Raw Intel

Robert Brovdi, the Ukrainian commander known by his call sign Madyar who leads the country’s Unmanned Systems Forces, said on social media that his units destroyed two launchers belonging to Russia’s S-400 Triumf long-range air defense system, along with a Nebo-U early-warning radar. It is worth noting that one of the S-400 launchers was destroyed […]View the full article

Two cavalry scouts sat inside a brand-new armored vehicle atop a hill at Fort Hood, Texas, watching a sky full of drones do reconnaissance work that used to take an hour and now takes minutes, according to a report by Gina Cavallaro, Senior Staff Writer for the Association of the U.S. Army, published July 31, […]View the full article

The U.S. Marine Corps has awarded Dynetics a $40.8 million contract modification to build 14 additional Medium Range Air Defense Radar production-representative systems, according to a Department of War contract announcement. The hybrid other transaction agreement modification also funds depot-level technical manual support, program management, engineering change proposals, logistics support and software support. It further […]View the full article

Ukrainian missile maker Fire Point has changed the published specifications of its FP-7.x anti-ballistic interceptor, now listing a combined infrared and radar seeker for the weapon instead of the infrared-only seeker it described earlier. The company posted an updated specification card for the missile on X, which it calls the FP-7.x Freyja interceptor. In August, […]View the full article

British defense technology company Stratonex Defence Technologies has unveiled VARAN, a modular unmanned ground vehicle concept designed to accompany and support forward units on the battlefield, with swappable mission equipment and the ability to navigate without satellite positioning. The company introduced the vehicle on social media and on its website, describing VARAN as a payload-agnostic […]View the full article

Americas The future USS Daniel Inouye completed builder’s trials after spending four days at sea off the coast of Maine last week, the Navy announced. The builder’s trials consist of a sequence of in-port and at-sea demonstrations allowing the Navy and the ship’s builder, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, to assess whether the ship is ready for delivery. The vessel will return to sea early in 2021 to conduct acceptance trials, during which all systems will be inspected and evaluated before the Navy can accept delivery. The Inouye is a Flight IIA destroyer equipped with the Aegis Baseline combat system, intended to deliver quick reaction time, high firepower and increased …

Another sad week for those who wish New Zealand was a better partner for the West ... but she has a history here. What is even more sad is that it appears this time it is for little more than money over human rights. Not much more. Details over at USNIBlog. Come on by and give it a ponder. 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=a5orce93csQ:-LXibg_aIWc:gIN9vFwOqvQ http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=a5orce93csQ:-LXibg_aIWc:-BTjWOF_DHI http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/blogspot/FAFV?i=a5orce93csQ:-LXibg_aIWc:V_sGLiPBpWU http://feeds…

Shipping rates, supply bottlenecks, and some nightmare abandonment stories for some mariners, like everything else on our water plant, COVID-19 impacted our shipping industry hard at sea and ashore. The impacts of which rippled in to everything. As economies, nations, and corporations adjust to the new reality, what trends can the consumer and maritime professional expect? It’s time to catch up with returning guest, Salvatore Mercogliano this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern. Sal sailed with MSC from 1989 to 1992, and worked MSC HQ as Operations Officer for the Afloat Prepositioning Force 1992-1996. He has a BS Marine Transportation from SUNY Maritime College, a MA Maritime Hist…

From lay observers to professionals in the national security arena, for the last year most have been waiting to see what our Indo-Pacific Strategy would be. Words matter, especially in national strategy where those words drive funding, effort, and the attentions of industry and the national security apparatus. For reasons best known to those who made the decision, it was delivered last Friday, buried in a general Friday news dump before the Super Bowl weekend and Russia on the brink of invading Ukraine. You would be hard pressed to pick a worse time, but it is what it is. The timing does not take away our responsibility to read and comment, and this week we are going to …

