with OHP, TICO and others ... but this is different. Before we dig more, let's pause a bit and talk to each other as adults. As was amply demonstrated again yesterday on The Hill in front of Congress, our Navy has a loose as…

Sudan’s army said it destroyed a Chinese-made FK-2000 air defense system operated by the Rapid Support Forces in the Ed Dubeibat area of South Kordofan. The FK-2000 system was neutralized during ongoing combat operations around Ed Dubeibat. The military said the system had been used by RSF units to contest Sudanese Air Force operations over […]View the full article

Great and wonderful members of the Front Porch, especially those regular readers since 2004. As most of you may be aware of by now, I have been posting in parallel over at substack for the last few years. I did that for a few reasons. Mostly because of the coding, NMCI, facebook and other location may block blogspot as it can seem as if it is SPAM. Bad on blogspot, irritating to readers. Because substack is a "cleaner" code, no one has that problem...yet. Anyway, blogspot is owned by google and the last few weeks they have been pulling down some of my posts going back almost a decade for a variety of reasons. Many of them are because they contain pictures of ... military …

Americas Longbow won a $156.4 million deal for procurement of Apache Attack Helicopter Fire Control Radar and other support hardware and auxiliary services. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida; and Linthicum Heights, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2027. The Apache attack helicopter is a combat proven aircraft manufactured by American […]View the full article

Americas General Dynamics won a $967.2 million modification for lead yard support and development studies and design efforts related to Virginia Class submarines. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut; McLeansville, North Carolina; Newport News, Virginia; and Newport and Quonset, Rhode Island, and is expected to be completed by October 2024. The US Navy has […]View the full article

International relations are just a subset of personal relations. That is why we have summits where national leaders meet face to face, etc. At the end of the day, all the policy papers, posturing, and talking heads are secondary and supporting operations. Leaders and how they interact with each other is what makes the difference. Even in 50/50 democratic systems with party politics, the balance of a nation’s people will watch closely how their leaders, and as a byproduct their nation, are treated by friend and foe alike…but especially friends. Are they ignored by other leaders? Mocked? Dismissed? Respected? In parallel, there is another dynamic in play. Like people, nati…

For a decade and a half here we have yelled, begged, pleaded for Continental European NATO - especially Germany - to rise to the challenge of the 21st Century and pull their fair share of the load to keep peace in Europe. I have warned even longer IRL until it has become tiresome that they do not realize that the American public is just one election away from shrugging being Europe's security blanket. Everything regresses to the mean, and at our heart we are a mercantile republic, not an empire. WWII and the Cold War warped the nature of our relationship with Europe, and the force of regressing back to our natural state will bring us back across the Atlantic and looking t…

Americas Sikorsky Aircraft won a $32.6 million order, which procures one CH-53K containerized flight training device based on low-rate initial production Lot 4 configuration in support of CH-53K phase II training system efforts. The CH-53K King Stallion is a new-build helicopter that will expand the fleet’s ability to move more material, more rapidly throughout the area of responsibility using proven and mature technologies. There are four System Development Test Article CH-53K with Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron One (VMX-1). The squadron completed Initial Operational Test and Evaluation of the aircraft in 2022. There are 46 aircraft on contract, includi…

Unless you live in a highly isolated environment where you don't spend too much time reading and understanding the nation you serve & live amongst others in the military in these co-ed quasi-monastic cloisters known as government quarters (yes, I'm looking at you DC GOFO community), you are well aware that the last place to look for any advice on issues of "gender" related issues is academia. Only a fool would ask academia for advice here, or someone who was a true believer and wanted a club to beat the pagans with until they convert. Maybe a bit of both. Of course, just like in corporate America where the weakest senior leadership fears their HR department more than …

Americas Sikorsky won a $443 million modification for the Black Hawk helicopter program. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2027. Fiscal 2024 aircraft procurement, Army funds in the amount of $442,956,422 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is […]View the full article

Americas The US Navy awarded Gibbs & Cox a $39.6 million future surface combatant force (LSCF) design and engineering contract. The contract, through February 2024, supports the next-generation guided-missile destroyer (DDG(X))and other emerging ship concepts. It also includes feasibility studies in support of the broader navy fleet. President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday that Moscow would suspend its participation […]View the full article

