• Digital Battlespace

  Northrop radars for Taiwan F-16s

  5th February 2015

  Northrop Grumman will provide 142 APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) systems to Lockheed Martin for Taiwan Air Force F-16s, the company announced on 2 …

• Digital Battlespace

  General Dynamics DMRs receive software upgrades

  5th February 2015

  General Dynamics has been upgrading its Digital Modular Radios (DMRs) with high-frequency dynamic routing software, the company announced on 4 February. This upgrade will turn …

• Digital Battlespace

  US budget: Key space programmes overhauled

  5th February 2015

  As the space domain becomes increasingly contested and adversaries beef up their space capabilities, the US military wants to accelerate space-based surveillance programmes and also …

• Military Logistics

  GE to support F110, F101, F108 engines

  5th February 2015

  GE Aviation has won a five-year contract from the US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) for the support of F110, F101 and F118 engines, the company …

• Defence Helicopter

  Sikorsky begins S-97 Raider ground tests

  5th February 2015

  Sikorsky Aircraft has begun bladed ground testing for its S-97 Raider armed reconnaissance rotorcraft, the company announced on 4 February. This marks a major milestone …

• Defence Notes

  Virtual training to avert readiness crisis

  5th February 2015

  Increased use of virtual training will assist the US military avert a readiness crisis as well as reduce costs by an estimated $1.7 billion over …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Northrop to begin South Korea Global Hawk production

  5th February 2015

  Northrop Grumman will start production of RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for the South Korean Air Force, the company announced on 2 February. …

• Defence Helicopter

  US Black Hawks to get Thales i-FMS200

  5th February 2015

  Northrop Grumman has selected Thales to supply its i-FMS200 flight management software for the US Army's UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters, the latter announced on 4 …

• Land Warfare

  US budget: land systems stabilise

  4th February 2015

  After years of ups and downs the ground procurement budget for the US military has achieved some stability. The US Army, which will receive the …

• Defence Helicopter

  Boeing signs support contract for US aircraft

  4th February 2015

  Boeing signed the second phase of a contract for providing support for 11 aircraft with the US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the company announced on …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  US Budget: Spending decline on major UAS ends

  4th February 2015

  The FY 2016 budget request shows that the decline in spending on major unmanned aerial systems may have come to a halt. The proposed budget …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  US Budget: Fielding date of UCLASS pushed to 2023

  4th February 2015

  The US Navy’s carrier-based UAV programme has been given an extra three years for development, according to a navy budget official at the briefing of …

• Defence Helicopter

  Vietnam grounds veteran UH-1 fleet

  4th February 2015

  The Vietnamese military grounded its entire Bell UH-1 Iroquois fleet after the crash of an example on 28 January. The craft had taken off from …

• Naval Warfare

  Northrop to deliver two LCS mission packages

  3rd February 2015

  The US Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract to deliver two additional Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) mission packages, the company announced on 2 February. …

• Defence Helicopter

  US budget: Army dares Congress to blink first

  3rd February 2015

  The US Army has placed itself firmly on a collision course with Congress over its controversial aviation restructure initiative (ARI). Essentially making the argument that …

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 ...