HG S2 (Intel Bot)

AM General has finalized a three-year direct commercial sale framework contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kosovo for Hawkeye 105mm Mobile Howitzer Systems, marking the first sale of the system to Kosovo and expanding the company’s footprint in mobile artillery solutions. According to the company, the agreement covers Hawkeye Mobile Howitzer […]View the full article

American Rheinmetall has revealed winter testing of its Ox Unmanned Ground Vehicle, showing the platform operating in snow and low-temperature conditions as part of its push to meet U.S. Army requirements for autonomous and semi-autonomous ground transport. According to a statement published by American Rheinmetall, the tests were conducted under the Army’s Ground Optionally Autonomous […]View the full article

Denmark has signed a contract with Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace to acquire the Naval Strike Missile Coastal Defence System. According to a press release from Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace dated December 17, 2025, the Danish government finalized the agreement for the NSM Coastal Defence System, known as NSM CDS. The contract is valued at more […]View the full article

Finland has authorized the procurement of AIM-120D-3 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) from the United States, a move aimed at equipping the country’s incoming F-35A fighters and aligning Finland’s air combat capabilities with those of its closest allies. According to a press release from Finland’s Ministry of Defence dated December 12, 2025, Minister of […]View the full article

PteroDynamics and AeroVironment said they have completed a joint technology demonstration integrating electronic warfare sensors on an autonomous vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aircraft, marking a step in exploring new options for U.S. Navy littoral surveillance missions. According to a press release distributed by EINPresswire on December 16, the companies collaborated during Silent Swarm 25, […]View the full article

A transport company operating in Oman has inadvertently revealed the movement of a Chinese-made integrated counter-drone and laser air defense system, offering a rare public glimpse of a capability that is typically kept out of view. Photos published by Al Badr Transport LLC showed the transportation of several specialized military vehicles arriving at an Omani […]View the full article

Rolls-Royce has begun testing its AE 1107F engines to support delivery of prototypes for the U.S. Army’s MV-75 Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), the company said. According to a company statement, the AE 1107 engine test campaign is intended to support prototype aircraft for the MV-75 FLRAA, a next-generation platform designed to provide greater […]View the full article

BAE Systems’ Norfolk Ship Repair facility in Virginia has been awarded a $117.7 million contract modification to carry out maintenance, modernization, and repair work on the guided-missile destroyer USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98), according to a contract announcement. According to a release, the modification was issued under a previously awarded contract and provides funding for […]View the full article

Elbit Systems said on Tuesday that Greece has taken a key step toward acquiring the Israeli company’s PULS rocket artillery system, after the Hellenic Parliament and the Government Council for National Security approved a dedicated budget for the program. In a statement issued from Haifa on December 16, 2025, Elbit Systems Ltd. said it was […]View the full article

