• Defence Notes

  UDT Asia: Malaysia endures submarine unavailability

  11th January 2017

  The Royal Malaysian Navy is due to start the overhaul of its second Scorpene-class submarine KD Tun Razak in June.  This means that the RMN will …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Spain nears Predator B club membership

  10th January 2017

  Spain has moved a step closer to joining the Predator B club following an announcement by the US Department of Defense (DoD) of a more …

• Digital Battlespace

  EW Singapore: E-2D Hawkeye coming to Asia

  11th January 2017

  Next month the US Navy (USN) will move a squadron of Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft from Norfolk Naval Station …

• Digital Battlespace

  Additional radars targeted for Kuwait

  14th December 2016

  Kuwait looks likely to expand its military radar coverage following the US State Department approval of a foreign military sale (FMS) to the country for …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Russian forces receive Orlan-10 UAS

  3rd January 2017

  The Russian Ministry of Defence has announced that a new batch of Orlan-10 UAS has been delivered to the Kamchatka UAV squadron of the Russian …

• Defence Helicopter

  Russian Helicopters' after-sales approach in Asia

  13th January 2017

  Russian Helicopters’ marketing has been targeting the after-sales sector in Asia, where it sees a good potential for growth, Shephard has learnt. The business of …

• Military Logistics

  Surface Navy: US carrier gap explained

  13th January 2017

  The US Navy is struggling to keep to schedule with its ship maintenance, repair and overhaul programme, which forced a gap in carrier capability, Shephard …

• Training

  US to sell EW range to Australia

  8th December 2016

  The US State Department has approved a $115 million Foreign Military Sale (FMS) request by Australia for an additional AEA-18G Electronic Warfare (EW) Range System …

• Naval Warfare

  India launches second Scorpene

  11th January 2017

  At a time when the Indian Navy (IN) is grappling with declining undersea warfare capabilities the government owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) will launch …

• Digital Battlespace

  DARPA awards cyber contracts to Raytheon

  8th December 2016

  Raytheon will work on developing technologies to tackle cyber attacks on US power grid infrastructure under a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency …

• Land Warfare

  Peru wants reconditioned Strykers

  8th December 2016

  The government of Peru has requested reconditioned Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles from the US under a $668 million Foreign Military Sale. The Defense Security Cooperation …

• Defence Helicopter

  AHM achieves G Inspection

  3rd January 2017

  Airbus Helicopters Malaysia has carried out a G Inspection of a Southern Vietnam Helicopter (VNHS) AS332 L2 helicopter, the company announced on 29 December. VNHS …

• Defence Helicopter

  Kongsberg, Leonardo ink agreements

  27th December 2016

  Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace will provide maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of dynamic components on NH90 and AW101 helicopters under agreements signed with Leonardo on 22 …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  DJI thinks big for wider applications

  16th December 2016

  DJI, which at last count enjoyed a 70% market share in the sale of consumer UAVs according to an Oppenheimer report, continues to emphasise the …

• Digital Battlespace

  US Army awards AFATDS 7.0 contract

  6th January 2017

  The US Army has announced contract award for its Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS) 7.0 programme, which will modernise its fires command and …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Transport/tanker aircraft

  A330 MRTT (1-9) [NATO]

  Programme Background Following operations in Libya and extensive analyses by the European Defence Agency (EDA), it was agreed at the NATO Summit in 2012 that ...

• Transport/tanker aircraft

  A330 MRTT Follow-On (NATO)

  Following operations in Libya and extensive analyses by the European Defence Agency (EDA), it was agreed at the NATO Summit in 2012 that the EDA ...

• Military helicopters - maritime

  MH-60R Seahawks [Norway]

  Programme Background NH90 NFH cancellation  The Norwegian government announced the termination of the NH90 NFH helicopter contract for 14 NH90s with NHIndustries in June 2022. Seahawk Acquisition ...

• Tanks

  New MBT [Romania]

  Programme Background Requirement The Romanian Army's MBT fleet is composed of T-55 variants that are due to be retired in the mid-2020s. Although Romania's TR-85 ...

• Tanks

  M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 [Romania]

  Programme Background Requirement The Romanian Army's MBT fleet is composed of T-55 variants that are due to be retired in the mid-2020s. Although Romania's TR-85 ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  EU Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies Project (ENGRT) - (Greece)

  Programme Background EU Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies Project (ENGRT) EU Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies Project (ENGRT) was announced in early 2022 and the project contract was awarded ...

