HG S2 (Intel Bot)

Dallas-based Airsight has announced the launch of AirGuard V3.18, a new software update that introduces automated visual tracking for security operators. The update integrates Axis pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras with AirGuard’s electronic drone detection system, enabling faster and more reliable visual confirmation of drone threats without the need for manual camera operation. The company says the […]View the full article

Sentrycs, an established developer of protocol manipulation-based counter-drone technology, and Omnisys, a specialist in mission optimization systems for defense and homeland security, have announced a strategic partnership aimed at improving how sensors are deployed across complex operational environments. According to a joint statement, the collaboration brings together Sentrycs’ passive drone detection and mitigation capabilities with […]View the full article

I’m old enough to remember when the Fourth Fleet AOR was the sleepy island of misfit toys. Well, as the irreplaceable Ian Ellis informs us, America’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), departed Split, Croatia, en route to SOUTHCOM. After the carrier strike group crosses the Atlantic, ~19-23% of the deployed US Navy fleet will be in theater. As expected, his graphic tells the story. We are all hearing things and seeing things. Best stick to what is in open source. For every hand you see, there are ten more moving. At this moment, there is one place the U.S. military is taking consistent military action. That place is in the Western Hemisphere against drug cartels caught in the open sea transporting poison north. As for Venezuela, it has a population roughly that of Texas, and is about the size of Texas and Oklahoma combined. We are not going to war with Venezuela. Might we spank Tren de Aragua harder? Perhaps. Should you keep a weather eye out south? 100%. 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

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Iranian-designed Shahed drones now pose a more persistent and unpredictable threat than ballistic missiles, forcing the Armed Forces to use a wide range of countermeasures under increasingly difficult operational conditions. “Shaheds have now become more dangerous in some cases than ballistic missiles,” Zelenskyy said during a press briefing, according to […]View the full article

The U.S. Coast Guard is preparing to issue a new procurement contract to Sikorsky for the production of advanced helicopters based on its Jayhawk and Seahawk platforms, potentially reshaping the service’s rotary-wing fleet over the next decade. As reported by CT Insider, the Coast Guard intends to replace its aging Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin helicopters, originally […]View the full article

Turkey has officially entered a new phase in its defense industry as the domestically developed Altay main battle tank joins the inventory of the Turkish Armed Forces. The first delivery took place today at a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Kahramankazan, marking both the opening of BMC’s Ankara Tank and Next-Generation Armored […]View the full article

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is actively negotiating with France over a possible acquisition of Dassault Rafale fighter jets. Speaking with reporters, Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine is pursuing parallel talks with three nations—Sweden, France, and the United States—regarding the future of its tactical aviation fleet. “I am conducting three parallel conversations regarding aircraft—with the Swedes, […]View the full article

China has conducted the maiden flight of a new jet trainer aircraft, as shown in recently published images circulating on Chinese social media. The prototype aircraft was spotted during pre-flight preparations and later airborne, marking its debut in the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s expanding aviation program. The jet, produced by Hongdu Aviation Industry Group (HAIG), […]View the full article

India’s Bengaluru-based Zulu Defence Systems has released new images showing large-scale production of its updated HOVERBEE reconnaissance drones, signaling the company’s shift from prototype development to mass manufacturing. The drone, designed for military surveillance and rapid-response operations, has been showcased in production batches featuring over a dozen next-generation models lined up on an indoor assembly […]View the full article

Peru has unveiled an ambitious plan to modernize its armored forces through a long-term partnership with South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem and STX, combining imports and local production of advanced military vehicles. The initiative will replace Peru’s aging fleet of tanks and armored vehicles, most of which date back to the 1970s, and lay the foundation […] The post Peru to locally produce South Korean combat vehicles first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The Philippines is in talks with South Korea’s Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) for additional fighter jet acquisitions, as reported by South China Morning Post on Monday. The discussions come on the heels of the Seoul International Aerospace & Defence Exhibition 2025, where KAI showcased its KF-21 Boramae multirole fighter. During the event, held October 19–23 […] The post Philippines looks to buy KF-21 fighter jets first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

South Korea’s defense industry is setting its sights on the Middle East as its next major export destination, according to a senior analyst from Korea Investment & Securities. At a seminar hosted Monday in Seoul by Hanwha Asset Management, a firm known for its defense-focused exchange-traded fund PLUS K-Defense, analyst Jung Nam-hyun said the region […] The post South Korea sets sights on Gulf arms market first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

South Korea and Malaysia have signed a new defense cooperation agreement aimed at expanding their collaboration in arms development, procurement, and joint production, according to South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). The memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed on Monday in Kuala Lumpur by DAPA Minister Seok Jong-gun and Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamed Khaled […] The post South Korea, Malaysia expand military industry cooperation first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

