HG S2 (Intel Bot)

India has selected Shield AI to supply V-BAT unmanned aircraft and autonomy software to the Indian Army, confirming a new defense procurement focused on autonomous intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations. According to Shield AI, the agreement includes delivery of V-BAT vertical takeoff and landing drones along with licenses for the company’s Hivemind autonomy software, which […]View the full article

Russia delivered military products to more than 30 countries in 2025 and earned over $15 billion in foreign currency revenue from arms exports, President Vladimir Putin said on January 30 during a meeting of the Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation with foreign states. Speaking at the session, Putin said Russia’s system of military-technical cooperation continued to […]View the full article

The United States has deployed six EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft to the Middle East as part of a new force movement linked to preparations for a possible strike on Iran, according to open-source flight tracking data and regional air activity observed this week. The U.S. Navy Growlers departed from Naval Air Station Oceana in […]View the full article

According to Ukrainian authorities, Russian forces in recent weeks began using attack drones equipped with Starlink terminals to conduct strikes against military targets inside Ukraine. The issue was raised urgently with SpaceX after Russian drones using satellite connectivity were detected operating over Ukrainian cities. Ukraine’s Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov said the defense team contacted […]View the full article

The United States has approved a possible $9.0 billion Foreign Military Sale to Saudi Arabia for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement missiles, with the Defense Security Cooperation Agency formally notifying Congress on January 30. According to the State Department determination, Saudi Arabia has requested the purchase of 730 PAC-3 MSE interceptor missiles along with […]View the full article

The United States has awarded Boeing a contract valued at up to $2.81 billion to upgrade F-15K fighter aircraft operated by the Republic of Korea Air Force, according to a contract announcement released this week. The undefinitized contract was issued to Boeing in St. Louis, Missouri, and covers the design and development of an integrated […]View the full article

The United States State Department has approved a possible $1.98 billion Foreign Military Sale to Israel for Joint Light Tactical Vehicles and related equipment, with the Defense Security Cooperation Agency formally notifying Congress on January 30. According to the notification, Israel has requested to purchase 3,250 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs) in multiple variants, including […]View the full article

The United States Navy’s first operational MQ-25A Stingray unmanned aircraft has completed its first autonomous taxi test, Boeing Defense confirmed on January 30. According to the company, the MQ-25A taxied from Boeing’s new production facility in Mascoutah, Illinois, to the taxiway at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport after air vehicle pilots initiated the movement from the […]View the full article

The United States Air Force has begun moving combat search and rescue (CSAR) aircraft from the United States toward Europe and the Middle East, according to flight activity reported by intelligence analyst Oliver Alexander. Alexander reported that two HC-130J Combat King II aircraft departed from Patrick Space Force Base in Florida, while a C-17 Globemaster […]View the full article

NATO conducted coordinated aerial surveillance flights over the Black Sea near the coast of Crimea and Russia’s Krasnodar region on January 28, with U.S. and British reconnaissance aircraft operating in international airspace, according to open flight-tracking data and publicly available monitoring imagery. The activity involved a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and a […]View the full article

