HG S2 (Intel Bot)

“Just a 20-year old undesignated Seaman.” Never say that. Titans walk amongst us in the most humble attire. A war is raging ashore. You’re just a 20-year-old Seaman Apprentice from landlocked South Dakota on your old swayback gun cruiser, USS Canberra (CA-70), off Vietnam when, well, you fell overboard. No one noticed. You should have drowned. But you didn’t. You should not have been able to survive for half a day without flotation. But you did. Your enemy should have been able to use you to their advantage. But they didn’t. Your fellow Americans in prison had a stories untold, many of them not known to be alive. You made sure all were known, with the help of the enemy, you outsmarted from the first day. What follows is an incredible example of character, smarts, survival, and service. Douglas Brent Hegdahl. I will steal the below liberally from the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes, I don’t think they’ll mind. …he was then assigned to the USS Canberra, a missile cruiser positioned in the Gulf of Tonkin, three miles off the coast of Vietnam. On April 6, 1967, Douglas was knocked overboard by a blast from the ship’s guns. His shipmates did not report him missing for two days. Having fallen overboard with no life preserver and no identification, Douglas was assumed to be dead and the crew held a memorial service. What they didn’t know was that Douglas had floated for 12 hours until Cambodian fishermen found him and brought him to shore. Once he arrived in Vietnam, Douglas was turned over to Vietnamese militiamen and was taken to Hỏa Lò Prison, also known as Hanoi Hilton. The interrogators at Hanoi Hilton did not believe Douglas’s story about being knocked overboard and insisted he was a CIA agent. Rather than give up information to his captors, Douglas pretended to be an illiterate fool. When he was instructed to write anti-war statements against the U.S., he agreed but pretended to be unable to read or write. The Vietnamese were shocked, but thought they had found the perfect candidate who was gullible enough to be tricked into publicly supporting their cause. They assigned someone to teach Douglas to read and write, but when he appeared incapable of learning, his captors gave up on him. Douglas became known as “the incredibly stupid one.” Deemed non-threatening, he was given free rein of almost the entire camp. During his time at Hanoi Hilton, Douglas was given the task of sweeping prison grounds. He used this as an opportunity to do what he could to thwart the Vietnamese. When no one was looking, he once filled five army trucks’ gas tanks with dirt and leaves so they would not operate. Douglas would also take advantage of his freedom within the camp, often passing notes and communicating with other prisoners as he swept. His most amazing accomplishment, however, was saving the lives of hundreds of prisoners and providing a wealth of information about Hỏa Lò Prison to the United States. Douglas had a remarkable memory and was able to memorize the names of prisoners, the dates they were captured, the dates they arrived at the prison as well as other personal information. Using the nursery rhyme “Old McDonald Had a Farm” as a mnemonic device, he memorized over 250 prisoners’ names. When the Vietnamese decided to release three prisoners from the camp, Douglas didn’t want to go. The captured American soldiers had made a “No Go Home Early” pact in which they agreed that they would all go home together or not at all. But Douglas was ordered by his commanding officer to return home in order to share the valuable information he had acquired at Hỏa Lò, and was thus released with two other POWs on August 5, 1969. Back in the United States, Douglas provided names of military and intelligence personnel who were thought to be deceased. His global impact came when he confronted the Vietnamese at the Paris Peace Talks in 1970. The information Douglas provided, including the locations and horrible conditions of the prison camps, as well as the torture practices used by the Vietnamese, were finally shared with the world. Exposing the Vietnamese this way led them to keep POWs alive until the war was over, saving hundreds of prisoners. He lost 60 pounds as a POW. More details over at Coffee or Die. Give it a read. Fullbore. If you want an extended discussion, Veterans Breakfast Club has 90 minutes for ‘ya. 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

China’s state broadcaster CCTV-7 has been showing People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers conducting infantry exercises in rugged terrain—featuring, notably, a trooper equipped with a rudimentary unpowered exoskeleton frame. The broadcast, part of a segment highlighting a unit of the PLA’s 76th Group Army, shows troops advancing across rocky highland ground under simulated combat conditions. The […] The post China tests infantry exoskeleton during army drill first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Taiwan’s military has unveiled what appears to be a mobile missile launcher disguised as a civilian delivery truck—part of what analysts say may be a growing fleet of improvised yet highly capable coastal defense systems aimed at deterring a potential amphibious assault by China. Footage recently released by Taiwanese defense forces shows a standard-looking commercial […] The post Taiwan hides Hellfire launcher in civilian truck first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Azerbaijan’s Navy has for the first time publicly showcased its Turkish-made “Salvo” unmanned surface vessel (USV), signaling