U.S.-based Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has announced a new strategic partnership with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) aimed at accelerating the development of manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) technologies for U.S. and allied forces. According to a press release, the collaboration will combine the company’s experience in autonomous tactical aircraft—including the XQ-58A Valkyrie, Mako, and Tactical Firejet—with […] The post Kratos taps Korean expertise for next-gen MUM-T aircraft first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Russia has lost another Ka-52 “Alligator” attack helicopter, with reports indicating that both crew members were killed in the crash. The incident, which occurred on October 27, was first reported by Militarnyi after analyzing multiple statements from pro-Kremlin military bloggers and unofficial Russian defense channels. Early in the morning, Russian Telegram channels began posting reports […] The post Russia loses another Ka-52 attack helicopter first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

With more news breaking since our BB-in-the-News Substack last week, we might as well start the week on the topic. In case you missed it, in Friday’s WSJ, Lara Seligman and Alexander Ward let us know there is more in the wind than just our friend John Konrad’s pleadings. Senior White House and Navy officials are in early discussions to replace the current mix of warships … The new fleet would comprise a number of large warships outfitted with more powerful long-range missiles, along with smaller ships such as corvettes, the people said. The Navy has 287 ships in its current inventory, mostly destroyers, cruisers, aircraft carriers, amphibious ships and submarines. A new class of frigates is also in the works. Specifically, the White House and the Pentagon are in early talks about building a heavily armored, next-generation ship that could weigh as much as 15,000-20,000 tons and carry more powerful weapons, even potentially hypersonic missiles, in larger numbers than current destroyers and cruisers, the current and former officials said. OK, out of the box we should stipulate that, at best, nothing “new” here would displace water for at least a decade. A ship of 15-20,000 tons? OK, let’s make sure everyone knows what we’re looking for. Remember the canceled CG(X)? It was going to be used as an air defense ship, and before it was killed, there was an attempt to shoehorn in the Zumwalt’s engineering plant, but the hull and energy demands simply were not there. Then, right before it was killed, we were looking at something over 20,000 tons. For a reference point, the WWII German pocket battleship Graf Spee displaced 16,280 tons. If the goal here is to design a ship around long range missiles, then we’re talking about Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) missiles. From this May. The U.S. Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs is continuing on the path toward the nation’s first sea-based hypersonic fielding with a successful end-to-end flight test of a conventional hypersonic missile from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. This test marked the first launch of the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) capability utilizing the Navy’s cold-gas launch approach that will be used in Navy sea-based platform fielding. This test was the next step in the Navy’s flight testing program of the common All Up Round (AUR) that is being developed in partnership with the Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office. In 2024, the programs completed two additional end-to-end flight tests of the AUR that will be fielded to both the Navy and Army. “The cold-gas approach allows the Navy to eject the missile from the platform and achieve a safe distance above the ship prior to first stage ignition. This technical achievement brings SSP one step closer to fulfilling our role of providing a safe and reliable hypersonic capability to our Navy,” said Vice Adm. Johnny R. Wolfe Jr, Director, Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs, which is the lead designer of the common hypersonic missile. What makes it extra sexy? It uses the Salamander-endorsed cold launch. The Zumwalt DDG are being converted to be able to carry a dozen CPS. Can we reclassify them now as CAG? You can see a good view of the concept here, with the 4x3=12 replacing the forward white elephant gun. Will we make the Zumwalts CAG-3, 4, and 5 after conversions? If a larger ship with even more CPS is a BB, would the Zumwalts now be pocket pattleships? The US Navy never had those, we had battlecruisers (CB) instead. The last ones we had were the glorious ALASKA Class CB. That would be CB-7, 8, and 9, then. Or, because they also have guided missiles, CBG-1, 2, and 3. All sorts of options…but really, the Zumwalts whose baseline model weighs in at 14,798 tons were never destroyers anyway. So, Zumwalts become battlecruises. The “Golden Battleships?” Not a bad name, as they will (throws something against the wall), cost 2/3 of a CVN, especially if they are nuclear powered, which they probably need to be as you will need the “white space” in the design for the weapons and radars that are coming, all of which are power hungry. That’s $8.5 billion a hull, not including the cost of the weapons you’ll put on them. What does that give you? Well, look at the USS Salamander at the top of the post. It has 31 Advanced Payload Modules (APM). That gives you 31x3=93 CPS missiles. The Zumwalts carry 80 missiles besides CPS, so a battleship should have at least 50% more than that. Let’s call it 120 missiles in MK-57 or MK-41 VLS cells. So, a nuclear powered, guided missile battleship. USS Salamander (BBGN-1)...or if we want to simplify things as the “G” and “N” are just too much unnecessary clutter, (BB 72). Commissioning date of 2035. Next slide. 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

