• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Close calls with UAVs rise in 2015

  17th August 2015

  The number of airplane and helicopter pilots reporting close calls with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the US is rising sharply as the unauthorised use …

• Land Warfare

  Lockheed Martin works on missile defence

  17th August 2015

  Lockheed Martin has started working on defining the concept of a Multi-Object Kill Vehicle missile defence system for the US Missile Defense Agency, the company …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Further 3D printed UAV trials possible

  14th August 2015

  The recent trials of 3D printed UAVs being launched off a UK Royal Navy warship could be extended to include recovery at sea operations. Last …

• Training

  Camber for USAF simulation

  14th August 2015

  Camber has been awarded a five-year contract worth $135 million by the US government to provide modelling and simulation and Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Taiwan’s Uaver taps global market

  14th August 2015

  Uaver, the largest maker of commercial UAVs in Taiwan, is expanding its global reach in an agreement with US-based Navmar Applied Sciences Corporation (NASC).  The …

• Digital Battlespace

  MUOS-4 set for launch

  14th August 2015

  Lockheed Martin’s fourth Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite for the US Navy, MUOS-4, has been encapsulated in its launch vehicle ahead of its launch …

• Digital Battlespace

  DRS earns three naval contracts

  14th August 2015

  DRS Technologies has been awarded three contracts for programmes serving a range of Royal Australian Navy and US Navy ships, the company announced on 10 …

• Digital Battlespace

  DLS receives US MIDS-LVT order

  14th August 2015

  Data Link Solutions (DLS) has been awarded a contract by the US Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command to supply Multifunctional Information Distribution System …

• Land Warfare

  UK increases training for Ukraine

  14th August 2015

  Joint UK-Ukrainian exercises have started this week bolstering western assistance to the eastern European state in its continuing battle with separatists. UK defence secretary, Michael …

• Defence Helicopter

  US Army extends Apache sensors

  14th August 2015

  Lockheed Martin has been awarded a Lot 4 follow-on contract by the US Army to continue Modernized Day Sensor Assembly (M-DSA) production for the AH-64E …

• Defence Helicopter

  Ukraine looks to updated Hueys

  13th August 2015

  Ukraine is in discussions with a group of US investors to set up a domestic facility for the remanufacture of Bell UH-1 utility helicopters for …

• Digital Battlespace

  GD to support US BICES-X

  13th August 2015

  General Dynamics Information Technology will deliver enterprise IT services to the US Battlefield Information Collection and Exploitation Systems Extended (BICES-X) programme under a contract announced …

• Digital Battlespace

  Raytheon bags comms testing deal

  13th August 2015

  Raytheon has been awarded a contract for the certification and testing of an upgrade to the AN/ARC-231 Multi-Mode Communications System by the US Army, the …

• Naval Warfare

  BAE to upgrade Mk 45 naval guns

  13th August 2015

  BAE Systems has been awarded a contract by the US Navy to overhaul and upgrade Mk 45 naval gun systems on the US Navy Destroyer …

• Military Logistics

  US extends Raytheon JPALS programme

  13th August 2015

  Raytheon’s Engineering, Manufacturing and Development contract on the Joint Precision Approach Landing Systems (JPALS) programme has been extended by the US Navy, the company announced …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - small

  Puma 3 AE (Ukraine Aid) [US]

  Programme Background Military Aid - $300 Million On 1 April 2022, the US DoD announced a $300 million military aid package for Ukraine to "bolster Urkaine's capacity ...

• MPVs - 4x4

  M1165 Special Ops HMMWV [USA]

  Background The HHMWV, or Humvee, has been in US service since 1983. The M1165A1B3 is a special operations variant of the platform.  In 2015, the US ...

• Loitering munitions

  Switchblade 300 (Ukraine Aid) [US]

  Programme Background Presidential Drawdown (16 March 2022 & 13 April 2022) On 16 March 2022, President Biden announced $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine through ...

• Loitering munitions

  Point Blank [US]

  Programme Background As IAI stated in a 19 January 2023 press release, it had been awarded a multi-million-dollar contract by the Irregular Warfare Technical Support ...

• Loitering munitions

  Switchblade 600 (Ukraine Aid) [US]

  Programme Background $300 Million USAI (1 April 2022) On 1 April 2022, the US DoD announced a $300 million military aid package for Ukraine following ...

• Military UAS - mini

  Puma LE [Kosovo]

  Background Contract Award On 21 January 2022, the US Department of Defence (DoD) announced that AeroVironment had been awarded an $11.01 million firm-fixed contract for Puma ...

• Loitering munitions

  ALTIUS-600M (Ukraine Aid) [US]

  Programme Background On 24 February 2023, the US DoD announced that the Biden Administration had released an additional aid package under the Ukraine Security Assistance ...

• MPVs - 4x4

  M1152A1B2/M1165A1B3 HMMWV [USA]

  Background The HMMWV has been in US service since the 1980s. Despite the introduction of newer platforms, the US DoD continues to utilise the platform ...