a new phase in Baku’s maritime capabilities amid growing regional security concerns in the Caspian Sea. The debut of the armed drone boat came during recent naval exercises and was noted by Baku-based policy analyst Fuad Shahbazov, who […] The post Azerbaijan unveils armed naval drone first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Raytheon has secured a $72 million contract with the U.S. Army to sustain and support the Improved Target Acquisition System (ITAS), a critical component used to guide the service’s TOW anti-tank missiles. In a statement, Dan Theisen, president of Advanced Products & Solutions at Raytheon, said, “This critical technology bolsters target recognition and engagement ranges, […] The post Raytheon gets $72M deal for TOW missile targeting system first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Russia is moving ahead with the design of a new ocean-going warship, according to Admiral Alexander Moiseev, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy. The vessel, described as a future “far ocean zone” (blue-water) combat platform, is expected to be laid down under the country’s next State Armament Program. Speaking to Russian state media, Admiral Moiseev confirmed […] The post Russia plans new blue-water warship first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Russia has launched its newest Project 22350 missile frigate, Admiral Amelko, at the Severnaya Verf shipyard in St. Petersburg. According to Russian state media reports, Admiral Amelko is the first ship in the class to be equipped with 24 vertical launch cells for the UKSK missile system (vertical launching system). The system can deploy a […] The post Russia launches new guided missile frigate first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Russian pro-war Telegram channels and later Ukrainian sources reported the loss of a Su-30SM fighter jet from the Black Sea Fleet’s naval aviation near Ukraine’s Zmiinyi (Snake) Island on August 14. According to these reports, communication with the twin-seat aircraft was lost in the vicinity of the island. Hours later, Russian military-linked bloggers and channels […] The post Russian Su-30SM crashes in Black Sea first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The U.S. Army’s recent announcement that it will soon launch a dedicated drone marketplace has drawn attention from defense analysts and industry specialists, highlighting the growing role of integrated procurement platforms in modern warfare. While the Army’s plan is still in development, several fully functioning solutions already exist at both government and private levels. One […] The post Commercial software solutions enter defense space first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense has introduced a new multi-role unmanned aerial system developed at the state-run Plant 202 in collaboration with private-sector manufacturers. The program, aimed at meeting the demands of asymmetric warfare, emphasizes mass production, low cost, and operational versatility. According to National Defense Online, the lineup includes a fixed-wing strike drone […] The post Taiwan develops plywood-built kamikaze drone first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

A prominent Russian lawmaker and retired general has issued a direct threat of military action against Azerbaijan, escalating tensions between Moscow and Baku amid already strained relations. In remarks delivered in a combative tone, State Duma Deputy Lt. Gen. Andrey Gurulev accused Azerbaijan of “damaging relations” with Russia by supporting Ukraine. “If Russian store shelves […] The post Azerbaijan ready to respond to Russian threats first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Deindustrialization was decades in the making, and as we are running out of time—we don’t have decades to bring it back. Never forget, this did not “just happen.” This was an intentional act by government, politicians, and people interested in money and the power it would bring them. Supporting them, and manipulated by them, were useful idiots and true believers from the usual suspects in the NGO, IO, and “non-profit” world. The lust for money, power, and sex. If you don’t first look for these three reasons for the problems around you, you’re not thinking right. When two of the three are right in front of you, you know you’re on to something. It is no exaggeration that our not-so-sudden inability to manufacture even the weapons for our own survival without the assistance of our possible enemies has a matter of national survival. Hedge funds, the consultancy complex, and the “We Own Everything” Triumvirate of BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard spent the entire post-NAFTA economy offshoring anything that could gain them an extra $0.000123 per share. That which it could not off-shore, it sold for pennies on the dollar so our future opponents could grow their own military-industrial-complex faster. They were not interested in national security, if anything they were convinced every other nation was as interested in profit as they were. More often than not, they just didn’t care. The shipyard challenge is just a small part of a larger issue. It isn’t just that we don’t have the shipbuilding and maintenance infrastructure to expand; we don’t have the trained workforce or even school programs to accelerate capacity. To get there it takes leaders with vision and persistence who find the money to create the demand signal that will kick-start the system. Mike Jernigan over at the National Security Journal outlines just one