HG S2 (Intel Bot)

Ukraine’s Pegasus Arms has signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany’s Rohde & Schwarz to jointly develop new airborne reconnaissance and electronic support systems for military drones, the companies announced. According to the companies, the partnership will combine Pegasus Arms’ drone platforms with Rohde & Schwarz technologies to expand the operational capabilities of unmanned systems […]View the full article

Palantir’s Shyam Sankar continues to offer some of the clearest and most precise ideas on how we need to shift our mindset if we want to set the foundation for the next big war. I’m not going to ask too much of your time today. Nope, just a bit over a minute to ponder Shyam’s four Sputnik moments. The 1 minute and 19 seconds is an incredibly powerful boil-down of what should drive a lot of our thinking. Really, we should already be well down the road in acting on it. Here’s the video that starts the bit I’d like folks to ponder on today starting at the 41:05 moment, but if you have time on your commute, give the full interview from the Hudson Institute’s 11 March upload a listen.. Here’s the rough transcript. I thought over the last probably four years, we we should have had four different Sputnik moments, but we’ve had none. You know, even though they are legitimately Sputnik moments. And so, how is it the Sputnik moment catalyzed such clarity in the mind of the American people? And we’ve had four that we can’t seem to grip. What are the four? Chinese hypersonic glide vehicle. The ability for the Russians to sustain the fight as long as they’ve had here. The asymmetric ability for people like the Houthis to hold so much of not only world trade but our assets at risk. The 10 years of consumption in 10 weeks that effectively we’ve gotten the math completely wrong. It has a lot of implications. Like an example of this stuff is and to the point that we may not be spending enough. If you’re going to make munitions, we should be treating all these munitions potentially even our exquisite munitions as consumables. They’re not pieces of art that you put on the shelf and you make sure in temperature controlled settings. You make it at the point of making it. You already have a plan of how you’re going to consume it and test. And that means that you’re going to have to make another one to replace it, which drives the stimulus to industry to keep going and an opportunity to drive competition. That fourth moment—the delta between what we can make and what we need to sustain the fight. We have to solve that problem or we will simply fail to meet the math that mass will bring. If you notice in the above video, this discussion revolves around a book Shyam coauthored with Madeline Zimm titled Mobilize: How to Reboot the American Industrial Base and Stop World War III that, I realized as I was finishing this post up, comes out today. In a discussion about the book at The Ronald Reagan Institute (video at link), Madeline made the following comment about the industrial lessons from WWI. “Money was not enough.” “We entered the war late, but when we tried to do a mass production push of mainly foreign designs, we were unable to do it because the aircraft at that time were literally— craft. They were made of wood and fabric.” “Where are the parallel to today? Our missiles are more like a craft, boutique industry and haven’t been designed for mass production.” “If we want to mass produce them, money is not going to be enough.” “We need to totally reimagine how we design and produce these things, and the most productive companies need to produce.” I need to get this book. As a side note, if you want more Shyam—which I know you do—here is the interview we did with him a bit over a year ago if you didn’t catch it the first time. h/t Jawwwn.Share Leave a comment 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 Navy sent the dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD 46) to sea trials from Naval Station Norfolk, marking the vessel’s first time underway since 2014 following an extended modernization effort. The trials are intended to verify that the ship’s upgraded systems and engineering improvements are fully operational, as the Navy works to […]View the full article

The United States Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command announced plans on March 16 to pursue a sole-source contract with Boeing for software updates to the Harpoon missile support system, according to a presolicitation notice. The effort focuses on updating the Common Munitions BIT/Reprogramming Equipment Mission Application Program, a system used to support and maintain Harpoon […]View the full article

The United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) issued a Request for Information on March 16, 2026, seeking industry solutions to develop an automated system for extracting geospatial features from imagery and maps as part of its Foundation Digital Twin program. The agency is exploring Automated Feature Extraction (AFE) technologies that can detect, extract, and classify […]View the full article

Poland’s Operational Command of the Armed Forces said that on Friday, March 13, 2026, a pair of Polish Air Force MiG-29 fighter jets intercepted and escorted a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea. The interception reflects ongoing efforts by NATO members to monitor and control airspace activity near allied territory, particularly as Russian […]View the full article

Ukrainian long-range one-way attack drones struck two major aviation facilities in Russia in recent days, targeting the Aviastar aircraft plant in Ulyanovsk and the 123rd Aircraft Repair Plant in Staraya Russa. The attacks come as Ukraine continues efforts to disrupt Russia’s military aviation production and maintenance capacity, focusing on facilities linked to transport aircraft and […]View the full article

