HG S2 (Intel Bot)

The core technical problem IARPA is trying to solve is straightforward in concept but formidable in execution: build drone engines and motors out of materials that perform reliably during a mission, then break down on their own afterward, leaving little or no physical trace. Current drone propulsion components — turbine blades, motor housings, combustion chambers, […]View the full article

The U.S. Air Force has issued a Sources Sought notice for TEAL Drones’ Black Widow small unmanned aerial system, signaling potential procurement of the specialized tactical drone capable of feeding live targeting data directly to airborne F-35 fighters. The notice, published April 20, 2026, by the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center under Air […]View the full article

Boeing has been awarded a $11.95 million contract modification to install an Increment 3 retrofit kit on a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. The award exercises an option under an existing cost-plus-fixed-fee order and covers both the retrofit kit installation and associated ancillary support to upgrade the aircraft’s anti-submarine warfare capabilities. Naval Air […]View the full article

Raytheon Missiles and Defense has been awarded a $213.4 million contract modification to continue combat system work aboard the U.S. Navy’s Zumwalt-class destroyers, the Department of War announced on April 20, 2026. The award exercises options under a previously issued contract and covers installation, integration, development, testing, correction, maintenance, and modernization of Zumwalt-class mission systems […]View the full article

Austin-based defense startup Aeon has carried out another successful test of its Zeus advanced tactical weapon system, the company announced, continuing a rapid development cycle that has seen the small firm push its guided mini-missile through repeated build-and-iterate testing rounds. Aeon founder and CEO Naweed Tahmas confirmed the test in a public statement: “Another day, […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy conducted a live-fire test of AeroVironment’s LOCUST Laser Weapon System aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). Military technology writer Jared Keller, author of the Los Angeles-based Laser Wars newsletter, was among the first to flag the test after official imagery surfaced publicly. Photos published to DVIDSHub show […]View the full article

The United States Air Force will keep the A-10 Thunderbolt II, known as the “Warthog,” in service until around 2030, extending the lifespan of a close air support aircraft that has been slated for retirement for years. The decision was announced by the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, which confirmed the move […]View the full article

AeroVironment said on April 20 it has secured a $14.6 million production contract from the U.S. Army for its VAPOR Compact Long Endurance unmanned aircraft system, an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing platform built for small-unit operations. The award falls under the Army’s Company-Level Directed Requirement Small Uncrewed Aircraft System program, Tranche 2, and is […]View the full article

Swedish fighter jets were scrambled Monday to intercept two Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bombers flying over the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Air Force said. The bombers were accompanied by two Su-30 fighter jets, and the mission was carried out under Sweden’s Quick Reaction Alert system in coordination with NATO allies. The aircraft were operating in international […]View the full article

Leonardo DRS has successfully integrated its Maritime Mission Equipment Package onto an autonomous unmanned surface vessel, delivering a new counter-drone capability designed to detect, track, identify, and defeat aerial unmanned threats in the maritime domain. The company announced the integration ahead of its showcase at the Navy League Sea-Air-Space Symposium, where the M-MEP will be […]View the full article

Soldiers from the Multi-Functional Reconnaissance Company, 3rd Mobile Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), trained with the Tactical Electronic Warfare System–Infantry mounted on an Infantry Squad Vehicle for the first time during a Joint Readiness Training Center rotation held April 7–17, 2026. The exercise marked the first field evaluation of TEWS-I integrated onto the ISV […]View the full article

The U.S. Navy successfully completed two demonstration flights of the Joint Direct Attack Munition Long Range variant in early April, clearing a significant milestone in the weapon’s development path toward fleet service. The test events validated safe separation from the launching aircraft, confirmed compatibility with existing aircraft interfaces, and demonstrated controlled powered free-flight and navigation […]View the full article

Shield AI announced on April 20, 2026, that the U.S. Navy has selected the company to provide contractor-owned, contractor-operated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services in support of naval and joint force operations. Under the arrangement, Shield AI will compete for up to $800 million in task orders alongside other selected industry partners, delivering persistent ISR […]View the full article

