Raw Intel

Americas The US Navy awarded Bath Iron Works a multiyear contract for construction of three DDG 51 class ships – one each in fiscal 2023, 2024, and 2026. This contract includes options for engineering change proposals, design budgeting requirements, and post-delivery availabilities on the awarded firm multiyear ships. This contract also includes options for construction […]View the full article

Americas Amentum has won an $818-million contract to manage the modernization and sustainment of US Navy F-16 Viper adversary fighter jets at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada. The Viper is the aggressor version of the Fighting Falcon fourth-generation multi-role combat aircraft. It plays the enemy role or “red team” to train naval airmen in simulated […]View the full article

Americas Triumph Gear won a $18.5 million deal for the repair of one item that is part of the V-22 pylon conversion actuator system. All work will be performed in Park City, Utah. Work is expected to be completed by April 2025. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity. […]View the full article

What is this jewel? The future is often just an updated past. Drop on by USNIBlog and see some of the smart things going on in WESTPAC. 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=L57jkdTmt18:yIIMLqwzEw0:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=L57jkdTmt18:yIIMLqwzEw0:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=L57jkdTmt18:yIIMLqwzEw0:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=L57jkdTmt18:yIIMLqwzEw0:F7zBnMyn0Lo View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control won a $130.5 million modification for the Advanced Radar Threat System – Variant 2 (ARTS-V2) systems. The contract modification is to provide for the exercise of Options 3 and 4 for an additional quantity of eight ARTS-V2 systems being produced under the basic contract. Work will take place in Texas. Expected completion date is June 16, 2024. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity. Jane’s reports that Boeing sees foreign partners as potential customers for its updated MQ-25A Stingray drones. The MQ-25 UAV is designed to refuel carrier-based aircraft. The UK, France,…

China moved three newly built Shuiqiao-class Landing Platform Utility barges, also known as invasion barges, through the Pearl River Estuary and into the South China Sea between January 11 and 15, 2026, according to new imagery and tracking data released by SynMax’s maritime awareness platform, Theia. Theia said the second batch consists of three self-propelled […]View the full article

P-8A Poseidon (click to view full) Maritime surveillance and patrol is becoming more and more important, but the USA’s P-3 Orion turboprop fleet is falling apart. The P-7 Long Range Air ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) Capable Aircraft program to create an improved P-3 began in 1988, but cost overruns, slow progress, and interest in opening the […]View the full article

Americas Boeing won a $28.3 million modification by the US Air Force for an engineering change proposal modification for the F-15 Passive/Active Warning and Survivability System (EPAWSS). Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed by December 31, 2023. DARPA has completed the first phase of its Robotic Autonomy […]View the full article

China has taken a new step in its unmanned aviation development with the successful maiden flight of the Boying T1400, a tandem rotor unmanned helicopter developed by United Aircraft. The flight took place in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, on October 30, 2025, according to Chinese state media outlet Xinhua. The T1400 is an unmanned […]View the full article

The United Arab Emirates is reportedly supplying Chinese-made FK-2000 short-range air defense systems to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) via Chad, according to a report published Sunday by Clash Report. The FK-2000, developed by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), is designed to counter a variety of aerial threats, including fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, cruise […] The post UAE sends Chinese air defense systems to Sudan’s RSF first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Americas Leidos has awarded CAE a deal to supply a Full Flight Simulator (FFS) for the US Army’s High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System (HADES) program. HADES seeks to enhance the service’s aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (A-ISR) capabilities by replacing existing ISR aircraft fleets that have been operational since the Cold War. CAE will […]View the full article

The United States Navy has awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $2.28 billion contract modification to support advance procurement and advance construction of additional Columbia‑class ballistic missile submarine hulls, according to a contract announcement. The modification applies to the previously awarded contract N00024‑17‑C‑2117 and covers work for hull numbers SSBN 828–832, representing upcoming submarines in […]View the full article

