• Uncrewed Vehicles

  USAF RQ-4 Global Hawk expands operational area

  15th August 2014

  The US Air Force has expanded the operational area of its RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle into the Pacific to support US Pacific Command …

• Land Warfare

  Vehicle-based laser weapons inch toward reality

  14th August 2014

  Raytheon will conduct work to develop a vehicle-based laser weapon device under an $11 million contract announced on 13 August. The work will be carried …

• Digital Battlespace

  MUOS connects Manpack radios 2,000 miles apart

  14th August 2014

  A General Dynamic C4 Systems demonstration has shown that two AN/PRC-155 two-channel Manpack radios located 2,000 miles apart were able to successfully connect via Mobile …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Development cycle continues for Taiwan's 'Reaper'

  14th August 2014

  Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) is in the process of evaluating a secretive, long range UAV copied from the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, Shephard …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Remotec to upgrade US military EOD robots

  13th August 2014

  Remotec will repair and upgrade 103 MK3 Series Remote Ordnance Neutralizations Systems (RONS) for the US Navy under an $8.8 million contract announced on 13 …

• Digital Battlespace

  Boeing set to offer surveillance aircraft to international market

  13th August 2014

  Boeing’s Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (EMARSS) Risk Reduction Prototype (ERRP) aircraft has received Supplemental Type Certification (STC) from the US Federal Aviation …

• Defence Helicopter

  Rotorcraft heavyweights selected for JMR TD phase

  13th August 2014

  In a widely anticipated move, the US Army has chosen Bell Helicopter and Sikorsky-Boeing to build demonstrators for the Joint Multi-Role - Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) …

• Land Warfare

  LSSA acquisition to boost Denel

  12th August 2014

  Denel stands to boost its land systems design and manufacturing capability following BAE’s announcement of an agreement to sell its Land Systems South Africa (LSSA) …

• Land Warfare

  BAE to sell South African business to Denel

  11th August 2014

  BAE Systems’ Land Systems South Africa (LSSA) business is to be sold to Denel for 855 million Rand ($80.2 million) in the fourth quarter of …

• Digital Battlespace

  Cubic to operate Korea Battle Simulation Center

  11th August 2014

  Cubic Applications will operate the Korea Battle Simulation Center (KBSC) for the US Army to provide battle simulation training support to the United States Forces …

• Military Logistics

  DRS wins Halvorsen aircraft loader support contract

  8th August 2014

  DRS Technologies will support the US Air Force’s fleet of Halvorsen 25K Aircraft Cargo Loaders under a new contract announced on 6 August. The ten-year …

• Naval Warfare

  Northrop Grumman receives Arleigh Burke-class systems orders

  7th August 2014

  Northrop Grumman will provide integrated bridge and navigation systems and steering gear systems as part of efforts to modernisation the US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided …

• Naval Warfare

  US Navy’s P-8A Poseidon fleet grows

  7th August 2014

  The US Navy has taken delivery of its 15th Boeing-built P-8A Poseidon aircraft at Naval Air Station Jacksonville on schedule, the company reported on 6 …

• Defence Helicopter

  USMC pushes Japan’s V-22 purchase

  7th August 2014

  Delegates from the United States Marine Corps (USMC) have met with Japan’s senior military leaders to advance plans to supply V-22 Osprey tiltrotors to the …

• Digital Battlespace

  Northrop Grumman to continue BACN mission support

  7th August 2014

  Northrop Grumman will continue operating and supporting the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) system for overseas contingency missions for the US Air Force under an …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, 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 ...

• Fighter - multirole

  F-35A Joint Strike Fighter - USAF

  Background The programme’s early competitive phase included three different airframe designs. Boeing submitted one design, Lockheed Martin submitted another, and McDonnell Douglas submitted a third ...

• 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 ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing

  BQM-177A [US Navy]

  Background Previous Purchases The BQM-177A was designed for the USN and has been in service with the USN for many years. Indeed, in August 2022, Shephard reported ...

• 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 ...

• Loitering munitions

  Phoenix Ghost (Ukraine Aid) [US]

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

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, 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 ...

• Military helicopters - maritime

  MH-60R Seahawk (India)

  Programme Background On 25 February 2020, a letter of acceptance for 24 MH-60Rs, worth approximately $2.12 billion, was signed by India and the US in Delhi. ...

• 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 - fixed-wing, 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 ...

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 ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, 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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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, Military UAS - fixed-wing

  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 - fixed-wing, 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 ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  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 ...

• Heavy machine guns

  M2HB

  US Ordnance is one of two US M2HB heavy machine gun manufacturers which has received multi-year contracts to supply weapons to the US DoD. The ...