EOS Defence Systems USA demonstrated its Sling Blade counter-drone system during the U.S. Army’s Summit Strike live fire exercise, conducted by the 10th Mountain Division. The combined arms exercise focused on the planning and integration of emerging technologies within a contested, large-scale combat environment, drawing together multinational forces and industry participants to coordinate effects across […]View the full article

Kirkland-based Echodyne announced Monday at the Counter UAS Technology Europe 2026 conference in London that its EchoShield radar has been selected as the primary radar system within Trust Automation’s Small-Unmanned Air Defense System, known as SUADS — a counter-drone platform being delivered to the U.S. Air Force under a $490 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract awarded […]View the full article

California-based Saildrone has announced a new class of unmanned surface vessel called Spectre, a 52-meter (170-foot) platform capable of reaching speeds up to 30 knots and designed to deliver persistent anti-submarine warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and strike capability to naval operations. The announcement, made at the Sea Air Space conference, marks the most ambitious […]View the full article

Since the first man from Tribe-A returning from harvesting figs from the big tree on the other side of the river heard a zing of an arrow zipping by his head, fired from a canoe belonging to Tribe-B, a guaranteed part of conflict between two groups with access to waterborne trade has been this: commerce raiding. Every naval power should have this concept in the mix of its fleet design, especially if your rivals depend on the seas for a significant portion of their food and raw materials. It isn’t a mission beneath a navy. It isn’t a lower form of naval war. No. Indeed, when practiced properly, it is a war-winning form of war at sea. It would require super-human strength not to start this week with a topic we touched on at ~the 7-minute mark on yesterday’s Midrats Podcast. We’re back, in a fashion, in the game. I guess we might as well let the CINC describe his fleet’s action: For more details, let’s head over to CENTCOM: Guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) intercepted M/V Touska as it transited the north Arabian Sea at 17 knots enroute to Bandar Abbas, Iran. American forces issued multiple warnings and informed the Iranian-flagged vessel it was in violation of the U.S. blockade. After Touska’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period, Spruance directed the vessel to evacuate its engine room. Spruance disabled Touska’s propulsion by firing several rounds from the destroyer’s 5-inch MK 45 Gun into Touska’s engine room. U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit later boarded the non-compliant vessel, which remains in U.S. custody. SWO’ners all around. It does bring up some interesting questions: I assume from a weaponeering POV that to disable the engine room with minimum risk of the loss of human life or loss of the ship, we’d use an inert Blind Loaded & Plugged (BL&P) shells? The Marines were not on the Spruance, but came from another ship? It was determined that the Spruance’s VBSS team was not adequate for this mission? If this is true, then how do we upgrade training to ensure they are? If we won’t upgrade them, is it time to make Marine Detachments on ships great again? If we are going to start taking out the engineering plants of the ships in service to hostile nations, it sure would be a good idea to convert some or all of our remaining Fleet Ocean Tugs from USNS to USS and man them with Sailors and not mariners. I also think recent events justify making them armed again as well, in a modern capability relative to the Abnaki-class ATFs of lore. Everything forward needs to be armed when any goober with a garage can launch an attack drone. …and of course, the #1 takeaway from this is another demonstration of one of the most frequent Salamander of the Copybook Headings: There is no weapon system on a warship so essential, useful, and valuable than its main gun mount Is this a one-off? Will we limit this to just those ships about to break the blockade? Is there a branch plan to expand to a global commerce raiding campaign against Iranian shipping? As Ray Powell pointed out, the Tousca was a dedicated ship in the modern China Trade. Is it morphing into something more than my preferred “punitive expedition”—or is it the logical extension of it? I can argue both sides, but one thing that can’t be argued is that this is something unprecedented. In Ephrat Livni’s article in the NYT over the weekend, there was an attempt, Under international law, the legality of the blockade is “more ambiguous,” said Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a foreign policy think tank in Washington. For a blockade to be legal, Ms. Kavanagh said, it must be “effective,” meaning that it is both enforceable and enforced. Some would argue that a “‘global blockade’ is not permissible in conception” because it is overly broad, she said. Who are these “some” people, and who, if anyone, taught them world history? Jennifer and her friends at Defense Priorities are … on a small little island on this. In the same article, a couple of Midrats Podcast alumni are throwing water on some of the overly excitable takes about the blockade. “War is a messy thing not just on the combat side but under national and international law,” said James R. Holmes, chair of maritime strategy at the Naval War College. “From a legal standpoint, a blockade is an act of war, so the blockade probably is legal to the extent Operation Epic Fury is,” he said using the name of the U.S. military campaign against Iran. Since Congress has not declared war against Iran, no formal state of war exists between the United States and the Islamic Republic. But Mr. Holmes noted that “undeclared wars are more the rule than the exception in U.S. history,” … “The blockade is a wartime extension of existing U.S. economic sanctions against the Iranian regime,” said James Kraska, professor of international maritime law and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. In peacetime, he said, the sanctions were a “powerful tool to weaken the Iranian economy.” Now, he said, the blockade serves as a “kinetic expansion.” I stand with the two James. At the end of the day, BZ to the crew of the Spruance and the Marines who showed up to seize the ship. Good work when you can get it. h/t to another Midrats regular, John Kuehn.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 drone developer Wild Hornets has announced the serial deployment of its Hornet Vision Ctrl remote control technology, a system that enables operators to pilot the company’s STING interceptor drone from distances of up to 2,000 kilometers from the front line — including from ordinary civilian locations such as apartments or hotel rooms. The announcement […]View the full article