Americas DynCorp International won a $100 million deal, which provides organizational, selected intermediate, and limited depot level maintenance, as well as logistics support services for the Navy F/A-18C/D/E/F, EA-18G, MH-60S, E-2C, and F-16A/B/C/D aircraft. Work will take place in Nevada. Estimated completion will take place in September 2023. The South Carolina National Guard’s 1-151st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion recently took delivery of five AH-64E V6 attack helicopters. These helicopters arrived at McEntire Joint National Guard Base on March 24. “The arrival of the AH-64E model Apache Guardian to the South Carolina Army National Guard is a vast technological s…

Americas General Dynamics Bath Iron Works has received a $21.7 million contract modification for DDG-1000 Class Planning Yard requirements, extending its role in maintaining and modernizing the Zumwalt-class destroyers. Key points include: The contract covers tasks such as Ship Change Document development, technical problem resolution, and integrated logistics support. Most work will be done in Bath, Maine, with completion expected by March 2026. Funding sources include fiscal 2024 and 2025 Navy procurement and research funds. The contract was awarded without competition due to the need for a specific source under 10 US Code 3204(a)(1). This modification supports the ongo…

The American tradition in the relationship between officers and enlisted personnel is not mostly the norm for Western Armies. Some more than others, but roughly the norm. It was not always so in Western Armies - and in isolated cases, in our military either. Partially due to the revolutionary nature of our nation's birth, but mostly due to the example set by many of its earliest leaders and mentors, the habits established in the 18th and 19th centuries in our military fit a military of a free republic well. That relationship resulted from the benchmark set by great leaders whose actions set the example for others to follow. One of those leaders was Andrew Jackson. Most…

Sometimes at gaff is just the truth spoken out of turn. Yesterday, President Biden said something that isn’t that surprising to those who have been pondering this for a while; Of course, there are those who will come out to “clarify” etc., but we nearing the point where we need to pause a bit and talk clearly to each other as adults; we need to be ready for the war to come because if we don’t, come it surely will. We need to move past the comfortable strategic ambiguity of the past and move forward based on the clear intent by the Commander in Chief. We should take the Commander in Chief at this word, the leadership of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). They will act a…

Last Friday we looked at the seven points we discussed a year earlier the day the Russo-Ukrainian War broke out. As promised, today we look at seven points a year in everyone needs to hoist onboard. Though I nibble on the edges a bit, these are not detailed, tactical “lessons learned.” Land combat details simply are not my bag. No, these a big pixel items. Mostly land centric like the war, but are directly transferrable to the maritime and other domains. 1. Short-War Snake Oil Salesmen are Worthy of Little but Scorn: a bit more muted than a year ago, even in winter of 2023, American short-war salesmen continue to push the WESTPAC 72-hour victory concept. In the run up to …

Deer hunters who own their own land and hunt it for years on end know a fun little detail few others know. Deer trails are a constant, regardless of what is happening on the land. They remain on their track for ... well ... perhaps centuries. You can have a deer trail you've hunted in second growth forest and then have either timber harvest or fire remove all the trees on that parcel. Even though the land is barren, the deer will use the same trail, only slightly modified if an obstacle like an old fallen tree is gone, but besides that, the track remains unchanged. As the now barren land transitions over time from forbs, to scrub, to brush, and back to forest over a decad…

They found the Samuel B. Roberts (DE 413). More than 22,600 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean lies a WWII US Navy destroyer that has been named the world’s deepest shipwreck. The USS Destroyer Escort Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413), known as the Sammy B, was located on Wednesday in the Philippine Sea. The vessel went down during the Battle Off Samar in the Philippine Sea in October 1944 after it was hit by Japanese fire. 89 Sailors were lost when she sank. This counts as the world's deepest war grave. Unlike a lot of shallow wrecks in this part of the world - the salvagers won't be able to get to her. Over the years we've used her story for FbF ... so this is a go…

Americas The Iowa Air National Guard has repainted an F-16A static display in a gold paint scheme. This scheme replicates the F-16C that was painted in gold back in 1996 to commemorate the 185th Fighter Wing’s 50th anniversary back then. The original F-16C #85-1565 is now a QF-16 and will eventually be destroyed during live-fire training exercise. Northrop Grumman won a $337.9 million deal, which provides researching alternatives, investigating and documenting new capabilities and anomalies related to H-1 avionics and weapons; and the development, integration, verification, validation, and testing of H-1 Integrated Avionics Systems, as well as identifies maintenance capa…

RENK Systems won a $49 million deal, which is for the design, development, fabrication, and testing of three test stands to include: one for testing the main gearbox assembly, one for testing the tail/intermediate gearbox assemblies, and one for testing the nose gearbox assemblies, as well as associated logistics, calibration, maintenance, and sustainment support; equipment […]View the full article