My apologies to regulars here, but in the last year or so I have felt the need to remind new arrivals about my stance with regards to Ukraine and Russia as new readers tend to make incorrect assumptions. My record is clear back to 2014: I stand firmly with the Ukrainian people’s desire for independence and self-determination. I am not a Russia-accommodationalist. Yes, yes, yes, to all the issues with Ukraine since independence. I have written for well over a decade about their issues with corruption, etc…but that has little to do with the issue at hand. As I mentioned on an episode of the Midrats Podcast in the months before the February 2022 invasion by Russia, Ukraine needed to find a path to peace to avoid an even more disastrous war with Russia that may, at best, result in her being reduced to client state status similar to Belarus and her people lacking self-determination. I thought at that time Crimea would be the price, but after so much killing, I don’t think Russia will settle for just that. As long as they have a strong army in the field, they will want a lot more. Where does that leave Ukraine as we approach the 4th anniversary of the war? Remember, Ukraine has been fighting Russia in this phase of their mutual conflict for longer than the USA fought in WWII. The performance since February of 2022 of Ukraine’s leadership and military against Russia, which is technologically more advanced, has a larger population, economy, and military is beyond commendable. For many, the hope was that they could hold out long enough for Putin’s grip on power to slip, bringing about enough internal disruption inside Russia that the Russians could not continue the fight in Ukraine. As usual, hope is not the best OPLAN and it has not worked out all that well. But, the fight continues. Both Russia and Ukraine are weakened nations, but by every measure, Ukraine has less of an ability to sustain the fight and it should think about what was an acceptable cost for peace. As much as I support Ukraine’s cause, I also can read statistics. Eventually Ukraine will run out of people before Russia runs out of will. Europe will not come to Ukraine’s aid with blood, and you can have all the material support in the world, but if you don’t have the people to use it, it does not matter. The USA does not see its self-interest in blindly throwing money and support to the Ukrainians. So, we have seen a serious effort towards attempting to have the parties come to the peace table. It is worth a try, but I still remain unconvinced that either party really is ready to reach a peace. The Ukrainians want their land back—or most of it—and Russia has a pain threshold much greater than those in the West—in spite of centuries of evidence to the contrary—give it credit for. I could be wrong. There might be a path to an agreement that would bring peace, at least for a while. If so, what would that look like? I do my best to read work from smart, well meaning people whom I disagree with, but otherwise think are worth listening to. Over at Foreign Affairs last week, Thomas Graham makes his argument as to why Ukraine needs to go to the peace table now. For lack of a better description, Graham can be seen as a member of the realist and pragmatic school with regards to the relationship between the USA and Russia, as outlined in his book Getting Russia Right. As you can see just from his FP archive, he’s been consistent since the start of the war. What is his view at the end of 2025? It is an extensive article behind the paywall, but here’s the core of his well reasoned argument: Nearly four years of brutal combat, in which neither side has achieved a strategic breakthrough, has created a paradoxical situation in which both countries lose the longer the war rages on. The best deal each side can achieve is available now, not in six months or later. Ukraine will not gain anything by waiting to negotiate from a hypothetical future position of strength; such a position will not come soon, if ever. Ukrainian leaders have already acknowledged that they cannot liberate by force all the territory Russia has seized. What Ukraine cannot achieve on the battlefield will not be handed to it at the negotiating table. Nor will a stronger Ukraine incline Western countries to provide it with more formidable security guarantees. Western governments have already made it clear that they will not risk war with Russia to defend Ukraine. And the longer Ukraine waits, the more destruction it will have to endure. Instead of seeking a position of strength, Ukraine urgently needs to settle the conflict, which has devastated the country economically and demographically. The cost of reconstruction over the next decade has been estimated at more than 2.6 times its pre-war GDP of $200 billion. … Russia appears stronger. But it has paid a staggering price—more than one million dead or wounded—for marginal tactical gains. During this year’s offensive, Russia seized just one percent of Ukrainian territory at the cost of more than 200,000 dead and wounded. The cost of recruiting new volunteers is soaring, while the Kremlin still fears the social repercussions of a mass mobilization. After two years of growth of over four percent, the economy has stalled. The forecast for this year and next hovers around one percent growth. Meanwhile, Russia has invested negligible sums in cutting-edge technologies. In short, it is mortgaging its future to sustain the conflict. As a result, each day the war continues, Russia falls further behind the great powers—China and the United States, to be sure, and also possibly India and Europe, with which it hopes to compete in the decades ahead. Unsurprisingly, Russia and Ukraine remain far apart on the terms of a settlement, particularly on territorial questions and the nature of security guarantees for both of them. … But these gaps are bridgeable. Indeed, the contours of a final settlement are visible, even if both sides vigorously deny it: a cease-fire along the line of contact without either country formally recognizing the other’s control of territory it considers its own; armed neutrality, or sufficient military capabilities to reliably defend one’s territory, for Ukraine with the possibility of EU accession but not membership in NATO; and no further NATO expansion eastward into the former Soviet space. Such an outcome would enable Putin to declare victory and Zelensky to claim he had preserved what was most precious—Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence as well as its European aspirations. … The United States also needs to deploy the formidable psychological leverage it possesses over Russia. One cannot overstate the role the United States—and Trump personally—plays in validating Russia as a great power and Putin as a global leader. This matters all the more because Russia has struggled on the battlefield against what it (and most Western observers) assumed was a second- or third-tier military. Instead of the anticipated blitzkrieg and swift conquest of Ukraine, the Kremlin will soon find itself fighting the Ukrainians for longer than it took the Soviet Union to crush Nazi Germany in World War II. Washington can exercise that leverage in the first instance by assuring Moscow that it would be willing to normalize relations. Such a measure will help convince Putin that the United States will not relegate Russia to a secondary tier of interest once the war is resolved. Trump’s new National Security Strategy makes clear that the administration no longer considers Russia a major threat, to the consternation of traditional U.S. allies. Normalization is also strategically important to Putin in its own right: it would allow him to rebalance Russia’s relationship with China and expand his room to maneuver globally. … Critics will argue that such a diplomatic effort is beyond the capabilities of the Trump administration. It allegedly lacks the discipline, consistency, capacity, and patience to pursue a sustained diplomatic effort. But even the admittedly halting progress in current negotiations would not have been possible had Trump not opened a dialogue with Putin in February with the goal of ending the war. Despite much speculation to the contrary, Trump has neither abandoned Ukraine to Russia’s will nor walked away from the problem as one that is too hard to solve. And the U.S. national security apparatus has the expertise and skill needed to manage a complex diplomatic undertaking, if only the administration could find a way to reliably control its own bureaucracy, which it does not trust. How does that match with what I’ve been writing about the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022? I think his take is worth taking on board. We will see more if there is a winter offensive in the cards for Russia…or, more unlikely, Ukraine…that will break the stalemate on the front. Time is on Russia’s side, but she is also brittle—though, really, few know. Either side could see a general collapse, and there could be some technological or military innovation that would enable a move out of the trenches and FPV drone slaughter zones—maybe. More likely, more bite by bite and struggle to see which of the brothers will tire first. That latter part is in no one’s interest. As is well known in war, the longer conflicts go on, the more they are likely to bring in other nations. Leave a comment Share This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. View the full article