Ukrainian defense manufacturer UkrArmoTech has launched factory trials of a prototype tracked armored personnel carrier called the Skif, marking the company’s first venture into tracked armored vehicle development after establishing itself as one of Ukraine’s leading producers of wheeled armored platforms. The announcement was reported by Defense Express. For UkrArmoTech — known for wheeled armored […]View the full article

While the Maduro snatch-n-grab focused everyone’s attention on the Western Hemisphere for a moment, once again, global events moved attention elsewhere. Regardless of where the news of the moment may be, the economic and political situation in Central and South America is getting renewed attention on a scale not seen in a long time. On this week’s Midrats Podcast, we’re going to dive right in with our guest, Colin Dueck. We go live at 5 PM Eastern for a full hour. You can listen live and join the live chat at this link. If you’re reading this after the show, check the Substack later Sunday for podcast links. Colin is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he is focusing on the interconnection between US national security strategies and party politics, conservative ideas, and presidential leadership. He is also a professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, where he is the faculty adviser for the Alexander Hamilton Society. A senior nonresident fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, he has also served as a foreign policy adviser on several Republican presidential campaigns. 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

France’s 27th Mountain Infantry Brigade is using the ORION 26 exercise to test and implement a series of tactical modules designed to advance the brigade’s thinking on light mobility and decentralized combat, the unit announced April 18, 2026. The exercise represents a significant doctrinal experiment for one of France’s premier mountain warfare formations, translating concepts […]View the full article

Videos and images circulating on the Chinese social media platform Weibo show a convoy of multiple mobile missile launchers traveling through what appears to be a Chinese city, with open-source analysts identifying the vehicles as probable transporter-erector-launchers associated with the DF-27 anti-ship ballistic missile system fitted with a hypersonic glide vehicle. The footage, captured by […]View the full article

Baltimore-based BlackSea Technologies publicly unveiled its Comet unmanned surface vessel at the Sea-Air-Space exposition, displaying the platform armed with missiles for both air defense and surface strike missions. The company announced its presence at Dock D2, making Comet one of the most heavily armed unmanned surface vessels shown publicly by a U.S. manufacturer. Photographs of […]View the full article

The U.S. Army’s Capability Program Executive for Mission Autonomy has issued a formal solicitation asking defense industry to develop an unmanned ground vehicle capable of evacuating wounded soldiers and delivering supplies through the most dangerous stretch of the modern battlefield — the zone immediately behind the front lines. The document describes what the Army calls […]View the full article

The U.S. Department of State has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Germany valued at an estimated $11.9 billion, covering eight complete shipsets of Aegis-based Integrated Combat Systems along with a comprehensive package of weapons, sensors, and support equipment. The determination, which must still clear a congressional notification process before it becomes a binding […]View the full article