The United States Army deployed its Indirect Fire Protection Capability Inc 2 (IFPC) air defense system on March 16 during the Freedom Shield 26 exercise in South Korea, according to the Eighth Army. The system was positioned at a training site as part of combined drills on the Korean Peninsula. The deployment comes as the […]View the full article

South Korea’s defense community is placing renewed attention on anti-aircraft guns as an effective response to the growing threat posed by mass drone attacks on modern battlefields. The shift reflects increasing concern among military planners that traditional missile-based air defense systems alone may struggle to counter large numbers of low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles. The renewed […]View the full article

North Korea may have generated as much as $14.4 billion in revenue through troop deployments and military equipment exports to Russia during the war in Ukraine, according to a report released March 13 by a South Korean security research institute. The analysis was published by the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul and examines […]View the full article

The United States and South Korean militaries conducted joint river-crossing drills on Saturday in Yeoncheon County near the inter-Korean border, as part of the annual Freedom Shield exercise designed to improve interoperability between allied forces. The training brought together engineering units from both countries to practice bridging operations across complex terrain in a region close […]View the full article

At the end of last week, things were a’buzz’n about ‘ole silent-but-deadly…MINES! There is a lot of bad and in some places intentionally misleading reporting from traditional media on down over this weekend, so let’s do a quick summary. The NYT got the ball rolling. Iran has begun laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf channel that carries 20 percent of the world’s oil, according to U.S. officials, an effort that could further complicate American efforts to restart shipping there. While the U.S. military said it had destroyed larger Iranian naval vessels that could be used to quickly lay mines in the strait, Iran began using smaller boats for the operation on Thursday, according to a U.S. official briefed on the intelligence. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps can deploy hundreds, even thousands, of the small boats, which the Iranian force has long used to harass larger ships, including the U.S. Navy’s. This quickly reminded everyone of a little event from the start of the year that had a memorable visual. Via TWZ: Four decommissioned U.S. Navy Avenger class mine countermeasures ships have left Bahrain on what may be their final voyage aboard a larger heavy lift vessel. Avengers had been forward-deployed to the Middle Eastern nation for years, where critical mine countermeasures duties have now passed to Independence class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS). The public affairs office for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) and U.S. 5th Fleet first released pictures of the M/V Seaway Hawk, a contracted semi-submersible heavy lift vessel, carrying the former Avenger class ships USS Devastator, USS Dextrous, USS Gladiator, and USS Sentry last Friday. The Navy released more images and a brief statement yesterday. The date stamps on the pictures show the Avengers were physically loaded onto the Seaway Hawk in Bahrain on January 9. This had a second echo of a seapower past. Battered and unseaworthy, HMS Middleton was dragged by tugs into Portsmouth naval base on Sunday. The Hunt class mine countermeasures vessel (MCMV) returned to the home of the Royal Navy on March 8 after being brought back from the Gulf by a heavy-lift ship. The ignominious piggy-back was cheaper than letting the more than 40-year-old ship make the 6,200-mile journey back from Bahrain under her own power and freed her crew to join other ships. But her return after a journey that took weeks meant the end of the Royal Navy’s anti-mine vessel presence in the Middle East after almost 50 years. Only unmanned drone systems are left, according to the Navy. Another metaphor, etc. However, there is a worry that Iran might mine the Strait of Hormuz because it has been a concern—and occasionally a reality—for almost half a century. Over the weekend, a generally useful primer from Just Security. Once an area has been mined, it is often virtually impossible to guarantee that it has been fully demined. An oil tanker explosion with a naval mine would be an environmental disaster that would further halt shipping. Following the armed conflict, Iran would have an affirmative obligation under Hague VIII to remove its own mines. Still, commercial shippers would have to trust Iran that this has taken place. And removing mines is notoriously difficult. Since 1997, a multinational naval mine clearance and ordnance disposal operation has been conducted in the Baltic Sea to clear and destroy an estimated 160,000 mines from the First and Second World Wars, and just 20% have been removed or destroyed. Complicating matters, at this very moment, the U.S. Navy is retiring its four Avenger-class minesweepers previously homeported in the Middle East and moving toward a different strategy. The new strategy for mine countermeasures is untested and focuses on using the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) in combination with helicopter support, drones, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel. In an apparently shortsighted move, just one month before the Iran conflict began, the four Avenger-class minesweeper vessels left their home port of Bahrain to be decommissioned and scrapped in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The U.S. Navy