RENK Group AG has secured new defense contracts worth more than €45 million ($53 million) to supply transmission systems for several core armored vehicles operated by Germany’s armed forces, reinforcing the role of European industry in NATO’s ongoing force expansion and readiness efforts. According to a press release from the company, RENK will deliver HSWL […]View the full article

Ukrainian strike underwater drones have attacked a Russian naval base in Novorossiysk, in what Ukrainian officials describe as the first combat use of underwater drones to disable a modern diesel-electric submarine. According to Ukrainian sources, underwater drones known as “Sub Sea Baby” detonated beneath a Russian Project 636.3 submarine of the Varshavyanka class, known in […]View the full article

Northrop Grumman has completed a new demonstration of its mine countermeasures technology, showing that its AN/AQS-24 minehunting system can be integrated with an uncrewed surface platform to meet emerging U.S. Navy operational requirements. According to a company statement, Northrop Grumman Corporation successfully demonstrated the integration of its AN/AQS-24 minehunting system with a Mine Countermeasures Unmanned […]View the full article

China’s newest long-endurance stealth unmanned aerial vehicle, the CH-7, has completed its maiden flight. State broadcaster CCTV said on Monday that China’s new high-altitude, high-speed, long-endurance CH-7 had recently completed its first flight. The outlet reported that the aircraft demonstrated long endurance, stealth, and high cruising speed, and was designed to meet “the needs of […]View the full article

India’s defense industry is pressing ahead with new strike options as JSR Dynamics has showcased its LRP2GM, a lightweight stealth cruise missile, to the Indian Navy, highlighting a domestically developed system aimed at long-range precision missions. According to the company website, the weapon is described as a “light weight cruise missile termed as long range […]View the full article

Germany has decided to move forward with an additional purchase of Airbus H145M light combat helicopters, exercising an option included in a 2023 contract and expanding the country’s planned fleet as it continues to modernize its rotary-wing forces. According to Airbus Helicopters, Germany has ordered 20 additional H145M helicopters, bringing the total number under contract […]View the full article

China may have begun construction of its first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at a major shipyard in northeastern China, according to an analysis of satellite imagery obtained by a Japanese think tank, raising new questions about Beijing’s long-term naval ambitions in the Pacific. According to the National Institute for Basic Policy Research (NIPPR), satellite images taken […]View the full article

Footage shared on social media this week by Indian defense journalist Sandeep Unnithan shows what appears to be a kamikaze drone intercepted by Indian Army air defenses during Operation Sindoor. “Turkish YIHA-III drone shot down by Indian Army during #OperationSindoor on display at the army chief’s residence for the Vijay Diwas celebrations,” Unnithan wrote in […]View the full article

MatrixSpace announced today that it has been selected as the overall winner of the Defense Innovation Unit’s Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft System (C-sUAS) Low-Cost Sensing (LCS) Challenge, following live operational testing conducted during U.S. Northern Command’s Falcon Peak 25.2 exercise. The selection places MatrixSpace at the top of more than 115 submissions evaluated by the Defense […]View the full article

The Royal Thai Army has recovered a BTR-3E1 armored personnel carrier that became immobilized during recent operations near the Thai-Cambodian border, countering earlier claims circulated by Cambodian sources that the vehicle had been seized. According to Thai military officials, the incident occurred on December 12 during operations in the Ta Phraya district of Sa Kaeo […]View the full article