• Military UAS - rotary-wing, Military UAS - tactical

  UAV Tactical Level [Norway]

  Programme Background Request for Information (RfI) In September 2022, the Norwegian Defence Material Agency (NDMA) launched a request for information in preparation for a possible ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  EU Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies Project (ENGRT) - (Italy)

  Programme Background EU Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies Project (ENGRT) EU Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies Project (ENGRT) was announced in early 2022 and the project contract was awarded ...

• Maritime patrol

  MAWS/PATMAR [France]

  Programme Background In 2017, Germany and France announced that they would be working towards developing an MPA to replace their current fleets in service. The ...

• Tanks

  Leopard 2A8 [Netherlands]

  Programme Background Bidders and Suppliers The Leopard 2A8, the latest in the Leopard family, was selected by the Royal Dutch Army as per announcements in ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - MALE

  Bayraktar TB2 [Kuwait]

  Background Contract Award On 18 January 2023, Baykar announced signing a $370 million export contract with Kuwait for the Bayraktar TB2. According to the announcement, ...

• Military UAS - HALE

  MQ-4C Triton - Germany (Cancelled)

  Programme Background Germany requested to buy four MQ-4C Triton HALE UAVs from Northrop Grumman. On 5 April 2018, the US State Department announced that it ...

• Corvettes

  European Patrol Corvette (EPC) [France]

  Programme Background Requirements The European Patrol Corvette (EPC) is one of the new PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation on Defence and Security) projects. PESCO was established ...

• AEW&C

  Alliance Future Surveillance and Control (1-6) [NATO]

  Programme Background NATO’s E-3A AWACS fleet is set to retire in 2035, after 50 years of service. To plan for the required follow-on capability, NATO's ...

• Corvettes

  European Patrol Corvette (EPC) [Italy]

  Programme Background Requirements The 2021-2023 Documento Programmatico Pluriennale (DPP) - a multi-year defence planning document from the Italian MoD - includes a plan to acquire eight "Patrol Ships", ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Land: air defence radar

  APIS

  APIS is a passive high-resolution primary radar system developed by Indra. It is the first passive system in the world capable of offering images using ...

• Uncrewed aerial systems engines

  AE50R

  The AE50R is an aviation gasoline single rotary engine with an output of 40.4kW. The engine is certified according to European Aviation Safety Agency Part ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - tactical

  LOTUS

  The LOTUS, Low Observable Tactical Unnamed System, is a tactical UAV especially designed for border patrol ISR operations.  The development of the project is funded by ...

• Surface-to-air missiles

  Mistral 3

  The Mistral 3 is the latest member of the Mistral family of very short-range surface-to-air missiles. It entered service in 2018 and has been chosen ...

• Helicopter engines

  Arriel 2H

  Safran Helicopter Engines received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) engine type certification for its Arriel 2H engine, installed in the Avicopter AC312E, in April 2018. ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - tactical

  AR5

  First announced in October 2012, the AR5 is a MALE UAS designed for SAR, surveillance and maritime patrol missions. The AR5 can be flown manually or commanded ...

• Trainer

  Gabriel-TP

  Gabriel-TP is a low-wing, two-seat tandem trainer aircraft aimed at both military and civilian customers. It is certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in ...

• Air: NVGs

  PNL-3M Orlik

  PNL-3M are high-performance, lightweight, passive stereoscopic NVGs for helicopter crew members. Certification by European Aviation Safety Agency also enables civilian use. The device can be ...

• Loitering munitions

  Akeron RCH 170

  Unveiled in April 2025, the Akeron RCH 170 is a fixed-wing loitering munition from MBDA. Similar in design to the Switchblade 300, the catapult launched system ...

• Air: Integrated cockpit systems

  Standard 3

  Jointly developed by ATR and Thales, The Standard 3 avionics suite has been specifically designed for ATR-600 aircraft. It offers the pilot user-friendly interface, along ...

• Loitering munitions

  Akeron RCX 50

  Unveiled in April 2025, the Akeron RCX 50 is a rotary-wing loitering munition from MBDA.  According to reports, the RCX 50 is designed to support ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  DroneGun

  DroneGun enables controlled management of an adversarial UAS, causing no damage to the UAV or surrounding area. It either forces the drone to perform a ...

• Military - USVs

  NOMARS

  The No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) is a US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) effort to develop a first-of-its-kind large uncrewed surface vessel.

• Uncrewed aerial systems engines

  Trident 100TD2

  The Trident 100TD2 is a compression-ignition engine that is capable of operating on various types of heavy fuel. It is claimed to offer up to ...

• Space: radar systems

  ESA Sentinel-1

  Sentinel-1 is a planned constellation of four satellites with two already in orbit and two on order. They carry a payload of a C-band SAR ...