acknowledges that the LCS “will always struggle to achieve the same level of Mine Countermeasure proficiency” as dedicated minesweepers. It remains to be seen whether the combination of LCS, helicopters, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, and Navy-trained dolphins (with natural sonar capability) can fill the gap left behind by these departed minesweepers. Finding naval mines in an international strait is already notoriously difficult, particularly in an international strait that has so much existing debris that camouflages the existence of mines. …except…the removal of the Avenger Class has been long in the making. The final step was six months ago when they were decommissioned. I’m not sure what their readiness state was by the time they left. Knowing how this works in my Navy…not that great. At this point, the neglected old girls are little more than a danger to themselves and inadvertently to others—qualified crews long PCS’d elsewhere. That is why I said the article was “generally useful”. A non-zero number of iffy items. I almost didn’t even quote them—as they are partially funded by George Soros’s Open Society…so, yeah…I read everyone. When people got through the initial dopamine hit from this latest news cycle, we quickly got to the “LCS and the MIW Mission Modules!” stage Well… The U.S. Navy Independence class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) USS Tulsa and USS Santa Barbara, which are configured for minesweeping duties, have appeared in port in Malaysia. Both of these ships were last known to be forward-deployed in the Middle East, having arrived in Bahrain in the past year or so to take the place of a group of now-decommissioned Avenger class mine hunters. Now, as Iranian attacks on commercial ships have caused a virtual halt to maritime traffic through the highly strategic Strait of Hormuz, these ships have emerged thousands of miles away. The extent to which Iran has seeded naval mines in the Strait already is unclear, but this remains a huge threat to the future security of the waterway and will have to be taken into account in any future effort to reopen this critical waterway. A spotter in Malaysia posted pictures of the USS Tulsa and USS Santa Barbara, which are said to have been taken today at the North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT) in the Port of Penang. First of all…I have heard enough from my Australian friend about deployments to Butterworth…that those LCS bastards should be having superior liberty…I hope…though they may be welded to the pier given what is going on. Sad. Anyway, let’s go to the chart room. That’s 3,000 nautical miles from Butterworth to the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, right outside Chabahar (we’ll return down-post to that port). If you assume an 18-20 knots speed of advance, that is a bit more than six to a little under seven days’ steaming distance. Not quite a quick reaction force, but let’s ponder this. Regardless of how they are named, the Littoral Combat Ship is not all that great at conducting combat in the littorals. It can barely defend itself from minimal threats. Moving them out of the way was a good idea as we don’t have a large enough Navy to properly escort them along with higher-and-better use of our DDGs. Why move the LCS to almost a week’s steaming away? I don’t know. Port availability? Proximity to maintenance support in Singapore? Looking for help on liberty from the next Fat Leonard? We’ll find out some day…but as the only mine warfare (MIW) capable asset (let’s put to the side concerns about how much MIW capability/capacity they actually have), something beats nothing…and a decision has been made to put something very far away and out of the way. Let’s circle back to the NYT claim about the mining threat to the Strait of Hormuz. Is there one? Of course, Iran has a history of laying mines, has a lot of mines stored, and on paper has a lot of ways to deliver them. However, to get mines in the sea lanes, you have to move the mines from storage, put them on a ship, have the ship get underway, and then have it lay its mines. When you consider the absolute dominance the U.S. and Israel have had over Iran the last week, and the curb-stomping of their navy and port facilities, is anything getting underway from mine capable ports? If reports are correct about Super Hornets doing strafing runs over Chabahar, I don’t think there’s anything with mines getting underway. If there were, I don’t think the only MIW assets we have nearby would be a week away. Also, no ships have hit mines in the Strait of Hormuz. We’ve discussed MIW a lot here and at the OG Blog if you’re looking for more detail. Mines are not to be dismissed. They have damaged more U.S. warships since WWII than any other weapon systems…but temper that with what open source indications and warnings you can find. At least this Monday AM, it looks like another exceptional detail of this conflict with Iran, we may have mostly—if not fully—kept the mining capability of Iran from getting to sea. We had a mature plan to go after Iran when I was at CENTCOM a bit under two decades ago, and we have constantly updated various OPLAN COAs since then. As many smart people are pointing out, we kind of have things wired. Just like the best place to destroy an aircraft is on the ground, the best place to sink a mine layer is pier side. If we got inside the Iranian MIW OODA loop to the point to make them combat ineffective, then Bravo Zulu to the intel bubbas who made this happen. We’ll see in the next few days, but again, no one has hit a mine yet. Until then, from the 2008 Russian move, The Admiral, one of the best depictions of fighting in a minefield ever put on film. This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Share Leave a comment View the full article

