• Defence Helicopter

  AH-6i helicopter flies in production configuration

  2nd May 2014

  The AH-6i light attack/reconnaissance helicopter in development with Boeing has taken its first flight in production configuration, the company announced on 1 May. The flight …

• Digital Battlespace

  Boeing announces naval SIGINT orders

  1st May 2014

  Boeing will supply its naval signals intelligence systems to the US Navy and British Royal Navy under new orders announced on 1 May. Work on …

• Defence Helicopter

  AW completes autorotation tests for AW609 tiltrotor

  1st May 2014

  AgustaWestland has successfully completed autorotation trials for its AW609 tiltrotor programme at the Arlington facility in Texas, it has been announced. The tests were carried …

• Military Logistics

  Cubic to continue British Army AWES support

  30th April 2014

  Cubic Defense Systems will continue support and repair work on the Area Weapons Effects Simulator (AWES) system at UK facilities in the UK and Canada. …

• Land Warfare

  US Marine Corps awards dismounted IED jammer contracts

  30th April 2014

  Northrop Grumman and Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) will supply dismounted improvised explosive device (IED) jammers to the US Marine Corps under contracts from the Marine …

• Land Warfare

  Lockheed Martin to supply first PAC-3 MSE missiles

  29th April 2014

  Lockheed Martin has received the first production order of the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) from the US Army Aviation and Missile Command, for the …

• Military Logistics

  Boeing awarded CSEL programme support contract

  28th April 2014

  Boeing will provide maintenance, engineering, training and support for the Combat Survivor Evader Locator (CSEL) programme under a new four-year $32.5 million contract from the …

• Defence Helicopter

  Northrop Grumman to supply FlightPro Gen III for H-1 programme

  28th April 2014

  Northrop Grumman will deliver FlightPro Gen III mission computers for H-1 helicopter programme flight tests, system integration laboratories and training. The company has received a …

• Digital Battlespace

  Experts highlight increased cyber threat over Crimea

  25th April 2014

  Territorial disputes between Russian and Ukraine over Crimea have led to an increase in cyber terrorism in the region and sparked debate on the ownership …

• Land Warfare

  Sabre Ballistics, Sydor Instruments team for US market

  25th April 2014

  Sydor Instruments has signed on to become the exclusive sales and applications partner for Sabre Ballistics in the US market. The agreement, announced 22 April, …

• Military Logistics

  General Dynamics awarded US Navy sealift contract

  24th April 2014

  General Dynamics American Overseas Marine (AMSEA) will continue to operate and maintain seven large, medium-speed, roll-on / roll-off ships (LMSR) for the Military Sealift Command …

• Defence Helicopter

  Sikorsky reports sales and profit growth

  24th April 2014

  Increased international and commercial sales have led to overall sales growth for Sikorsky after declining revenues for the division had a negative impact on parent …

• Naval Warfare

  Kongsberg awarded C4I CORTEX system contract

  23rd April 2014

  Kongsberg’s C4I CORTEX system will provide the C4I infrastructure solution for the Tactical Computer System onboard the Combatant Craft Medium Mark One (CCM Mk1) vessel …

• Defence Helicopter

  Optionally Piloted Black Hawk takes off

  23rd April 2014

  The Optionally Piloted Black Hawk (OPBH) demonstrator currently in development between Sikorsky and the US Army has completed a successful first flight at Sikorsky’s Development …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  iRobot receives UGV contract modification order

  22nd April 2014

  iRobot will supply the US Department of Defense (DoD) with additional Man Transportable Robotic Systems (MTRS) under an order announced on 15 April. The order, …

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 ...