Raw Intel

Americas The US Air Force has awarded machine learning-based health developer Sparta Science a small business innovation research deal to identify early signs of sub-concussive brain injury in airmen. Data gathered from the research will assist experts in developing a capability to recognize the impacts of repeated exposures to subconcussive blasts. According to Sparta, results […]View the full article

BAMS Operation Concept (click to view full) The world’s P-3 Orion fleets have served for a long time, and many are reaching the end of their lifespans. In the USA, and possibly beyond, the new P-8 Poseidon Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft will take up the P-3’s role. While the P-8’s base 737-based airframe offers strong service […]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…

So, how tough will you be in your 50s? Jeff Schogol over at T&P has a benchmark for you; At 50 years old, (Paul) Douglas arrived at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in 1942 to begin boot camp. The economics professor was more than twice as old as the average Marine recruit and Douglas remains the oldest recruit to pass through Parris Island. ... Initially, Douglas was assigned to the personnel classification section of Parris Island after becoming a Marine, but he was not content with the idea of writing training manuals for the rest of the war, so with the help of his good friend Fred Knox, who was serving as Navy Secretary, Douglas became an infantry offic…

Americas Rolls-Royce won a $23.3 million deal, which provides for the depot repair of T56-A-427A engines installed on E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft for the Navy. The Allison T56 is a single shaft, modular design military turboprop with a 14-stage axial flow compressor driven by a four-stage turbine. The E-2D is a twin-engine turboprop aircraft. Work will take place in Texas, Canada and Indiana. Estimated completion date is in November 2022. The MQ-25 has been undergoing ground testing at Naval Station Norfolk as the unmanned aircraft prepares to embark on board an aircraft carrier next month. The MQ-25 Stingray introduces unmanned aerial refueling and intelligence, surv…

The news does not stop on the national security front, and as we approach the end of 1QCY23, a couple of weeks without a Midrats can only add to everyone's confusion. For the full hour we're going to cover the waterfront from the Sea of Azov to the parking lots of San Diego's waterfront. As with all our free-for-all formats, we have open topic and the switchboard phone line is open. If you have a topic you would like to discussed or want to call in with a question for the hosts ... join us live from 5-6pm Eastern. No guests, no set agenda, just open phones, open minds, and open chat room for those who are with us live Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern. Join us live if you can, bu…

Late. Everything is late. Just a little more time. All that was needed was a little more time. A few more bits of kits. A few better leaders up the chain, but mostly, just more time. The war drums could be heard, but people waited too long to accept what the sound was. Once it was accepted, all the right things were done, just not soon enough. Just a little more time. Just a bit. Then it came. A message. A pause. Then reports. Then you realize, time no longer matters. You have what you have. You will fight for your island with what you and your Sailors and Marines have. Nothing more. Promises and hopes are for fools in war. You do what you can with what you have and let …

Are you familiar with the case of Lieutenant Ridge Alkonis, USN? Much to my shame, until this AM I was not. Let's get everyone up to speed. From Andrew Jeong at WaPo; While stationed in Japan in May 2021, Alkonis was driving home with his family and their Australian labradoodle after a visit to Mount Fuji, near Tokyo. They had gone to an area about 8,000 feet high and accessible by car. After parking, the family hiked on a mostly flat trail for a few hours, Brittany Alkonis said. On their way home at 1 p.m., Ridge Alkonis was talking to his oldest daughter as he drove. But mid-sentence, Alkonis suddenly fell unconscious, his family said. The vehicle, going about 25 mph,…

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…

All you need to do is look at a map to tell that we are a maritime nation. A strong Navy is only part of being a maritime power. As everyone is starting to appreciate as they look at empty shelves, rising prices, and fleets of merchant ships waiting for their turn off overburdened ports - the other side of a maritime power can impact everyone's quality of life overnight. If most Americans knew the relative weakness - and in areas complete absence - of America in the maritime trade that keeps up employed, fed, and secure, they would probably have a mild panic attack. Is part of the problem simply that we lack a national focus? Could a solution be to establish a cabinet-lev…

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $8.1 million modification by the US Navy to exercise options for Combat System Ship Integration and Test on Littoral Combat Ships and Large Unmanned Surface Vessels. Work will be performed in Camden, New Jersey; Pittsfield, Massachusetts; Jacksonville, Florida; Pascagoula, Mississippi; Moorestown, New Jersey; San Diego, California; Virginia Beach, Virginia; and […]View the full article

Americas Sikorsky won a $280.4 million modification, which exercises an option to procure long lead items in support of full rate production Lot 8, CH-53K aircraft. CH-53K King Stallion is a next-generation heavy-lift cargo helicopter. Work will take place in Connecticut. Expected completion will be in December 2023. General Electric won a $1 billion requirements contract for repair, replacement, and program support of 784 F414 engine components in support of F/A-18 aircraft. This contract includes a five-year base with no options. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support is the contracting activity. Work will take place in various continental US contractor lo…

Americas Brazilian Defense Minister Jose Mucio has announced plans to travel to Sweden next month to negotiate a potential sale of Embraer’s C-390 Millennium military cargo aircraft to the Nordic nation. The move comes as Brazil explores the possibility of selling three to four C-390 aircraft to Sweden, while Sweden expresses interest in increasing its […]View the full article

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

Words work, until they don't. The world finds itself where it is today because soft words were not backed up with very hard iron. The crisis in Ukraine did not start in the last year ... it was only a matter of time. Come take a trip down memory lane with me over at USNIBlog. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?d=qj6IDK7rITs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=JwUcCFCB2jA:VtvQ85_WSAQ:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=JwUcCFCB2jA:VtvQ85_WSAQ:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=JwUcCFCB2jA:VtvQ85_WSAQ:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f…

Americas Boeing won a $1 billion modification for the Apache AH-64E full-rate production. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of December 31, 2027. The Apache attack helicopter is a combat proven aircraft manufactured by American aerospace and defence company Boeing […]View the full article

There is one area where there is no Civ-Mil Divide™ - that is where smart people with silver tongues, clever ideas, and an instinct for other people's weaknesses see a way to make money and fame quick and easy. Hard things are hard, and usually expensive - there is a desire to be a hero/visionary, and we are pre-wired to have faith and hope in intangibles, and to look for the quick and easy gain. That is why we love sweets so much; a lot a calories very quick for little effort. This is a seductive stew that works on our brain stem instincts which in turn seduces our higher conscious to find some more lofty justifications for our enthusiasm to sate our base needs. Cheap fo…

Time to raise a topic we first brought up the first year of this blog over 17-years ago; riverine. As we discussed at the time, we invaded a nation, Iraq, dominated by major river systems, yet because of the stupidity of the 1990s defense policies, we divested of our riverine forces. The last units left the reserves just a few years before we would need them again. As a result, we not only did not have the ability to take advantage of the unique mobility riverine environments can provide for our own military operations, we surrendered the waters to the enemy's use unopposed. The requirement was still there, we just ignored it in DC while the US Army did what it could wit…

Americas Lockheed Martin won a &632.1 million deal, which provides engineering, maintenance, logistics and material support to continue to develop, sustain and produce software builds, as well as carryout developmental flight tests in support of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales customer, and non-US Department of Defense (DOD) participants’ funds. The deal also provides unique sea trials on aircraft carriers for the government of the United Kingdom. Work will take place in Texas, Florida, Maryland, New Hampshire, California, United Kingdom and Canada. Expected completion is in March 2024. A 50kW-class high en…