Raw Intel

Egypt has reportedly signed a contract worth about $400 million to acquire 10 Chinese-made WJ-700 unmanned combat aerial vehicles. According to information circulating in Chinese and Arabic defense reporting, the agreement was signed in June 2025. If the deal is fully implemented, Egypt would become the second operator of the WJ-700 following Algeria, marking another […]View the full article

B-52H, B-1B & B-2A (click to view full) The good news? 2006 saw a convergence of opinion within the USAF that a new long-range strike platform was needed. This is understandable given the B-52H Stratofortress fleet’s age (40-50 years), the B-1B Lancer’s internal power and electronics issues, both of these platforms’ low survivability against advanced […]View the full article

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

Americas Boeing won a $106 million delivery order for the repair of flight control surfaces used on the F/A-18 E/F and EA-18G aircraft. The US Navy F/A-18 E and F Super Hornet maritime strike attack aircraft are twin-engine, carrier-capable multirole fighter. The Growler is a derivative of the combat-proven two-seat F/A-18 Hornet, the US Navy’s maritime strike aircraft. The primary missions of the aircraft are electronic attack (EA) and suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD), particularly at the start and ongoing early stages of hostilities. Work will take place in Florida and Missouri. Estimated completion will be by March 2024. Raytheon won a $66.2 million deal for p…

Americas Timken Gears & Services won a $119.2 million modification to exercise the options for three Main Reduction Gear shipsets to support DDG-51 class. Work is scheduled to be completed by November 2027. The DDG-51 class is a class of guided missile destroyers in the United States Navy. It is also known as the Arleigh […]View the full article

Americas The US Navy awarded Raytheon $78.7 million to exercise options for additional fiscal 2022 guided missile assemblies in support of the fiscal 2021-2023 Evolved Seasparrow Missile (ESSM) Block 2 full rate production requirements. The Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile is a medium-range, surface-to-air missile designed and manufactured by Raytheon Missile Systems. Work will take place in Arizona, Australia, California, Canada, New Hampshire, Norway, Germany, New York, Turkey and Denmark. Estimated completion will be by March 2025. Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture won a $33.4 million contract modification for the low-rate initial production of lightweight com…

Now and then the algorithm on YouTube rolls things in to my view it knows I cannot ... NOT ... watch. So, of course I watched an iconic scene and then remembered the man passed only 4.5 yrs ago and I have a FbF on him. Worthy an encore, no? Yes, he was THAT Brit officer holding the tanks in A Bridge Too Far. Even if the 25-year-old Captain in the Grenadier Guards had wanted to say a prayer, his voice would have been drowned out by the throbbing of the five Chrysler engines that powered his 40-ton Sherman tank. The young officer would have had good reason to call on the Almighty, because his troop of Shermans was about to cross the most dangerous bridge in Europe. There …

A previously unseen image of Russia’s Su-57 multirole fighter has surfaced on pro-Kremlin social media channels, showing the aircraft’s internal tail-mounted weapons bay in detail. The release appears to be part of a broader effort by Moscow to promote the export potential of the fifth-generation jet as it seeks foreign funding to complete development. The […] The post Rare photo reveals Su-57’s hidden weapon bay first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

If it's April, it's time for a return visit by Ross Kennedy to Midrats! A little under a year ago, we had Ross on to discuss the impact of COVID and related structural issues to the global supply chain. A year later, we find conditions have not just remained, but with war in Ukraine and a new COVID variant working its way through coastal China, in many ways the global trade in essential items has turned for the worst. If you are worried about the cost and availability of fuel, food, and everyday items you've spent the last decade assuming were always going to be there at a price you're happy with, then you need to join us from 2-3pm Eastern this Sunday. Ross is a U.S.-bas…

Americas Raytheon Missiles and Defense won a $50 million contract modification to exercise options for fiscal 2022 design agent and engineering support services for the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) upgraded MK-31 Guided Missile Weapon System Improvement Program. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by July 2023. The Naval […]View the full article

Networks, local knowledge, human terrain, and even gossip. It does not matter if you are a tourist, a diplomat, or an invading army – if you come into a foreign nation you need local knowledge, a guide – someone who can not just tell you where the head is, but the important parts of the intangible nature of any culture that simply does not come from a briefing book. And it needs to be someone you trust. Likewise, as social animals, from the middle school lunchroom to the United Nations, we have our “in-group” and the “out-group.” Friendly, hostile, or aggressively neutral, out-group people are racked-n-stacked based upon their perceived threat or value. Do they have powe…

Americas The US military is looking for a new sniper rifle that can strike targets at extremely long range. According to a notice, the weapon must be capable of delivering precise fire at a range of up to 2,500 meters or 1.6 miles. It should also have a modular design, with overall length and weight […]View the full article

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…

In September of last year, the national security story was the announcement of AUKUS - trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Though the Russo-Ukrainian War quickly took it from headlines, it is still moving forward - and in ways you may not expect. These three Anglosphere nations have a long cultural, diplomatic, economic, and military history together - so many of the building blocks are already there to make something impressive. Using his recent article in the Australian Strategic Policy Institute as a starting off point, our guest for the full hour returning to Midrats this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern will be Dr. Alessio …

Americas The US Navy awarded AAR Government Services an $114.5 million modification, which exercises an option to provide P-8A Poseidon aircraft depot scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, depot in-service repair/planner and estimator requirements, technical directive incorporation, airframe modifications, aircraft on ground support, and removal and replacement of engines in support of the Navy, the government of Australia, and Foreign Military Sales customers. Work will be performed in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is expected to be completed in October 2023. L3Harris has integrated its new advanced battlefield awareness systems onto Rheinmetall’s Lynx Optionally Manned F…

Americas Northrop Grumman Systems won a $20.5 million contract modification, which provides additional labor and material to incorporate production engineering change proposals that modify MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system production assets (B13-B15) to an Integrated Functional Capability 4.0 multiple intelligence configuration for the Navy. Work will take place in California, Virginia, New York, Utah, Wisconsin, North Dakota and various other locations within the continental US. Expected completion is in April 2023. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. The US Air Force will swap the A-10 mission computer with a new on…

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 Northrop Grumman Systems won a $19 million modification, which provides logistics and test support for mission control and operator training systems as well as associated engineering and field service representative technical support to sustain MQ-4C Triton air vehicles, ensuring continued mission-capability for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions for the Navy and the government of […]View the full article

The longer this war goes on, the more dangerous it is not just for Putin's hold on power, but for the hope the conflict can be contained. For those keeping an eye on the big picture, the question is how this effects China. Located on the other side of the Eurasian landmass, China is looking west to see not just how they can work this to their advantage, but also how they can maneuver themselves so that Russia's adventures do not derail China's plans and priorities. She is on cusp of greatness and she knows it. She has been given a small taste of primacy and she wants all of it. The Russo-Ukrainian War will either be a catalyst for an accelerated grasp on global power for …

The greatest tragedies from war, both directly and indirectly, are those that were clearly foreseen, knowable, or otherwise clear as day to anyone who wanted to see them. They did not happen in the shadows, they were allowed to happen because people with access to levers of power did not want to expend personal, professional, or real capital to take steps to prevent something that would be too horrible to think of should they come to pass. Little pain now to avoid great pain later is a more difficult concept to accept than it seems. The world in complicated. It is a human failing to not want to expend effort NOW to prevent something that will force harder effort in the fu…