part of the challenge in an area that is new and sexy, which outlines well an old and unsexy failure of two generations of national leaders in the public and private sector, America’s Drone Crisis: ‘Made in America’ Is Nearly Impossible. So, if we need more American-made drones – let’s make more drones. Yet it isn’t that simple. The United States lacks the ability to manufacture these and other items. Destin Sandlin, a former missile flight test engineer for the U. S. Army and host of the Smarter Every Day series on YouTube, explains the problem in his video “I Tried to Make Something in America.” He tells the story of how he set out to make a gadget using only parts from and manufacturing abilities in the United States. The video follows his year-long effort to source components and specialized fabrication techniques. He visited mills, technical schools, and businesses of all sizes to learn how to make the components for his gadget. Despite his gadget having no moving parts, Destin was unable to complete his quest as he discovered that American manufacturing capability is nearly extinct. He found we don’t have dies to make necessary tools, molds to mass produce templates, tools to assemble and construct subcomponents, nor people with the necessary knowledge and experience to manufacture products. In short, America lacks the ability to make “things” – widgets, gadgets, or products. You can watch Sandlin’s video referenced above here: Jernigan offers some action items: Congress is appropriately concerned with acquisition reform. Any conversation about acquisition reform must start with restoring America’s manufacturing base. I recommend Congress do several things to address the American military’s drone shortage. First, expand student eligibility for Pell Grants to cover training programs necessary for fabrication and manufacturing to enhance the availability of qualified workers. Secondly, implement output capacity-based grants to incentivize to companies’ investment in technology. Next, permanently allow full and immediate expensing for capital spending on structures. I offer an additional recommendation for the Department of Education: ensure existing grants, scholarships, and prizes are available to encourage vocational schools to re-develop the necessary skills required in manufacturing; create and train the die makers, the machinists, the lathe and press operators, and all the fabrication skills required to get a “Made In America” stamp. The Secretary of Defense expects training “force-on-force drone wars” in 2026. It is unlikely that the United States could win a drone war with China today with its 20 models and hundreds of copies versus the PRC’s millions. But, as the saying goes, “if the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, then the second-best time to plant a tree is today,” then let’s improve the manufacturing base so we can plant little drone trees today. I would offer the additional step of tort reform and regulatory reform. Those two items—rife with rent-seeking and abuse of our legal system by bad faith actors—are an expense in both capital, and worse, time. If you aren’t talking about union problems as well, then you’re not serious. The U.S. government and industry created this problem. Our guild-like think tanks, academia, and professional problem admirers who are underwritten by many of the people and organizations who have profited from deindustrialization, have a vested interest in keeping the problem more than solving it. The old established ways—the ways that got us here—will not work. It is a Gordian knot. The same mechanism that fixed that problem is needed for this problem. To undergird the mood of today’s musings, I’d ask you to watch the video below. It is … a mood. Picking the last usable scraps of what was once a world-beating national pastime of, just, making things, so you can, even a small bit, try to revive a portion of what was once a great glory. Maine…”Vacationland” was once a powerhouse of industry. Now? There is hope, but people are few, time is short, and we are beset with distraction. Our opponents are confident, aggressive, and smell our complacency. More. Faster. 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 Japanese Ministry of Defense confirmed that it has completed the relocation of all 17 Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft to Saga Camp in Saga Prefecture. The move marks the end of their provisional deployment at Kisarazu Camp in Chiba Prefecture. The redeployment is part of Japan’s ongoing “southwest shift” in force […] The post Japan moves entire Osprey fleet to southwest base first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Archer Aviation says it is accelerating production of its Midnight electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, with a near-term goal of achieving an output rate of 50 aircraft per year across roughly 700,000 square feet of manufacturing and test facilities. The company reported Tuesday that aircraft built during this new product introduction phase will […] The post Archer ramps up production of its electric aircraft first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Pakistan’s Army has introduced the FATAH-IV, a new ground-launched subsonic cruise missile with enhanced range and precision, according to the Clash Report. The FATAH-IV has a stated range of 750 kilometers, a reported accuracy of five meters, and travels at approximately 0.7 Mach. The missile weighs 1,530 kilograms and carries a 330-kilogram warhead, making it […] The post Pakistan debuts new cruise missile