Old radar types never die; they just phased array! Aerospace, Defense & NatSec related content. No tip jar. I buy my own coffee.
Joined March 2023
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PSA: OSINT is geolocating a tank from satellite imagery or scrubbing hundreds of public documents for relevant facts. SLOPINT (Scraped, Lifted, Other-people's Posts as INTelligence) involves scrolling some 400 follower account on social media, bookmarking or screenshotting their post, and filing it as your own reporting or throwing their content into a monetized youtube video. Two very different jobs.
In the end, the USAF’s 2020 decision to drop HCSW for the AGM-183A ARRW (high L/D boost glide) and AHM-4A HACM (Mach 5+ scramjet) looks validated. ARRW has cleared testing and entered production, and HACM has begun flight testing in 🇦🇺.
But ARRW reaches operational units 10 years after development contract award. HACM will do better, but still 6-8 years in the best case.
Among the new entrants in high-speed weapons, the promise of faster entry to service comes on the back of a much simpler weapon system. Even then, a formal production decision (not OTAs or leave-behind capabilities from operational prototyping contracts) is still a TBD.
Fielding ARRW enhances our ability to hold targets at risk anywhere around the world. This hypersonic weapon provides the Joint Force a flexible and rapid response option for highly contested environments. af.mil/News/Article-Display/…
"USS Ted Stevens is the fourth commissioned U.S. Navy ship to carry a SPY-6 radar, and one among many more in assembly and trials. That figure is expected to rise to more than 50 in the next decade. The radar’s variants are being fielded across the fleet and validated on land and at sea. Their testing record includes successful live-fire events on the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), and they are on track to complete 60 live firings in operational testing in 2027" ~ Raytheon
Raytheon has built a production infrastructure specifically for the radars, including an investment of more than $800 million in its manufacturing facility in Andover, Massachusetts. SPY-6 is in full-rate production today, with plans to double production rates by 2028. rtx.com/news/2026/10/07/spy-…
Interesting timing given ARRW was likely flight tested earlier this month.
Air Force Launches ARRW, Its First Hypersonic Weapon, into Production
airandspaceforces.com/air-fo…
Navigational Warnings have appeared that might be for an #ARRW hypersonic #missile test in the Pt Mugu range, Oct 19-21.
Two other NavWarnings (red in map) might or might not be related.
@nukestrat @planet4589 @wslafoy @Etienne_Marcuz
Air-Power | NatSec Ledger retweeted
Stingray is making moves.
The second MQ-25A moved from St. Louis to MidAmerica Airport 📍@BLVairport, where it will undergo final assembly before beginning ground testing.
"When fired from a HIMARS launcher, PrSM Increment 4 is expected to hit both moving maritime and relocatable land targets at least 1,000 km away. Lockheed Martin was down selected to fund the development, testing and field readiness of the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) Increment 4 design through flyoff competitions scheduled in 2027 and 2028.Lockheed Martin's design leverages a ramjet propulsion solution as well as battle-proven PrSM guidance and control subsystems to extend the reach of baseline PrSM"~ Lockheed Martin
The existing Camden, Arkansas, manufacturing hub, which spans 64 million square feet, currently produces Increment 1 and Increment 2 and can integrate Increment 4 production to achieve economies of scale for all versions of the missile.
lockheedmartin.com/en-us/new…
Air-Power | NatSec Ledger retweeted
It’s a remarkable coincidence that SpaceX discovered and closed a “loophole” in a way that severely harmed Ukraine in the very same week that the White House had a dispute with Ukraine. Just astonishing luck that SpaceX lawyers got to the issue at the very same time by chance!
Correct.
Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be.
Starshield, a different system, is controlled by the US government. What they decide to do is up to them.
Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week.
Starlink remains critical to the defense of Ukraine, as it is the only system that cannot be jammed or blown up, at least for now. Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately. This is NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact.
Starlink was also crucial to preventing Russia from overrunning Ukraine in the early days of the war, as all other means of communication were destroyed or jammed by Russia.
SpaceX has done more to defend Ukraine than any private company on Earth BY FAR.
That said, I have nothing but UTTER CONTEMPT for the virtue-signaling evil warmongers who push for endless slaughter and offer no realistic solution to the conflict. May you burn in hell.
End of story.
Air-Power | NatSec Ledger retweeted
Ah yes, the poor Russian conscripts who sign contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry to kill Ukrainians for money. Truly the victims we should all be feeling sorry for
It’s good to target 80 percent of ‘sixth gen’ capability at half the cost. But what if the customer only wants 50 percent of the capability at one third the cost?
Lockheed Martin CEO targets 80% of sixth-generation fighter capability in upgraded F-35 share.google/IwHkyAaBooJczxN…
Singularity has completed static fire of an advanced solid rocket motor (SRM) developed under a CRADA with the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD). The static fire test validates a motor design that will underpin Singularity's forthcoming interceptor systems, which the company has yet to unveil in full ~ Singularity Defense
Singularity emerged from stealth in July 2026, aimed at one of the most consequential engineering problems the U.S. and its allies face: deploying low-cost air defense systems at scale singularityus.com/post/singu…
"The U.S. Navy has awarded Ursa Major two separate contracts, totaling $137 million, funded through the Office of the Under Secretary of War (OUSW), to develop and qualify advanced tactical solid rocket motors for the Compact Air-to-Air Missile (CAAM) program and the Naval Modular Missile (NMM) program.
For CAAM, an air-launched missile for current and next-generation aircraft, Ursa Major is designing a high-performance compact, low-cost 7-inch solid rocket motor designed to achieve performance requirements inside a tight volume and at low unit cost using Highly Loaded Grain.
Ursa Major will also support the NMM medium-range variant by providing a 10-inch solid rocket motor designed for high-rate production and compatibility with existing Navy shipboard launch systems. The effort is aimed at delivering an operational motor that meets Navy performance and safety requirements while supporting high annual production volumes. ~ Ursa Major 🔗👇
"The awards leverage Ursa Major’s Lynx manufacturing approach, expanding energetics production capacity and applying advanced additive manufacturing techniques to deliver tactical motors that can be produced at scale" ursamajor.com/media/press-re…
"The designs of the F/A-XX that were in competition combined some eye watering survivability characteristics..You can optimize an airframe for RF defense or optimize the airframe for IR (LWIR or MWIR) defense..what these competitors did inside of the Northrop Grumman design and inside the Boeing design is that they built an airplane that can survive in both regimes. And if you make it big enough and you carry enough fuel and you design it correctly it is also very fast" ~ Rear Adm. Mike “Nasty” Manazir (retd) Defense &Aerospace Report Air Power Podcast (Oct. 22, 2026)
Full Listen:
defaeroreport.com/2026/10/22…
Surprised the USAF hasn’t invested in a BRU-61/A-compatible C-UAS weapon in the GBU-53/B form factor. A cheaper JAGM-F, or a Next Gen CUAS or rocket-powered Coyote derivative, would be highly effective against jet-powered Group 3/4 UAS and subsonic cruise missiles. 3-4 such weapons can be purchased for a single AIM-9X allowing tens of thousands to be fielded over time.
Many would point to the JAGM-F being north of $200K or even $300K, and that may be true depending on quantities and service acquiring the weapon. But it’s not a CUAS effector, even though it can perform that role. A CUAS effector in that form factor can easily meet the Gen CUAS’s $150K objective All Up Round cost, enabling tens of thousands of AURs to be produced to complement cheaper effectors like the FALCO/APKWS II etc.