• MPVs - 4x4

  M1165A1B3 HMMWV [USA]

  Background The HMMWV has been in US service since the 1980s. Despite the introduction of newer platforms, the US DoD continues to utilise the platform ...

• Loitering munitions

  Phoenix Ghost (Ukraine Aid) [US]

  Background Presidential Drawdown Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, on 21 April 2022, President Biden announced an $800 million Presidential Drawdown security ...

• Loitering munitions

  Lethal Unmanned Systems (LUS): Switchblade [US]

  Background DoD Contract On 27 August 2024, the US DoD announced that AeroVironment had been awarded a ceiling $990 million hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price) contract to provide “an ...

• Military UAS - small

  Puma 2 AE [Estonia]

  Programme Background The US DoD announced that it had awarded AeroVironment an $8.868 million firm-fixed-price contract to supply an undisclosed number of RQ-20B Puma AE ...

• Transport/tanker aircraft

  KC-46A (3-6) [Japan]

  On 30 October 2020, the US DoD announced that it awarded a $342 million contract to Boeing for two Japanese KC-46A tanker aircraft. Work will be performed ...

• APCs/IFVs - 8x8

  ACV-30 PRTV [USA]

  Background The Armoured Combat Vehicle (ACV) programme is intended to provide a replacement for the USMC's fleet of Amphibious Assault Vehicle 7 (AAV7) tracked vehicles. ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  XQ-58A Valkyrie [USMC]

  Programme Background Contract Award On 30 December 2022, the US DoD announced that it had awarded Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems a $15.52 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Pistols

  M9

  M9 is the US DoD designation for the military-specification 9mm Beretta 92FS, selected in 1985 to replace the 45cal M1911A1 in US service. Sales to ...

• Man-portable missile systems

  Igla/SA-18

  The 9K38 Igla (US DoD designation SA-18, NATO reporting name Grouse ) IR-homing MANPADS was developed by KBM and entered service in 1983 to meet the requirements ...

• Loitering munitions

  Point Blank

  Point Blank Weapon System is a hand-launched electro-optical VTOL-capable loitering munition developed by Isreal Aerospace Industries (IAI). IAI has been awarded a contract by the US ...

• Military UAS - small

  ScanEagle 3

  Insitu unveiled the ScanEagle 3 at the Xponential exhibition in Denver in May 2018. The platform has twice the payload capacity of its ScanEagle predecessor ...

• Land: Radio and SATCOM

  BAT-850

  Pathfinder's BAT-850 VSAT is a carbon fibre, tri-band terminal with auto-acquisition capability. Suitable for flyaway (case-based) and vehicle-mounted applications, it is in service with the ...

• Land: Radio and SATCOM

  URC-300

  The URC-300 is a software-defined radio designed for line-of-sight, ground-to-air communications in particular. Introduced in 2020, it adheres to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards as well ...

• Air: aerial targets

  BQM-177A/i

  The BQM-177A subsonic aerial target (SSAT) was designed for the USN, and the BQM-177i is the export variant. The BQM-177 provides realistic threat emulation for ...

• Land: Radio and SATCOM

  Banshee Tactical Radio

  Developed by Fenix Group, the Banshee Tactical Radio (BTR) is a communications system that uses 4G/LTE connectivity to provide secure mesh networking capability on the ...

• Crew-served grenade launchers

  Striker 40/MK47

  General Dynamics is systems integrator for the Striker 40 (MK47 AGL in US service). The complete system comprises the weapon, AN/PWG-1 Lightweight Video Sight and ...

• Air: Radio and SATCOM

  AN/ARC-231 Skyfire

  The AN/ARC-231 Skyfire is an airborne VHF/UHF/LOS and DAMA SATCOM system. This system supports US DoD requirements for airborne, multi-band, multi-mission, secure anti-jam voice, data ...

• Air-to-air missiles

  9M39 Igla-V

  The 9M39 Igla-V (‘needle’) is a Russian IR homing SAM adapted for helicopter use. It is an air-launched version of the Igla MANPADS, which the ...

• Military UAS - HALE

  Global Observer

  The AeroVironment Global Observer HALE UAV was a developmental HALE UAV designed for various civil, commercial and government applications.  Development of the platform began in 2007 ...

• Directed energy weapons

  CLWS

  Developed by Boeing, Compact Laser Weapon System (CLWS or CLaWS) is a medium-range, low-power laser C-UAS system. According to the reports, the CLWS prototype has ...

• Weapon sights for day use

  CompM4/M4s

  The US DoD has bought over one million Aimpoint sights since 1997. The US Army is now fielding the CompM4s as the latest version of ...

• Data links, Land: Radio and SATCOM, UAS: communication systems

  QNT-200

  The Collins QNT-200 is a dual-channel software-defined radio (SDR) designed for size, weight and power-constrained platforms. Using IP-based mesh networks, it offers high-bandwidth mobile networking ...