Raw Intel

Americas The US Marine Corps has equipped its MQ-9 Reaper drone with an electronic warfare pod that makes the aircraft nearly invisible to enemy eyes. Called the T-SOAR (Scalable Open Architecture Reconnaissance), the pod mimics an enemy’s radar and communication emissions and sends them back to the source. “What they bring with them is a sensing and making sense capability,” Seapower quoted Commandant of the Marine Corps General Eric M. Smith as saying at a Brookings Institution event last week. Mistral Inc. has started the production of the Thor vertical takeoff and landing mini drone at its Nottingham, Maryland, facility. The Thor unmanned aerial system is part of the …

Americas Raytheon won a $23.2 million deal for the procurement of five APY-10 radar system weapon repairable assemblies (WRAs), for a total quantity of 43 WRAs in support of the P-8A aircraft. The delivery order does not include an option period. All work will be performed in McKinney, Texas. Delivery orders are expected to be […]View the full article

In the second half of the first decade of this century, I had the chance to work with two Estonian Officers, one a Major and the other a Colonel. The Major was a talkative and entertaining man who had some great stories about being a conscript at the end of the Soviet Union. The Colonel started his career as a Soviet Junior Officer - and a very serious man. His Russian was better than his English, and though he was a nice man and great professional, he was not a chatty person about anything prior to 1991. In Afghanistan, I kept an eye on the exceptional work the Estonians did in RC(S), and before I moved back to the USA at the end of the decade I had a chance to visit Ta…

Americas Raytheon won a $33 million spares delivery order under previously awarded basic ordering agreement N00383-19-G-UX01 for the procurement of two Active Electronically Scanned Array radar system APG-79 weapon repairable assemblies (WRAs), for a total quantity of 54 WRAs in support of the F/A-18 aircraft. The delivery order does not include an option period. All […]View the full article

Americas Sikorsky won a $2 billion modification by the US Navy, which adds scope for Lots 7 and 8 block buy contract for a combined quantity of 35 CH-53K full-rate production aircraft, 27 for the Marine Corps and eight for the government of Israel, as well as provides associated aircraft and programmatic support, logistical support […]View the full article

Americas Boeing won a $30.4 million modification, which exercises an option to procure eight P-8A aircraft mechanisms as ancillary equipment in support of P-8A production aircraft. Work will take place in Washington. Estimated completion will be in January 2026. The US Office of Naval Research (ONR) has contracted Textron to develop a non-towed mine sweeping payload […]View the full article

Block IV Cutaway (click to view full) Block IV Tomahawk is the current generation of the Tomahawk family of cruise missiles. The BGM-109 Tomahawk family began life in the 1980s as sub-sonic, low-flying nuclear strike weapons, before being developed into long-range RGM/UGM-109 conventional attack missiles. They’re most frequently launched from submarines and surface ships, and […]View the full article

Americas Lockheed Martin won a $97 million contract procures aircraft armament equipment such as internal adapters and weapon umbilical cables required to employ long-range strike weapons, which allows for internal carriage and employment of the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile – Extended Range weapon for F-35 Lightning II aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, […]View the full article

Americas General Atomics Aeronautical Systems won a $389 million deal by the US Army for the purchase of MQ-1C-25M Gray Eagle Modernized Extended Range systems. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of November 29, 2024. HII Ingalls […]View the full article

Americas Raytheon received a $52.2 million contract to produce 18 advanced camera systems for military helicopters (MH-60 aircraft) used by Saudi Arabia (1), South Korea (1), Norway (8), Spain (4), and India (4). The majority of the work will be conducted in Texas, with additional parts manufactured in other US states, and is expected to be completed by February 2028. The funding for this project originates from foreign countries through the Foreign Military Sales program, and the US Navy is overseeing the contract. The US Navy is spending money on new tools to find and remove underwater mines. They’re focusing on improving unmanned boats that can be launched from ships o…

China appears to be expanding its experimentation with directed-energy weapons at sea, after new images circulating on Chinese social media showed the LY-1 laser system mounted on the open deck of a civilian roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessel. The photos depict a camouflaged carrier vehicle strapped to the ship’s deck with heavy chains, topped by a large […]View the full article

Since August of last year, this picture keeps cropping up, and for good reason. Images posted on the Chinese social media platform Weibo show five hulls of the Luyang III-class Type 052 destroyer under construction at the state-owned Dalian Shipyard in Liaoning province, northeast China China is building at a wartime pace - more than just these five - for a reason. They have plans ... or at least want to be ready to execute a plan ... one long in the making. While we're at it, let's bring up a picture of the People's Liberation Army Navy's first aircraft carrier Liaoning - without which they would be at least one if not two decades behind in building their carrier fleet.…

For a proud people who make their living off their credentials, their "expertise," or their position in an hierarchy - one of the hardest things to do is to say, "I was wrong." Almost as difficult are those who are friends, co-workers, or potential employees of those people who say to them, "You were wrong." Sure, there are good reasons to be wrong. Smart, well-meaning people can simply be wrong. No one can see the future, and when weighing this variable or that, someone can just have the wrong theory of how things progress. You most often see this in the "optimism bias" where someone wants the future to be an easier, safer, more controllable place. They have so much conf…

Ukrainian forces have tested an unusual tactic that could significantly extend the reach of the Hornet strike drone: launching it from a tethered aerostat at high altitude rather than from a ground-based catapult, a combination that Ukrainian sources claim nearly doubles the weapon’s effective range. The test, details of which circulated through Ukrainian military channels, […]View the full article

Americas Raytheon won a $10 million spares delivery order for the procurement of one APY-10 radar system weapon repairable assemblies (WRAs), for a total quantity on 11 WRAs, in support of the P-8A aircraft. The delivery order does not include an option period. All work will be performed in McKinney, Texas, and work is expected […]View the full article

Americas Boeing won a $18.7 million order to procure the long lead components and parts in support of MH-47G rotary wing aircraft. The MH-47G aircraft provides US Special Operations Forces heavy assault, rotary wing aircraft support. This contract action supports a requirement for replacement of the aging fleet of remanufactured MH-47G aircraft that has airframe […]View the full article

South Korea’s Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back confirmed that the country will begin operational deployment of the Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile — known for its heavy warhead — by the end of this year. In an interview with Yonhap News, Ahn stated, “Hyunmoo-5 is currently in the force integration process and will enter active deployment starting at […] The post South Korea to field ‘monster missile’ by year-end first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Americas Bell Boeing won a $14 million modification to provide continued post-production systems engineering and program management support for the V-22 Common Configuration Readiness and Modernization retrofit program for the Marine Corps. Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania; and Fort Worth, Texas and is expected to be completed in September 2024. Naval Air […]View the full article

EA-18G at Pax The USA’s electronic attack fighters are a unique, overworked, and nearly obsolete capability. With the retirement of the US Air Force’s long-range EF-111 Raven “Spark ‘Vark,” the aging 4-seat EA-6B Prowlers became the USA’s only remaining fighter for radar jamming, communications jamming and information operations like signals interception [1]. Despite their age and performance limits, they’ve been predictably busy on the front lines, used for everything from escorting strike aircraft against heavily defended targets, to disrupting enemy IED land mine attacks by jamming all radio signals in an area. EA-6B Prowler (click to view full) All airframes have life…

Americas According to Defense Post, The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is developing a next-generation missile concept with a rapidly pivoting forebody. The missile’s “active morphing” capability increases its range and effectiveness against highly maneuverable targets at a limited cost. The missile’s agility is achieved through the articulation control actuation system (ACAS), a “composite […]View the full article