Raw Intel

Austal Team Trimaran LCS Design (click to enlarge) Exploit simplicity, numbers, the pace of technology development in electronics and robotics, and fast reconfiguration. That was the US Navy’s idea for the low-end backbone of its future surface combatant fleet. Inspired by successful experiments like Denmark’s Standard Flex ships, the US Navy’s $35+ billion “Littoral Combat […]View the full article

When was the last time the US Navy made the case for a significantly larger navy to defend its interests on the high seas? Yep, back when Ole Sal was a Midshipman and EagleOne was as close to his service in Vietnam than Sal was to his service in Afghanistan - the 1980s. What lessons can we take from that relatively successful intellectual, political, and personal struggle to grow our Navy? Using his recent article in Naval History Magazine, Lessons from the 600-Ship Navy, as a starting point for our conversation, our guest for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern will be Lieutenant Joseph Sims, USN. Lieutenant Sims is a Surface Warfare Officer and 2018 graduate of…

The last few years have seen Japan take the very welcome steps out of the box her post-WWII constitution put her in and the habits of the post war generations. With her size and wealth, even her 1% of GDP on defense created a significant military. As anyone who has operated can attest, it is a quality one in equipment, training, and material condition. It's growing - and that is a good thing for the international order. More than is apparent to the outside eye, her national security community – both uniformed and civilian – are very clear-eyed about the world in which they find themselves in 2023. They are taking steps to take her rightful and deserved place in the first …

Americas According to the Defense Post, the US Army is developing its new Command Post Integrated Infrastructure (CPI2) to enhance operability across the battlefield. CPI2 is a mobile command platform that is able to rapidly “tear down, move, and stand” command and control (C2) capabilities, helping the army achieve its top communications priorities while reducing […]View the full article

Americas Raytheon Intelligence and Space won a $34.2 million order by the US Navy, which of the ethernet expansion devices and the platform data server in support of integration of the MV-22 Helmet Mounted Display/Degraded Visual Environment program aboard V-22, and establish a baseline for a common software interface for integration of future capabilities on all V-22 platforms. Work will take place in Indiana and California. Estimated completion will be in July 2027. Lockheed Martin rolled out the first F-16 Block 70/72 aircraft this week from its Greenville, South Carolina, production line. The fighter completed final assembly, checkout, and painting at Greenville on N…

The United States is preparing Misawa Air Base in northern Japan to support the future deployment of F-35A stealth fighter aircraft, as part of a broader effort to modernize U.S. air power in the western Pacific. According to the report by Newsweek journalist Ryan Chan, the Pentagon plans to deploy 48 F-35A Lightning II jets […]View the full article

It is amazing that our nation - one so reliant on ocean trade and whose energy security is so reliant on the arctic - should have such a quote about it as below. This came out in February...but came up in my digging around on a related topic. The nation's first sea-going heavy icebreaker in more than 45 years will be named Sentinel -- a nod to its predecessors as well as future missions in the polar regions, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz said Thursday. We have been at peace at sea for so long, unchallenged for so long, I think we have forgotten what is needed to fight a sustained war at sea. Ships cannot be built overnight. Industrial capacity can take years …

Americas Collins Aerospace, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been awarded a $33.5 million order under a previously issued basic ordering agreement. The contract supports the replacement of the obsolete Control Display Navigation Unit (CDNU) 900 with the updated CDNU-7000 series for the US Navy’s C/KC-130T aircraft. Work will be carried out in Cedar Rapids and is scheduled for completion by December 2027. The full contract amount will be funded by Fiscal Year 2025 Navy aircraft procurement funds, which will be obligated at the time of the award. These funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was not competitively awarded. The Naval Air Warfare Cen…

Americas The BETA Technologies Alia electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft marked a historic moment with its first official test flight from Eglin Air Force Base on November 7, 2023. The primary objectives were to assess battery performance over designated distances and power configurations, and to evaluate the logistical aspects of consecutive flights with […]View the full article

Americas Raytheon won a $27 million modification, which adds scope and increases ceiling to procure 24 mid-body range safety subsystem kits and flight test kits in support of Tactical Tomahawk missiles for the Navy, Army, and Marine Corps. Work is expected to be completed in May 2027. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin has landed a $5.2-billion contract to supply the US Army with Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles. The US Department of Defense (DoD) did not say how many missiles will be delivered as part of the contract. However, it said the work for the deal will be performed at Lockheed facilitie…