The Turkish domestically developed Tayfun ballistic missile has successfully struck its target during a recent test launch. The test involved the Tayfun missile and its associated weapon system, which is already in mass production and being delivered to the Turkish Armed Forces. Testing is continuing across multiple variants of Tayfun, which Turkish authorities describe as […]View the full article

Being that we know that the Constellation Class FFG is going to stop at just two ships and we’re waiting to see what the plans are for the “smaller than an Arleigh Burke Flight III” warship to displace water before the end of the decade, what other designs are close to displacing water that might be fun to argue about? The end of last week saw some speculation that we could just “grey hull” the Legend Class USCG cutter, AKA National Security Cutter. Well, I don’t know if that would look that good given recent news on Hull-11; The Department of Homeland Security cancelled the stalled production of a 11th Legend-class National Security Cutter for the Coast Guard, citing a year-long delay in shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls’ projected completion date and cost overruns. The cut will save $260 million while redirecting resources to other priority shipbuilding projects, likely the Polar Security Cutter program to replace the Coast’s Guard two aging icebreakers, and the Offshore Patrol Cutter. Construction began in 2021 on the planned Coast Guard cutter Friedman and was to be completed in 2024, as the 11th in the class of 418’x54’, 4,500-ton vessels. Originally hailed by Coast Guard officials as “the largest and most technologically sophisticated” design in the fleet, the class has faced problems with spare parts supply. “Huntington Ingalls owed us this cutter over a year ago,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in announcing the decision. “As the Trump administration is revitalizing the U.S. Coast Guard through Force Design 2028, we need to be smart with the American taxpayer’s money.” “This project was over time and over budget. Now the money can be redirected to ensuring the Coast Guard remains the finest, most-capable maritime service in the world. I would like to extend my thanks to Huntington Ingalls for negotiating in good faith.” Something has to show up and displace water, in numbers, in the next few years. I have absolutely no idea what it will be, but the LST we discussed last week isn’t it. We just can’t build Arleigh Burke Flight III until the crack of doom (or perhaps we can), and DDG(X) is still vaporware. Unless we follow a series of compounding wrong decisions (again) that leads the US Navy by 2035 into irrelevancy, we have to get a new class of multi-purpose warships in the water to cover the lower-scale mission. Let’s use the Legend Class as the top end of such a ship. She’s 4,500 tons. I reserve the right to be wrong, but here are my top-5 planning assumptions as we wait for an official announcement: The requirement still exists We don’t have time for a clean sheet design It has to be based on proven systems It has to be less expensive than an Arleigh Burke & Constellation It has to be “made in the USA” It has to be produced in a variety of yards that are not presently at maximum capacity There aren’t a lot of options out there. Looking around at US designed smaller warships already under construction, what about Gibbs and Cox designs? Well, they designed a light frigate for Taiwan, … 115 meters long and have a displacement of 2,500-3,000 tons. They are classified as Tier 2 (or second class) combat ships and are set to become the workhorse of the Taiwanese Navy. If we actually wanted a corvette-sized ship like LCS was supposed to be, somewhere around 3,000 tons, that would fit the bill. What if we wanted more hulls than that is a smaller package? G&C has a downsized derivative of the frigate designed for Taiwan that would bring: American design US Navy toughness standards 40 years design life 88 meters flight deck utility working deck 20’ container spaces for modular mission packages Sacrificed a helo hangar, but there she is below. Me? I still want a FREMM-like capability, but I don’t think that is in the cards given my bullet points above. The below from Naval News is worth a full listen, but let’s start at their corvette derivative. If someone has other ideas, I’d love to hear them…but man, what a corner we’ve painted ourselves into. This isn’t how a functioning sea power acts…but these are the fruits of a quarter century of poor management and worse leadership. Leave a comment Share This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. View the full article

The United States Marine Corps has tested a new unmanned amphibious ground vehicle during a recent Technical Concept Experiment 25.2 at Red Beach on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, according to materials released following the event. The experimental platform, described as an Unmanned Swarming Amphibious Craft, was observed operating along the shoreline and surf […]View the full article

United States military air transport activity into Puerto Rico is continuing at a sustained pace, according to open-source flight tracking data and aviation observers monitoring movements from the continental United States into the Caribbean. The pattern has drawn attention from analysts who view the island as a forward logistics node for U.S. operations near northern […]View the full article

Sweden is evaluating the purchase of South Korea’s K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzer as it reassesses its artillery mix and considers adding tracked platforms alongside its well-known wheeled Archer systems, according to reports citing internal documents and regional defense coverage. Swedish defense planners are studying options for acquiring tracked self-propelled artillery to operate in deep snow […]View the full article