Raw Intel

Ukraine continues to receive American weapons through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List without interruption, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed this week — but he was equally direct about what that pipeline still cannot fix. The flow of U.S. arms has held. The air defense shortfall has not. “Regarding arms supplies from the United States, they have […]View the full article

For the first time, Ukrainian military instructors with direct frontline combat experience have arrived in Germany to train Bundeswehr units — a striking reversal of the training relationship that has defined Western military assistance to Ukraine since 2022, according to Militarniy. The deployment, confirmed by German Army Inspector Lieutenant General Christian Freuding in an interview […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Tencore and France’s Shark Robotics have signed a memorandum of understanding and announced the creation of a joint venture, the companies disclosed at the Ukraine-EU Business Forum in Brussels, according to Oboronka. The agreement was announced under the Build with Ukraine initiative — a framework pushing Ukrainian defense companies to establish co-production partnerships with […]View the full article

A fire broke out aboard USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) late Sunday night while the destroyer sat pierside at HII Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, injuring three sailors. The blaze was reported at approximately 9:45 p.m. on April 19, 2026, and was extinguished by the ship’s crew before outside fire services were needed. One sailor was transported […]View the full article

The Belgian Armed Forces have completed their first training exercise integrating unmanned ground vehicles into active operational scenarios, fielding Polish-made robotic systems across a range of missions including nighttime reconnaissance and target identification. The exercise, conducted in Belgium, marked the Belgian military’s debut use of UGV platforms in a structured field environment — putting soldiers […]View the full article

Israel’s air war against Iran is generating serious money for the country’s defense industry. Elbit Systems announced on April 22 that it has been awarded several contracts totaling approximately $200 million for the supply of advanced airborne munitions to the Israel Ministry of Defense — all tied directly to Operation Roaring Lion, Israel’s ongoing military […]View the full article

French defense-electronics firm Thales announced on April 21 that Denmark has signed a contract for the SAMP/T NG long-range air and missile defense system — the first export deal ever signed for the next-generation Franco-Italian platform. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2028, and the agreement makes Denmark the third country to operate the system, […]View the full article

A Russian drone was shot down over Kyiv on Wednesday by a Hellfire missile, with the intercept witnessed by numerous observers on the ground and from windows across the capital. The shootdown drew significant attention not for its outcome — drones over Kyiv have become a grim routine — but for what appeared to have […]View the full article

The U.S. Department of State approved a $200 million Foreign Military Sale to the Dutch government covering 530 AGM-114R2 Hellfire missiles — a significant jump from the 386 missiles cleared in a $150 million deal just two years ago. Lockheed Martin Corporation in Orlando, Florida, is the principal contractor. The package also includes technical assistance […]View the full article

Washington has approved a $214 million sale of AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II missiles to Lithuania, the U.S. Department of State announced, handing the NATO ally a significant boost to its short-range air defense arsenal. The deal covers 152 additional AIM-9X Block II tactical missiles, eight tactical guidance units, and six captive air training missiles — […]View the full article

A small Brooklyn knitwear company just landed one of the biggest apparel contracts the Pentagon has put on the table this year. Karlas and Emmas Knits LLC, based in Brooklyn, New York, has been awarded a maximum $763 million contract to supply physical fitness gear to every branch of the U.S. military. The contract runs […]View the full article

BAE Systems just picked up another slice of one of the most sensitive defense programs in existence. The Rockville, Maryland-based contractor has been awarded a $45.5 million contract modification — the 51st modification to an existing contract — to continue providing engineering and technical support for the U.S. Trident II D5 Strategic Weapon Systems Program, […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy has brought Orbis Sibro, Inc. into a massive multi-vendor maintenance contract worth up to $1.9 billion to keep its nuclear-powered attack submarines operational. The Charleston, South Carolina-based firm is one of several companies awarded spots on the deal, announced April 22, 2026, which targets repair, maintenance, and modernization work at all four […]View the full article

The U.S. Army procured ten Valinor Condor unmanned aerial vehicles for flight testing and evaluation at Arcane Thunder 26, according to an announcement by Valinor Enterprises published Tuesday. UAS pilots from U.S. Army Multi-Domain Task Force – Europe got hands-on time with the system during the exercise, evaluating its capabilities including high-altitude balloon deployment and […]View the full article

Lithuania’s Ministry of National Defense announced Wednesday that it is acquiring the Merops AS-3 Surveyor counter-drone system from U.S. manufacturer Perennial Autonomy, including 48 interceptor drones, as part of an accelerated procurement process approved by the Lithuanian Government. The purchase marks another step in Vilnius’s push to field capable air defenses against the same drone […]View the full article

Soldiers from Boxer Battery, 1st Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Field Artillery Brigade, completed a multi-day High Mobility Artillery Rocket System rapid infiltration — known as HIRAIN — from Yakima Training Center, Washington, to Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, on April 17. The exercise was conducted in support of Operation Courage Lethality 26, a larger […]View the full article

The Department of War has submitted a $4.2 billion request for a program called Sovereign Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure in its Fiscal Year 2027 budget. The scale of the request, and the fact that it materialized out of nowhere in a single budget cycle, makes it one of the most striking non-kinetic entries in the entire […]View the full article

The U.S. Army has requested $994 million for counter-small unmanned aerial system capabilities in its Fiscal Year 2027 budget — a figure that reflects just how dramatically the drone threat has reshaped ground force priorities over the past three years. The request, recorded in the Department of the Army’s official FY 2027 President’s Budget Exhibit […]View the full article

The U.S. Army has requested $5.47 billion to buy ammunition in Fiscal Year 2027 — everything from 5.56mm rifle cartridges to 155mm artillery shells to tank rounds — according to the Department of the Army’s official budget document submitted to Congress in April 2026. It is the largest single-year Army ammunition request in recent memory, […]View the full article

It has taken a week since we first discussed the 34 ships on the way. Now, thanks to our friend Charlie B., we have additional details…with an extra special addition on weapons. Let’s see what Santa has in store for us…besides a really cute fireboat avatar. It is nice, four years after we asked the question, to finally have an answer about fireboats.. Is there anything really shocking here? No, not really, but I would draw your attention to the fact that it seems that we are diverting funds from aircraft carriers to battleships…despite the fact that events over the last year, especially but not exclusively, have proven once again we are woefully short of aircraft carriers…