• Defence Notes

  Cubic selected to enhance F-35 fighter jet ACTS

  7th January 2015

  Lockheed Martin Aeronautics has awarded Cubic Corporation a series of contracts for creating and adding enhancements to the Air Combat Training System (ACTS) of its …

• Digital Battlespace

  US Army focuses on sensor research for situational awareness

  7th January 2015

  US Army scientists and engineers are advancing sensor technology research to enhance the situational awareness of soldiers in the battlefield. The army reported the latest …

• Digital Battlespace

  Second BMD radar for Japan

  7th January 2015

  The US has deployed a second X-band Raytheon AN/TPY-2 radar system to Japan. The US DoD announced on 29 December that the radar, which is …

• Defence Helicopter

  Russia accelerates rotorcraft fleet renewal

  6th January 2015

  Around 135 new helicopters were delivered to the Russian military in 2014, as the country continues a wide-ranging modernisation of its rotorcraft fleet. The majority …

• Military Logistics

  K2 Energy wins electromagnetic rail gun contract

  6th January 2015

  The electromagnetic rail gun in development for the US Navy will be powered by an intermediate energy storage battery system to be supplied by K2 …

• Land Warfare

  Logos Technologies to continue motorcycle development

  6th January 2015

  Logos Technologies has received funding to continue development of the SilentHawk military motorcycle under a DARPA Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award announced …

• Land Warfare

  Nammo receives US military IDIQ M27 contract

  6th January 2015

  Nammo Talley will supply the M72 Light Assault Weapon (LAW) to the US military under a four-year indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract announced on …

• Military Logistics

  SNC awarded US Army MOTS follow-on contract

  5th January 2015

  Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) will supply five AN/TSQ-135 Mobile Tower Systems (MOTS) to the US Army under a $17 million follow-on Low Rate Initial Production …

• Land Warfare

  BAE wins US Army AMPV

  2nd January 2015

  The US Army’s Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) programme has gone to BAE Systems after a long fought campaign against rival General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS). …

• Military Logistics

  MQ-8C Fire Scout flies from US Navy destroyer

  30th December 2014

  The MQ-8C Fire Scout UAS has flown from the US Navy guided-missile destroyer, USS Jason Dunham, off the Virginia coast on 16 December, Northrop Grumman …

• Land Warfare

  General Dynamics to continue Saudi Abrams upgrades

  30th December 2014

  General Dynamics Land Systems will continue work to upgrade M1A1 and M1A2 tanks to the Saudi M1A2 (M1A2S) configuration for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia …

• Digital Battlespace

  JLENS deployed on US East Coast

  29th December 2014

  The US Army has deployed a complete JLENS system on the East Coast of the US for the first time, Raytheon announced on 27 December. …

• Digital Battlespace

  First test flight for KC-46 Tanker a success

  29th December 2014

  The US Air Force’s KC-46 Tanker programme has reached a significant milestone, with the first test flight conducted from Paine Field, Washington, on 28 December. The …

• Land Warfare

  Raytheon to supply Patriot systems to Qatar

  24th December 2014

  Raytheon will produce fire units of the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System for the State of Qatar as part of a US government foreign …

• Military Logistics

  General Dynamics NASSCO awarded MLP AFSB contract

  24th December 2014

  General Dynamics NASSCO has been awarded a contract by the US Navy for the detail design and construction of the Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) Afloat …

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 ...