first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) and the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) have signed a joint EUR 15 million ($17 million) agreement with Finnish communications company KNL for the delivery of Cognitive Networked HF (CNHF) Manpack radios. Deliveries are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025. According to the FDF, this order is […] The post Finland, Sweden boost interoperability with new HF radio buy first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Raytheon has been awarded a $258 million contract to advance the engineering, manufacturing, and development of the Standard Missile 2 (SM-2) Block IIICU All Up Round, the Department of Defense announced. The deal covers the follow-on integration and test phase of a program already under contract and includes options that could raise its value to […] The post U.S. Navy awards Raytheon contract for next-gen SM-2 interceptors first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

I first read Jen Judson’s article in Defense News back when it came out … and was simply in awe. I simply respect the audacity and enthusiasm by a man whose love of land-centric thinking is only matched by his demand that time and space bend to his will. Please clap. It is a well known cynical, and correct, angle that all the post-Goldwater-Nichols diktat was simply a way for the Army to exert an artificially large influence on the strategic direction of the otherwise natural maritime and aerospace power that is the United States. It didn’t so much lift Army up, but kept the Navy and USAF thinking suppressed through institutional barriers, bureaucratic obfuscation, and generally a blurring of differences and hiding options that weren’t “joint” enough for Army’s taste. As the quarter century of imperial land policing actions in Central and Southwest Asia continues to fade from view, the events in Europe with the Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022 give land component advocates a reprieve from the coming rebalancing towards the maritime and aerospace forces that a great Pacific war would require. As this day of budgetary reckoning gets harder to avoid, some of the most excitable Army leaders have become, well, shrill? Overwrought? Midnight televangelistic? Either they or their Zoomer speech writers just need to take a deep breath and step back from the energy drinks a bit. When it comes to land component hyperbole and hype-men, the bubbas in green need not by dismayed with the retirement last year of General Charles A. Flynn, USA (Ret.). I mean, Flynn was an Army-centric parochialism force of nature. I didn’t think he’d be easy to replace, but I was mistaken. Behold the commanding general of the United States Army Europe and Africa and commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command since December of last year, General Christopher Todd Donahue, USA. I’m just going to string together quotes of his at the Association of the U.S. Army’s inaugural LandEuro conference in Wiesbaden, Germany his from Jen’s article, with a scattered comment or two. Yes, yes, I know the venue…but that does not matter. …the Army, along with NATO, is first focusing on the Baltic states “to try to get to how do you actually make it so that industry and the nations know exactly what the requirements are — ultimately that is now known as the Eastern Flank Deterrence Line…We know what we have to develop and the use case that we’re using is you have to [deter] from the ground…The land domain is not becoming less important, it’s becoming more important. You can now take down [anti-access, aerial-denial] A2AD bubbles from the ground. You can now take over sea from the ground. All of those things we are watching happen in Ukraine. This next bit…where is the humility? Where is the understanding of our constant problem with overestimating what we can do and underestimating what our opponents can do? …Donahue noted, Kaliningrad, Russia, is roughly 47 miles wide and surrounded by NATO on all sides and the Army and its allies now have the capability to “take that down from the ground in a timeframe that is unheard of and faster than we’ve ever been able to do…We’ve already planned that and we’ve already developed it. This next bit has a lot of certainty that simply has no place on the European continent. The mass and momentum problem that Russia poses to us … we’ve developed the capability to make sure that we can stop that mass and momentum problem…We already know exactly what we have to do with cloud and we know exactly the type of actual unmanned systems, brigades, everything else that we need for that. Have we, really? The next quote, and I understand the warning he is giving industry, but I’m sorry; we have got to stop demanding absolutes we cannot afford, and probably will not be able to deliver. We want everything to be optionally manned, whether that is an air defense or a long-range fires system. We want it to be one system, optionally manned, where we’ll be able to take munitions from any country and shoot through them. In the name of all that is holy, have we learned nothing from the last few decades about putting all our programmatic eggs in one basket. “…one system..” Yes, by all means, build one system for the enemy to hack. One system for the enemy to learn to counter. One system for industry to make that fails to thrive leaving us exposed, vulnerable, or after years and billions, with nothing. Have we learned anything? As a general rule, whatever you’re shooting at, whatever your weapon system or munition you shoot