Here we find ourselves approaching the fifth spring of the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022. As the rest of the world’s geopolitical landscape changes dramatically, Russia’s “friend group” shrinks, and Ukraine’s friends grow weary and distracted, where is the war moving and where could we expect Russia to adjust for another year of conflict? Returning to Midrats again to discuss this and related issues is Dr. Dmitry Gorenburg, a Senior Research Scientist in the Strategy, Policy, Plans, and Programs division of CNA, where he has worked since 2000. You can listen live at this link from 5-6 PM Eastern. If you are reading this after then, refresh the Substack Sunday night for the uploaded podcast. Dr. Gorenburg is an associate at the Harvard University Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and previously served as Executive Director of the American Association of the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS). His research interests include security issues in the former Soviet Union, Russian military reform, Russian foreign policy, and ethnic politics and identity. Dr. Gorenburg is author of Nationalism for the Masses: Minority Ethnic Mobilization in the Russian Federation (Cambridge University Press, 2003), and has been published in journals such as World Politics and Post-Soviet Affairs. He currently serves as editor of Problems of Post-Communism and was also editor of Russian Politics and Law from 2009 to 2016. Dr. Gorenburg received a B.A. in international relations from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University. 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

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on March 14 that developing a domestic air defense system has become a top priority for Ukraine’s defense leadership, tasking Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov with leading efforts to strengthen the country’s ability to protect its airspace. Speaking to journalists, Zelenskyy said Ukraine must pursue several parallel options to improve air defense, […]View the full article

The United States Navy confirmed plans to increase production of the Hammerhead anti-submarine mine system through a contract modification expected to be awarded to General Dynamics Mission Systems, according to a presolicitation notice released by Naval Sea Systems Command on March 13. The notice states that the Navy intends to modify an existing contract to […]View the full article

The United States Air Force has awarded Raytheon a contract modification worth up to $2.01 billion to continue work on the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) terminal, a key communications system used to support secure military satellite networks, according to a contract announcement released March 13. The modification increases the total value of the existing […]View the full article

The United States Army has awarded a contract valued at up to $20 billion to Anduril Industries to consolidate a wide range of artificial intelligence–driven battlefield technologies into a unified operational system built around the company’s Lattice software platform. The agreement, announced in the Pentagon’s daily contract notices for March 13, was issued by U.S. […]View the full article

Turkish drone maker Baykar has unveiled a new loitering munition known as the K2 kamikaze, presenting the system in a promotional video released Saturday that showcased the drone’s artificial intelligence–based flight, navigation, and targeting capabilities. The introduction of the K2 reflects the rapid expansion of loitering munition technology, which has become a central tool in […]View the full article

The British Army has taken another step toward introducing its new long-range artillery capability after Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) awarded a £53 million ($70 million) contract to ARTEC GmbH for the production of 37 weapon systems for the Remote Controlled Howitzer 155 (RCH 155). The contract supports the British Army’s effort to field […]View the full article

Russia launched a large-scale combined missile and drone strike against Ukraine overnight on March 14, targeting critical infrastructure across several regions of the country. Ukrainian authorities said the attack began at 18:00 on March 13 and involved nearly 500 aerial weapons, including ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and hundreds of attack drones. According to the Ukrainian […]View the full article

The United States Army concluded the xTech|Edge Strike: Ground competition on March 13 in Vilseck, Germany, where three autonomy technology companies tested unmanned ground systems built on tactical vehicles from Polaris Government and Defense. The event evaluated autonomous vehicle technologies designed for military logistics, reconnaissance, and casualty evacuation missions. The competition is part of the […]View the full article

