• Defence Notes

  Netherlands requests AIM-9X-2 Sidewinder missiles

  19th October 2012

  The government of the Netherlands is reportedly seeking to purchase AIM-9X-2 Sidewinder Block II all-up-round missiles from the US government at an estimated cost of …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Northrop Grumman poised to begin Titus UGV deliveries

  18th October 2012

  Northrop Grumman has announced that its Remotec subsidiary will begin deliveries of the newest and smallest member of its Andros line of unmanned ground vehicles …

• Military Logistics

  KC-46 refuelling boom enters production

  18th October 2012

  This week will see Boeing begin assembly of the refuelling boom for the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) KC-46 tanker aircraft. The KC-46 Boom Assembly Center, …

• Land Warfare

  Oshkosh hits significant vehicle delivery milestone

  18th October 2012

  Oshkosh Defense has announced that it has reached a significant milestone for its military vehicle manufacturing line, with the 100,000th vehicle completed on 17 October. …

• Digital Battlespace

  New MASS Electronic Warfare training facility opens

  17th October 2012

  MASS has announced that it has opened a new state-of-the-art Electronic Warfare (EW) training centre in Lincoln. The training facility will allow students to learn …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  iRobot announces 310 SUGV spares and controller orders

  16th October 2012

  iRobot will provide maintenance training and spares for the iRobot 310 SUGV to the US Army under a contract issued by from the US Army’s …

• Land Warfare

  First pilot Stryker DVH exchange vehicle completed

  16th October 2012

  PEO Ground Combat Systems has announced that the US Army has completed the first vehicle in its Stryker Double V-Hull (DVH) exchange programme, which will …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  ATLAS NA wins new SeaFox contract

  15th October 2012

  ATLAS North America (ATLAS NA) will deliver the ATLAS Portable SeaFox Mine Neutralization Systems (PMNS) under a contract with the US Naval Surface Weapons Center …

• Land Warfare

  BAE Systems awarded new Bradley contract

  12th October 2012

  BAE Systems has announced that it has been awarded a $97 million contract to reset up to 146 Bradley Fighting Vehicles for the US Army.  …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Kairos Autonomi wins military self-drive vehicle kit contract

  12th October 2012

  Kairos Autonomi will equip 12 US Army National Guard ranges across the nation with Pronto4 Robotic Appliqué Kits under a contract announced on 11 October. …

• Land Warfare

  Saint-Gobain wins US armed forces armour contract

  12th October 2012

  Saint-Gobain Crystals is to supply the US Army and US Marine Corps (USMC) with its sapphire engineered armour under a three-year contract announced on 11 …

• Military Logistics

  Boeing awarded $2 billion for C-17 sustainment

  11th October 2012

  Boeing is to continue ‘assuring the worldwide availability’ of C-17 aircraft following the award of a $2 billion follow-on contract by the US Department of …

• Land Warfare

  Rheinmetall to supply CROWS III weapon components

  11th October 2012

  Rheinmetall has announced that it has been selected to take part in the US Army’s Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station (CROWS) III programme. The company …

• Land Warfare

  BAE Systems to build M88A2 recovery vehicles for Iraq

  10th October 2012

  BAE Systems has been awarded a contract to produce eight M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift Evacuation Systems (HERCULES) for the Iraqi Army. The …

• Digital Battlespace

  FAB-T programme moves forward

  10th October 2012

  Boeing has revealed that the US Air Force (USAF) has recently completed a combined preliminary design review and critical design review of the company’s Family …

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

  According to the US FY2021 budget document, Turkey's removal from the JSF program and transition to the alternate supply chain sources may challenge to achieve ...

• 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 ...