TAC Armored Vehicles LLC, a defense manufacturer based in the United Arab Emirates, has introduced a modular anti-drone protection kit for its Jedi armored personnel carrier, drawing directly from battlefield lessons emerging from the war in Ukraine. In a statement, the company said its new “Active Anti-Drone Net” is designed to counter explosive drone attacks […] The post UAE firm equips armored vehicles with anti-drone mesh first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft from Commander, Task Force 72 (CTF 72) has joined an Indian Navy P-8I aircraft for a bilateral detachment and training near Diego Garcia and the broader Indian Ocean region from October 22 to 28, 2025. According to the U.S. Navy, the deployment featured joint operations […] The post U.S., India fly joint patrols near Diego Garcia first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Ukrainian armored warfare specialist Mykola Salamakha says the current state of Ukraine’s and Russia’s tank forces is “roughly the same – grim,” with most frontline tank battalions operating at a fraction of their intended strength due to heavy attrition and drone threats. In an interview with Radio Svoboda, Salamakha explained that operational battalions rarely field […] The post Ukrainian tank units face shortage of combat-ready vehicles first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

President Donald Trump has downplayed recent claims by Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding a test of the nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, pointing instead to the proximity and capabilities of American nuclear submarines. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One during his trip to Asia, Trump dismissed the relevance of the missile’s long-range performance. “They know […] The post Trump shrugs off Putin’s missile boast first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

How are naval shipbuilding, commercial shipbuilding, and commercial shipping linked together to create a healthy and effective national seapower ecosystem? What did the 1990s “Last Supper” get wrong, and what can be done to correct the error? This Sunday, LIVE from 5-6 pm Eastern, Hunter Stires will be returning to Midrats to discuss this and more. We will be using as a starting point for our discussion the recent article that he co-wrote with Steve Brock at CIMSEC, Maritime Statecraft and its Future. You can listen live at this link. If you are reading this after the show, reload this Substack page later Sunday as the podcast audio will be here. Hunter Stires served as the Maritime Strategist to the 78th Secretary of the Navy, completing his term in June 2025. He has been recognized for his work as one of the principal architects of the Maritime Statecraft strategy put into action by Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro to rebuild America’s comprehensive maritime power, both commercial and naval. Mr. Stires serves as a Non-Resident Fellow with the Navy League’s Center for Maritime Strategy and as the Project Director of the U.S. Naval Institute’s Maritime Counterinsurgency Project. A graduate of Columbia University, Mr. Stires previously served in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and in several positions on the Navy Staff, including in OPNAV N96 Surface Warfare Directorate, OPNAV N95 Expeditionary Warfare Directorate, and OPNAV N522 Navy Irregular Warfare Group. Since departing government, Mr. Stires founded and now serves as CEO of The Maritime Strategy Group. Mr. Stires has been recognized twice with the U.S. Naval Institute’s General Prize, the premier writing award of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, judged in the blind by active duty Sea Service professionals each year since its inception in 1879. He was awarded 1st Prize for “The South China Sea Needs a ‘COIN’ Toss,” published in Proceedings in May 2019; he was awarded 2nd Prize for “Win Without Fighting,” published in June 2020. His article in the Summer 2019 issue of the Naval War College Review, “‘They Were Playing Chicken:’ The U.S. Asiatic Fleet’s Gray-Zone Deterrence Campaign against Japan, 1937-40,” was selected for inclusion in the Newport Papers monograph Deterrence. Mr. Stires’s published work has been cited in a wide range of outlets, including Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, War on the Rocks, The National Interest, 19FortyFive, the Liberty Times, Rappler, and the South China Morning Post —as well as the Chinese language edition of the Global Times. 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

Saronic Technologies has announced a strategic collaboration with NVIDIA aimed at accelerating the development of autonomous maritime systems and AI-driven shipbuilding. The partnership was disclosed on Friday in a company statement that outlined joint efforts to integrate NVIDIA’s advanced AI tools and compute platforms into Saronic’s naval technologies. “By combining Saronic’s deep expertise in maritime […] The post Saronic teams with NVIDIA on AI-powered ships first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

At the 2025 Army Presentation event (Présentation de l’armée de Terre 2025), held on October 15 and 16 at the École Militaire in Paris, the French Army’s 40th Artillery Regiment highlighted its evolving capabilities, focusing on new-generation unmanned aerial systems. The event, referred to as PAT25, is a major outreach initiative by the French Army, […] The post French artillery showcases new drones at Paris defense event first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Belgian defense manufacturer FN Herstal has released rare behind-the-scenes photos from its production line, showing the assembly process of its advanced FN DEFENDER Remote Weapon Station (RWS). In a caption shared by FN Herstal, the company stated: “Behind every FN DEFENDER stands the expertise of our production teams. Skilled. Precise. Relentless. Crafted in Herstal. Deployed […] The post FN Herstal highlights remote weapon station production first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Ukrainian unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) developers are accelerating battlefield innovation through hands-on testing with frontline troops, using feedback from the recent Strike UGV Crash Test to refine their platforms for real combat conditions. Organized by the Snake Island Institute, AB3 TECH, the 3rd Assault Brigade’s NC13 Strike UGV Company, and the 3rd Army Corps, the […] The post Ukraine puts UGVs through battlefield stress test first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article