at, another adversary’s capability, it should be cheaper than what you’re shooting,…We have sent a clear demand signal to you of exactly what we need. If you are shooting something at me that costs $500,000, but for me to successfully intercept it I need to spend $2 million, is that really that bad if it works reliably? If I spend $300,000 on a weapon to shoot it down, but it takes six of them to only have a 70% chance of protecting my $2 billion warship…is that really smart? What if you do develop a $300,000 system to shoot down that $500,000 threat that is just as good as the $2 million system…but your $300,000 system displaces the other system, but cannot counter the enemy’s $4 million threat and as a result, lose your $2 billion warship…have you made the “efficient” decision? …If you sell us something, it has to be interoperable. You have to share the [Application Programming Interface]. The cost has to go down. Share with whom? Interoperable with what, whom, and why? What opportunity cost? How will overall cost go down? Via what expected mechanism? What capability are you willing to do without? How much security risk are you willing to accept? Don’t get me wrong, I like Donahue’s enthusiasm and aggressive promotion of his service, but if these are the new rules, then giddy-up, let’s ride. I am all about creative friction and the productivity of aggressive competition and argument. Let’s grab the nearest gut-hook and eviscerate the entire Joint concept that has served as an intellectual and institutional wet blanket over everyone since Reagan was President. From make-work Joint billet box-checking, to the JPME Industrial Complex jobs program, to the ossifying gates, windows, and career milestones it places around everyone making innovation and truly diverse experiences career damaging and nothing but ducks picking ducks because of the artificial requirement of webbed feet. We should play Donahue’s game. Where are our admirals making the same impassioned maritime-uber-alles argument? Also, “Eastern Flank Deterrence Line”? Child, please. 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

Israel’s Elbit Systems Ltd. has reported a sharp rise in second-quarter revenues and earnings, citing strong domestic and international demand for its defense technologies. The Israeli defense company posted revenues of $2.0 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2025, up 21% from the same period last year. According to the company’s earnings release, GAAP […] The post Israeli defense giant reports 21% revenue growth first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Israel’s Elbit Systems Ltd. announced it has secured a $1.635 billion contract to provide a broad range of advanced defense systems to an undisclosed European country. The contract, set to run over five years, encompasses long-range precision strike capabilities, unmanned aerial systems, and state-of-the-art intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) technologies. According to the […] The post Israel’s Elbit wins $1.6B deal from undisclosed European buyer first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Mack Defense will continue building the U.S. Army’s M917A3 Heavy Dump Truck under a new five-year contract worth up to $221.8 million for as many as 450 vehicles. The award, finalized on June 24, 2025, follows the completion of the company’s initial 2018 contract and comes just three months after Mack marked the rollout of […] The post U.S. Army to receive more heavy dump trucks first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

A critical navigation component used in Shahed-series attack drones is now openly available for purchase on a major Chinese e-commerce platform, according to Ukrainian electronic warfare specialist Serhiy Beskrestnov, widely known by his callsign “Serhiy Flesh.” Beskrestnov wrote that a Chinese-made, 11-element anti-jamming antenna — long identified as a core part of the Shahed’s guidance […] The post Shahed drone navigation brain now sells online first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Lithuania’s government is preparing to allocate €461 million ($540 million) for an advance payment on its planned acquisition of German-made Leopard 2 main battle tanks, according to a draft proposal registered by the Finance Ministry on Monday. The funds will be borrowed by the state to finance the first stage of the program. Minister of […] The post Lithuania sets $540M advance for Leopard 2 tank purchase first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

The Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) has released the first images of its newly acquired Dassault Rafale. The aircraft, a two-seat Rafale B carrying tail number T-0301, represents the first of 42 jets ordered by Indonesia under a 2022 contract with Dassault Aviation. According to TNI AU, the photographs were taken in Mérignac, France, where […] The post Indonesia unveils first Rafale fighter jet first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Ukraine has released detailed footage for the first time showing Army Aviation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces intercepting Russian Shahed-type loitering munitions during nighttime operations. The video highlights a coordinated air defense tactic in which helicopter formations intercept enemy drones during recent large-scale night attacks. In the operations shown, a pair of helicopters takes off […] The post Ukrainian helicopters hunt Shahed drones in night operations first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article