Americas Rockwell Collins won a $15.6 million modification, which adds additional in-scope work to provide a virtual reality trade study, aircraft common equipment replacement/virtualization, aircraft flight management computer functional equivalent unit card development, and Beyond Line Of Sight (BLOS) chat software enhancements in support of the E-2D Hawkeye Integrated Training System devices, as well as provides associated technical data, computer software, and computer software documentation for BLOS chat software enhancement efforts. Additionally this modification exercises an option to procure coupled mode capability in support of E-2D Aircrew Procedures Trainer Dev…

Americas General Atomics won a $34.4 million deal, which procures eight mobile ground control stations and six ground data terminals in support of successful operational capability of the Marine Air Ground Task Force Unmanned Aircraft System Expeditionary Medium Altitude Long Endurance MQ-9A Block 5 Reaper air vehicles and ground control stations for the Navy. Work […]View the full article

Americas Northrop Grumman Systems won a $60.3 million cost reimbursable modification to a previously awarded contract. This modification adds scope to procure long lead components, material, parts, and associated support, in support of maintaining the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft systems production schedule for two unmanned air vehicles and one main operating base for the Navy. […]View the full article

Americas Boeing won a $102.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification, which exercises options for the production and delivery of ten P-8A increment three retrofit A-kits and provides for three retrofit kit A-kit installs, in support of anti-submarine warfare capabilities upgrades for the Navy. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida; St. Louis, Missouri; and Mesa, Arizona, and […]View the full article

Americas Standard Aero won a $44.8 million deal, which will provide depot repair of T56-A-427A engines, including the repair of the power section, torque meter, gearbox, and accessories for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. Work will be performed in San Antonio, Texas (92%); and Winnipeg, Canada (8%), and is expected to be completed by August 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Boeing won $248.1 million for a ceiling-priced delivery order for the repair of landing gear used on the F/A-18 E/F aircraft. The d…

Americas Saab Inc. won an $8 million firm-fixed-price modification to previously awarded contract to exercise options for fiscal 2025 MK 9 production efforts. Work is expected to be completed by March 2027. Fiscal 2025 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,097,844 were obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity. General Atomics has tested the Gray Eagle Extended Range (GE-ER) drone using the Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO) satellite network for aircraft communications under a US Army contract. The company has completed two GE-ER …

For those who’ve watched for a long time, especially over the last decade, our service academies and war colleges have drifted further toward academic leftist orthodoxy and away from their core competence as serious military organizations. The last eight months have been a whirlwind of change, as efforts are finally underway to refocus these institutions on their core competency. The two most high-profile Navy centers of higher education (with the Naval Postgraduate School a close 3rd, sorry fellas) are the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA) in Annapolis, MD and the Naval War College (NWC) in Newport, RI. We have covered the need for a depolarization and re-militarization at both …

Poland has formally requested consultations under Article 4 of the NATO treaty following a night-time incursion by 19 Russian drones into its airspace, Prime Minister Donald Tusk told lawmakers on Wednesday. The drones, part of a wider Russian strike campaign against Ukraine, entered Polish airspace from the east, with several reportedly crossing directly from Belarus. […] The post Poland presses NATO for response to Russian drone breach first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Japan’s Ministry of Defense announced on Oct. 7 that it has signed two major contracts with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to begin mass production of a new submarine-launched cruise missile and a ship-launched, extended-range variant of the Type 12 anti-ship missile. The ministry said the first contract, signed Sept. 1 and valued at roughly ¥2.9 billion […] The post Japan develops 1,500 km-range submarine-launched missile first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) will begin introducing the Hermes 900 unmanned aerial vehicle as part of its long-term modernization plan, phasing out the older Hermes 450 system that has been in service for nearly twenty years. The RSAF announced the move on November 3, describing it as a key element of the […]View the full article

South Korea has officially launched a 435.9 billion-won ($296 million) project to develop indigenous short-range air-to-air guided missiles for its domestically produced KF-21 fighter jets. According to a statement from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the missile development initiative is scheduled for completion by 2032. The effort aims to provide the KF-21 with domestically […]View the full article