Elmer Royce Williams, Captain, USN (Ret.). Every Naval officer should know his name, but few do. He was born in 1925, and he is still with us. What a story. Imagine you are just your standard-issue U.S. Navy fleet Lieutenant in your late 20s. You missed the big war, but you are ear deep in the next one, the Korean War. You know, on paper at least, you are flying a plane outclassed by your opponent. Doesn’t matter. Then one day you find yourself facing not just a better aircraft—but outnumbered by them. To make it even worse, you find out after the merge that you are not facing the JV team, but the varsity. Before it is all said and done, you finish what has been called, "one of the greatest feats in aviation history", but there is a twist. The dogfight was scrubbed from U.S. Navy and National Security Agency records, and Williams was sworn to secrecy about the incident—so much so that he never told anyone about it, not even his wife nor his pilot brother, until the Korean War records were declassified in 2002. A year after the dogfight, you were given a Silver Star on the down-low. No one is allowed to know about it until half a century later. You complete a full Navy career, including two tours flying combat missions over Vietnam followed by at sea command and then retirement as a Captain. But, once word got out… There has been a years-long campaign to award Williams the Medal of Honor for his exploit. In 2014, retired Rear Admiral Doniphan Shelton became aware of Williams’s feat, and he tried unsuccessfully for years to get the Navy or Department of Defense to recommend him for the medal. He said that Williams’s heroism was “unmatched either in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, or since then”.[11] On 14 July 2022, a bipartisan group of five congressmembers persuaded the House of Representatives to approve an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act which would waive the statute of limitations for a potential Medal of Honor for Williams. The amendment and bill were approved for the House version of the bill, which were then forwarded to the United States Senate, which removed the provision in conference.[12][7][13] In 2021, one veteran who helped Shelton with his quest believed that there was still only a 75 percent chance of the medal being awarded; the key problem is that the dogfight is not recorded in official U.S. records.[3] In December 2022 Williams was awarded the Navy Cross as an upgrade of the Silver Star the Navy awarded him in 1953.[14] The award was approved by U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, who said, “Having reviewed the findings of now numerous investigations related to the case of Capt. Royce Williams, I have determined this case to be special and extraordinary. His actions clearly distinguished himself during a high-risk mission and deserve proper recognition.”[15] Get a fresh cup of coffee, close the door, and turn up the volume. 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

The United States has awarded Raytheon a $197 million contract to deliver MS-110 Multispectral Reconnaissance Systems to the Polish Air Force, the company announced on January 28. According to Raytheon, an RTX business, the contract was issued by the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and covers production of seven MS-110 reconnaissance pods, aircraft […]View the full article

The United States Army has awarded Raytheon a $1.03 billion contract modification to continue production of the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS), according to a contract announcement released this week. The modification covers Year Two production requirements for the LTAMDS program and brings the total cumulative value of the contract to $1,025,100,000. […]View the full article

The United States State Department has approved a possible $1.7 billion Foreign Military Sale to Spain for the mid-life upgrade of its F-100 frigates, with Congress formally notified by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, U.S. officials reported. According to the notification, Spain requested equipment and services to modernize five AEGIS-equipped frigates operated by the Spanish […]View the full article

Belarus has received a new batch of Su-30SM2 fighter jets, with the aircraft arriving at one of the country’s airbases, the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus announced on January 29. According to the ministry, the newly delivered fighters are part of ongoing rearmament of the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense Forces. […]View the full article

Russia’s state defense conglomerate Rostec confirmed it will present a range of advanced military systems at the World Defense Show 2026 in Saudi Arabia. The exhibition will include the BTR-22 armored personnel carrier, the Ballista remote-controlled combat module, the Planshet-A/Atlet artillery fire-control system, the Volk (Wolf) armored vehicle and the 300mm Sarma multiple launch rocket […]View the full article