When I was in NROTC, IIRC, Tuesday was the day we had classes. The one day of the week we wore uniforms. The only concern I ever really had was if my gig-line was correct. For the ROTC Cadets (I assume Army ROTC at this point, perhaps we will know more later), the post 911 reality decided to visit them. He allegedly walked into the Old Dominion classroom on Thursday and asked if it was an ROTC class, and when someone answered, "yes," he shot the instructor several times, according to sources. Evans alleged he shouted "Allah Akbar" during the incident. That is the moment. That is when you have an instant to make a call. Fight, flight, or freeze. Character is revealed. Tomorrow’s leaders made their choice, a very American choice: fight. A heroic ROTC student fatally stabbed the crazed ISIS-linked gunman who opened fire inside an Old Dominion University classroom Thursday, preventing further carnage, law enforcement sources said. Shooter Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, 36, gunned down an instructor before the unidentified cadet jumped into action to put an end to the suspected terror attack on the Virginia college campus, according to sources. Jalloh, who was previously convicted of trying to support ISIS, walked into the classroom and asked if it was an ROTC class, sources told The Post. We’ll return to that last sentence in a moment, but first we have to recognize a few things. First, it appears that multiple cadets who went after the terrorist. The FBI said ROTC students were in the classroom when he opened fire and stepped in, rendering him “no longer alive.” Evans, the FBI special agent in charge, would not go into detail as to how the suspected shooter was killed, but said he was not shot. “They basically were able to terminate the threat,” she said. In non-FBI speak, they killed him with their bare hands and, according to some reports, a knife. Bravo Zulu. There were some injuries. Two of the victims were transported by ambulance to the Level I trauma center at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, the hospital said in a statement Thursday night. One of those patients died. The other remained in critical condition, the hospital said. A third person was treated and released from the Sentara Independence free-standing emergency department in Virginia Beach after arriving in a personal vehicle. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said on social media that two of the victims were Army personnel. “I’m praying for them and all those impacted by this terrible event,” Driscoll said. We should also take a moment to recognize the officer killed in the line of duty, Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, USA. He gave his life helping to develop the leaders of tomorrow’s Army at the very place where he started. Giving back. His background reflects the extraordinarily ordinary Americans you find throughout the U.S. military. What a great and accomplished American. Shah was a native Virginian from Staunton. He enlisted in the army in 2003 as an aviation operations specialist and enrolled at ODU in 2005, according to his profile on ODU’s website. Shah received his Army commission and graduated in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a minor in military science. Since his ODU commissioning, Shah earned his Army Aviation Senior Aviator wings, having flown more than 1,200 hours in three different aircrafts, and completed over 600 combat flight hours, according to his ODU profile. Shah also had an MBA from the University of Georgia, and an MS in engineering management from the University of Kansas. His death was avoidable and a huge loss to his family, friends, the Army, and his nation. Let’s return to the terrorist. Jalloh was a naturalized U.S. citizen, originally from Sierra Leone, a country on the coast of West Africa. … When (Mohamed Bailor Jalloh) pleaded guilty in 2016, Jalloh admitted he had communicated with a member of ISIS who was located overseas, who introduced him to an individual in the U.S. who was actually an FBI confidential informant. The ISIS member was believed to be actively plotting an attack and believed Jalloh would assist the informant in carrying it out. During one meeting with the FBI informant, Jalloh was asked about a timeline for an operation and commented that it was better to plan an attack for the month of Ramadan, court records say. Prosecutors had recommended Jalloh serve 20 years in prison. It’s not immediately clear why he was released before the end of his 11-year sentence, though it is not unusual in the federal prison system for inmates to be released before serving their full term of imprisonment. So, a naturalized U.S. citizen, with military training, tried to join ISIS. Prosecutors wanted 20 years, but was given 11 years. Released in December 2024, serving only seven years. Here are some details from 2017. Emphasis is mine. He admitted he traveled to Africa in 2015 and connected with an IS contact there. He said he backed out of traveling to join the IS in Libya but that he gave hundreds of dollars to support recruits. He was arrested in July after an FBI sting operation in which he discussed launching a Fort Hood-style attack with an undercover agent. Jalloh renounced the IS group in court papers. “I feel like a complete idiot for accepting such a superficial and dishonest interpretation of Islam,” Jalloh wrote in a letter to the court. Congress needs to revisit grounds for denaturalization. We also need to find out who the judge was that decided 11 year was fine. We also need to know who decided that the terrorist only needed to serve 7 of those 11 years. We also need to try to understand the mindset behind the Norfolk DA who had this to say after the terrorist attack so we can better inform the voters of Norfolk who they support. Accountability. In a serious nation with a serious judicial system, Lt. Col. Shah would be alive and so would Jalloh—either in jail or somewhere in Sierra Leone. To the ROTC cadets at ODU and to the memory of Lt. Col. Shah—fullbore. 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

Airbus is preparing flight tests of an unmanned collaborative combat aircraft system based on the Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie as part of a program aimed at providing the German Air Force with an operational Uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft (UCCA) capability by 2029. The work is taking place at Airbus facilities in Manching, near Munich, where engineers […]View the full article

The United States Army recently conducted tests of a new 30 mm Aviation Proximity Explosive (APEX) round designed for the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter at the Yuma Test Center at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. The trials evaluated the munition’s ability to engage unmanned aerial systems using the Apache’s existing M230 automatic cannon. […]View the full article

Anatolii Maksymov, an expert at the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre and Middle East analyst, said Iran’s asymmetric military strategy is placing growing pressure on the United States and its regional partners as the conflict spreads across the Persian Gulf and surrounding energy infrastructure. In a published analysis of the ongoing confrontation, Maksymov argues that […]View the full article