Building a coherent intellectual foundation of an effective military force to be ready to defend the nation and its interests never ends. As a levee against a large and turbulent river must be constantly monitored, maintained, and reinforced – so too must support for reasoned, reality-based, up-to-date, and sound arguments continue against the constant erosion from doe-eyed “war is new” and sharper “this is my hobby horse” idea/concept sellers looking to grow an empire or to reinforce their world view. For every “New Model Army,” “AirLand Battle” or “War Plan Orange,” there is a “New Look” or “Transformationalism.” Let me just put this marker out there: what we call “Ir…

Americas An AC-130J Ghostrider assigned to the 1st Special Operations Wing recently underwent Benefield Anechoic Facility (BAF) testing at Edwards Air Force Base for its new radio frequency countermeasures system. Back in 2017, the US Air Force selected BAE Systems to provide new radio frequency countermeasures equipment for the AC/MC-130J fleet. Raytheon won a $482.7 million deal for DDG 1000 Class Combat System activation, sustainment and modernization support for Mission Systems and Total Ship Computing Environment infrastructure (TSCEi) hardware/equipment, in addition to non-recurring engineering services supporting combat system installation, integration, developmen…

Americas The US Air Force contracted Boeing with $14.5 million for KC-135 engineering sustainment services. The contract modification provides for recurring engineering services for sustainment of the KC-135 aircraft for one option year. Work will take place in Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama and Florida. Estimated completion date is March 31, 2022. Tactical Air Support won a $265.3 million deal, which provides non-recurring engineering, inspection, modification, and block upgrade efforts for 16 F-5E and six F-5F Tiger II aircraft from a Swiss Confederation configuration to a Navy/Marine Corps N+/F+ configuration. Additionally, this contract procures eight block upgrade retrofi…

For those who missed the previous announcements, please read the previous posts for the details, but after 18 2/3 years here, I will no longer be posting on blogspot. Worry not, just click here to go to substack. That is where I'll be. View the full article

Yes, in America - for some reason I simply do not agree with - we took what was for the rest of the West, Remembrance Day, and turned it in to Veterans Day. Yes, we have Memorial Day - which in the larger scheme of things is our "Remembrance Day" - but especially after living for years in Europe, I came to see the 11th of November as something else than what I grew up with. WWI was such a stupid and unnecessary war. The two empires that dragged the rest of the West and its auxiliaries in to this meatgrinder, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire, were destroyed by the end of the war. Their culture, empires, and dynasties disintegrated and disaggregated. The G…

The greatest threat to security in the Western Pacific is not the rise of China, certainly isn't the moribund Russians - or even a combination of the two. No, the greatest threat to security west of Wake is the American national security establishment. The two pillars of its dysfunction are intellectual and institutional. Intellectually we continue to allow The Smartest People in the Room™ to blissfully live in a world of happy talk to themselves, each other, and their nation. It is as if they live in a world of the military FITREP where you write your own review in the adult version of Lake Wobegone ... where all the children are above average. Via Phelem Kine and Lara S…

Americas General Dynamics won a $21.6 million modification for additional hours of Abrams system technical support. Work will be performed in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of September 22, 2023. M1A1/2 Abrams main battle tank is manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems. The first M1 tank was produced in 1978, the M1A1 in 1985 and the M1A2 in 1986. The Navy awarded Insitu a $191.8 million modification, which procures 13 RQ-21A Blackjack air vehicles, 25 ScanEagle air vehicles, 48 RQ-21A and ScanEagle payloads and turrets, support equipment, spares and sustainment spares and tools in support of RQ-21A Blackjack and ScanEagle unmanned ai…

Americas The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory won a $2 billion deal for technical and engineering support necessary to maintain and sustain the Trident II Strategic Weapon System Mark 6 Guidance Subsystem and support the strategic guidance, navigation, and control research and development efforts required to enable follow-on, full-scale development of the Mark 7 Guidance Subsystem, […]View the full article