At the end of the decade, our last two submarine tenders (AS) will be decommissioned after a half-century of service. This summer, at the last possible moment (natch), we found out what the next step would be. The US Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded General Dynamics NASSCO of San Diego a US$72.66 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification to a previously awarded contract to support the US Navy’s AS(X)-class submarine tender next generation design maturation. The DOD said there will also be a US$27.26 million option for additional design maturation efforts, which, if exercised, could bring the cumulative value of this contract modification to US$99.92 million. In theory, these are supposed to be one-for-one replacements. I think that is unwise. Two AS are barely adequate for peacetime operations. There is no flex there for wartime operations, much less for possible loss to enemy action. At a minimum, we should have a third. And…well…the Front Porch knows where I am going here. The CNO is reminding everyone why bringing back SIMA is so important. You know what would fit perfectly with that theme of fixing the mistakes of the accountants of the past, focus on warfighting, and all that good stuff? Bring back the Destroyer Tender (AD). As I reminded everyone a bit over a year ago, I have wanted destroyer tenders back in the fleet for decades. We should have four: one in the Med, one in Guam, one in Hawaii, and one on the East Coast (hey, reopen Roosevelt Roads for good and base her there as a way to support our focus on the Western Hemisphere, etc). We have a new tender funded…let’s leverage that new hull. As our friends at Naval News reports - General Dynamics is ready to go. General Dynamics NASSCO unveiled its internally developed concept for an AD(X) destroyer tender at the Surface Navy Association’s National Symposium in Washington last week, pitching the ship class as a near-identical ship to the AS(X) submarine tender NASSCO is building for the U.S. Navy. … The destroyer tender concept is based on the AS(X) submarine tender hull which NASSCO is on contract to deliver in coming years. … The destroyer tender, unlike AS(X), is an internal NASSCO effort. “You can take a submarine tender. It’s the same concept, same hull, and a big floating maintenance facility,” Hershman explained, justifying the reasoning behind NASSCO’s work. “If you wanted to, rather than make it two ships, you can make it a larger program.” Having a common hull across both ship designs can reduce costs and build experience with yard workers. Short programs with few ships comes with more risk and higher cost by laws of economic ordering quantities, but with more ships in a class—or in this case sub-classes, cost and risk can be reduced while adding shipyard experience, confidence, and resilience. I’m sorry, it makes too much sense. Three AS and four AD. Superb Captain Commands as well. Get building, people. The future is impatient. 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

South Korea has completed deployment of the second performance upgrade of its Army Tactical Command Information System (ATCIS), finalizing fielding of the modernized command-and-control network to frontline units, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced on January 26. According to DAPA, the upgrade program has been successfully concluded and the system is now fully operational […]View the full article

Spanish Air Force EF-18M fighter jets intercepted Russian combat aircraft flying near NATO airspace over the Baltic region in late January, as part of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission, according to Spain’s Defense Staff. The interception was carried out by F-18M aircraft from Spain’s Wing 15, currently deployed to Šiauliai Air Base in northern Lithuania […]View the full article

Japan and the United States confirmed plans to streamline Foreign Military Sales (FMS) procurement during a bilateral security meeting held in Tokyo on January 28, 2026, as both sides move to address long-standing delivery delays affecting Japan’s Self-Defense Forces. According to Japan’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency, Director General Aoyagi held the 10th Security Cooperation […]View the full article

Ukrainian forces have detected and destroyed several Russian soldiers wearing unusual snow camouflage suits known as “Penguin” during recent fighting, according to Ukrainian military sources and battlefield footage released this week. The 120th Territorial Defense Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that its fighters eliminated at least two Russian soldiers equipped with the […]View the full article

A London-based defense research and development company has revealed two new high-speed interceptor drone prototypes, expanding its portfolio of specialized counter-air systems, according to an exclusive statement provided to Defence Blog by company founder Aytekin Guclu. The London Defence R&D company introduced the two platforms, named Baby Raptor and Raptor XL, as part of its […]View the full article

United States Marines and Department of War contractors conducted flight operations with a V-BAT unmanned aerial system aboard the amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland (LPD 27) in the Pacific Ocean on Jan. 28, 2026, as part of ongoing integrated training with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. During the event, a V-BAT unmanned aerial system […]View the full article

The United States Navy has awarded Black Hills Ammunition Inc. a $28 million contract to produce 5.56mm reduced ricochet limited penetration MK255 MOD 1 ammunition, according to a contract announcement released this week. The award covers an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity agreement with work scheduled through January 2031. The contract was issued to the company’s facility in […]View the full article

One of the Patriot air defense systems operated by Ukraine’s Air Force has destroyed more than 140 Russian ballistic missiles, according to the Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi, citing the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The same system has intercepted nearly 250 aerial targets in total since entering combat service. According to the […]View the full article