• Defence Helicopter

  CH-53K helicopter rotor blades undergo testing

  4th November 2013

  The first main and tail rotor blades produced by Sikorsky for the US Marine Corps' (USMC’s) CH-53K heavy lift helicopter have undergone initial testing. This …

• Defence Notes

  D&S 2013: BAE Systems sets out stall in Asia

  4th November 2013

  Like many other companies, BAE Systems is looking to Asia, and South East Asia in particular, as an important future market to grow the business. …

• Military Logistics

  Over $230 million of ANA supplies unaccounted for

  1st November 2013

  Over two-thirds of the more than $370 million of spares the Afghan National Army (ANA) has ordered since 2004 to maintain and repair vehicles cannot …

• Defence Notes

  EADS expects job losses and cost reductions

  1st November 2013

  Criticising the lack of support from the German government, the head of EADS has warned that the restructure of the company’s defence business is likely …

• Defence Helicopter

  US confirms Israel to get six V-22s

  1st November 2013

  Israel is set to become the first foreign operator of the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey, with Pentagon officials confirming the sale of six tiltrotors to the …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  First flight for MQ-8C Fire Scout

  1st November 2013

  The latest variant of the US Navy's Fire Scout UAV has flown for the first time in California, during which it stayed airborne for seven …

• Defence Notes

  Saab sees declining profits

  1st November 2013

  Saab has recorded a net income of SEK455 million ($70.5 million) for the first half year of 2013, which is a decrease of 55% compared …

• Land Warfare

  Cubic to enhance USMC I-TESS II combat training system

  1st November 2013

  Cubic will provide the US Marine Corps (USMC) with new weapons simulation capabilities under a new contract announced on 31 October. The contract, valued in …

• Land Warfare

  BAE awarded Paladin artillery upgrade contract

  31st October 2013

  Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) of the upgrade to the Paladin self-propelled artillery system is set to begin after a US Army contract awarded to BAE Systems. …

• Land Warfare

  Raytheon targets new paths for Ai3 interceptor

  31st October 2013

  Despite stalled production, the future of the Ai3 counter-rocket, artillery, mortar (C-RAM) interceptor programme could take two different paths: fielding or becoming a programme of …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Kongsberg and Hydroid users collaborate on AUVs

  31st October 2013

  Kongsberg and Hydroid’s biennial user conference for AUV operators demonstrated increasing collaboration between military and commercial sectors, a senior company executive has said. According to …

• Defence Helicopter

  Longbow to support US Army Apache systems

  31st October 2013

  A number of on board systems on the US Army’s AH-64D and AH-64E Apache helicopters will be supported by Longbow under a $92.8 million contract …

• Defence Helicopter

  Northrop Grumman awarded Joint STARS retrofit contract

  31st October 2013

  Northrop Grumman will retrofit the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft, trainers and laboratories under a $43 million contract from the …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Predator B UAV EW demonstrations continue

  30th October 2013

  The Predator B unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has completed a second demonstration to explore its electronic attack capabilities. The demonstration was conducted at the US …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  ADEX 2013: Northrop Grumman may be close to Korean Global Hawk sale

  30th October 2013

  Northrop Grumman remains hopeful that South Korea will become the first export customer for the Global Hawk UAS. South Korea has had an interest in …

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 ...