Americas GE Aerospace has demonstrated a dual-mode Ramjet (DMRJ) engine that could enable the development of more efficient long-range hypersonic aircraft and missiles. A threefold airflow increase was demonstrated by the engine compared to previous hypersonic demonstrators, according to the company. Testing began at an Evendale, Ohio, testing facility in March just 11 months after the launch of design efforts. Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyards has joined a trilateral project between the US, Canada, and Finland to create icebreaker vessels that will help secure the Arctic region. Revealed by the White House during the 2024 NATO Summit, the Icebreaker Collaboration Effor…

There is a long and not so glorious tradition of the US Military being used - both their people and their money - by politicians to pursue non-military agenda items either due to ideology or in order to take advantage of one of the military's unusual characteristics: we follow orders. Leverage that feature/bug with the deep well of institutional good will those in uniform have ... and you can see why all sorts of pet projects/agenda items/supporter payoffs are spot-welded on to DOD. The neo-pagan religion of "climate change" (no different than moon worship as it is always there, always will be there, cannot be stopped or encouraged to any significant degree by mortals) is…

Americas Northrop Grumman won a $83.1 million order, which provides for retrofit of two MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft systems (B9 and B10) and one main operating base (MB-6P) to an Integrated Functional Capability Four, multiple-intelligence configuration for the Navy and the government of Australia. Work will be performed in Palmdale, California; San Diego, California; Chantilly, […]View the full article

Americas KC-46A, #17-46034, was recently painted with a tail flash to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city of Portsmouth and the 75th anniversary of the United States Air Force. It was flown to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to be painted at the 36,000-square-foot paint facility there in June. An AIM-120D3 air-to-air missile with production hardware was test-fired for the first time on June 30 from a F-15E. It was the first of five combined Air Force and Navy live-fires scheduled for the AMRAAM F3R program, which replaces 15 Circuit Card Assemblies on the missile. Raytheon says in a press release that an additional live fire for the Foreign Mili…

Americas Stratolaunch, LLC, a leading aerospace company, has announced a significant partnership with the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to support the upcoming maiden flight test of their second reusable cutting-edge Talon-A hypersonic test vehicle, TA-3. The Talon-A vehicles, when launched from “Roc,” the world’s largest flying aircraft, serve as rocket-powered, autonomous testbeds. They […]View the full article

Shield AI, a defense technology company now valued at $5.3 billion, has announced the launch of the X-Bat, its first vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) autonomous fighter jet designed for combat. The company will unveil the new aircraft on Wednesday, positioning it as a central piece in the future of distributed airpower. According to Shield […] The post Shield AI develops world’s first autonomous VTOL fighter jet first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Americas The Space Force’s primary acquisition command, Space Systems Command, will wrap up plans for two new “Systems Deltas” to support electronic warfare and positioning, navigation and timing operations by mid-next month, according to a senior SSC official. NATO is expected to adopt its first-ever counter-drone doctrine, which will in part advise member states on layered […]View the full article

On Oct. 22, the Republic of Korea Navy and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) unveiled the first Changbogo-III Batch-II class submarine, the Jang Yeong-sil (SS-087), at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje Shipyard, and displayed the Haeseong‑5 anti‑ship missile as a central part of the ceremony. The missile, shown alongside the new submarine, is presented as a […] The post South Korea unveils new supersonic anti-ship missile first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

From 12–25 August 1920 there was one of the more important battles of modern history that is relatively unknown out of the country the battle took place in. It is a story of audacity in th eface of incredible odds by a nation only reborn less than two years earlier against an equally younger malignancy. The Battle of Warsaw; The Polish-born and much feared head of the Cheka (Bolshevik secret police), Feliks Dzierzinsky, was made head of a Polish Revolutionary Committee, which would follow the Red Army and form the new government. Lenin was absolutely confident of success. Initially all went well, and within six weeks the Red Army was at the gates of Warsaw. But as the Po…

Well, if you are German, all it takes is this; The head of the German navy resigned late Saturday after coming under fire at home and abroad for comments he made on Ukraine and Russia. Speaking at an event in India on Friday, vice admiral Kay-Achim Schoenbach had said Ukraine would not regain the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. Schoenbach also said it was important to have Russia on the same side against China, and suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin deserved “respect."At some point in my career spending 9 of my 21 years on GOFO staffs, I was told that it is best to make sure that the principal not be allowed too much "free swim" time if the…