• Air Warfare

  Embraer expands European footprint with new Portugal subsidiary

  18th December 2024

  The subsidiary will be named ‘Embraer Defense Europe’ and work to strengthen the company's foothold on the continent.

• Air Warfare

  Embraer promotes C-390 Millennium as it signs for closer ties with Morocco

  31st October 2024

  A Memorandum of Understanding was signed during the Marrakesh Air Show, with the C-390 Millennium positioned as the ideal future choice for the Moroccan Air Force.

• Air Warfare

  South Korea considers cancellation of second AH-64E Apache helicopter purchase

  8th July 2025

  The likely scrapping of Boeing’s Apache helicopter comes after a huge budget cut approved by the South Korean National Assembly. The helicopter procurement had already been reconsidered by the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier in the year.

• Land Warfare

  Aselsan successfully tests Gökberk system against FPV drones

  11th March 2025

  The system had been previously proven to work against rotary and fixed-wing kamikaze drones, with Aselsan now working on new capabilities for Gökberk to counter UAV swarms.

• Land Warfare

  Lockheed Martin builds first Saudi Arabian THAAD components

  12th May 2025

  The THAAD launcher was first procured by Saudi Arabia in 2017, with local production a key condition of the sale.

• Land Warfare

  The Lego Principle: Falcon Shield, RiwP and the growth of modularity in land defence

  10th October 2024

  Shephard spoke to Leonardo about its Falcon Shield system and Moog about its Reconfigurable Integrated weapons Platform (RIwP) at DVD 2024, and discovered the trend in land defence was towards modularity.

• Defence Notes

  New Zealand boosts defence spend to US$6.6 billion and vows increased closeness with Australia

  9th April 2025

  This budget will be spent over the next four years and nearly doubles the country’s defence spending as part of GDP to 2%.

• Air Warfare

  Leonardo and Baykar join forces to develop uncrewed aerial systems

  6th March 2025

  Baykar’s AKINCI drone will be the first focus platform for the joint venture, with the first prototype targeted for development in 12 to 18 months.

• Air Warfare

  UK MoD awards Ascent with eight-year contract to upgrade RAF and Royal Navy flight training

  20th May 2025

  Funding of £300 million will go towards training personnel on the FIRCTS programmes to meet a growing demand for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) platforms.

• Naval Warfare

  US Navy to invest $3 billion in UAS and C-UAS capabilities

  30th July 2024

  UAS and C-UAS funding for the US Navy in FY2025 will cover R&D and procurement programmes along with improvements to the branch’s current inventory.

• Air Warfare

  Taiwan welcomes first batch of Altius-600M drones

  8th August 2025

  Anduril, the US company that manufactures loitering munitions, has doubled down on its expansion and presence in Asia, set against a growing threat from China and a push from Taiwan to expand its domestic uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) procurement efforts.

• Land Warfare

  Dronebuster product line and production capability expanded

  23rd April 2025

  DZYNE Technologies, the maker of Dronebuster counter-uncrewed aerial system (C-UAS) devices, has announced plans to expand production and released details on a new version of the system. This follows the release of an all-in-one kit system earlier this year.

• Land Warfare

  British soldiers successfully complete anti-drone EW test firing

  2nd January 2025

  The system beams radio waves to disrupt or damage the critical electronic components of enemy vehicles causing them to stop in their tracks or fall out of the sky. It has been described as costing only £0.10 (US$0.12) per shot.

• Air Warfare

  Japan and South Korea upgrade F-15 fighters to keep them relevant

  24th December 2024

  Japan and South Korea plan major enhancements to their F-15 programmes.

• Air Warfare

  Northrop gets $3.5 billion contract to integrate mission systems for E-6B successor

  19th December 2024

  The E-130J aircraft will take over the E-6B for the US Navy’s Take Charge and Move Out system.

Programme Results - Defence Insight

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

  ISTAR UAS project [Canada]

  Programme Background Objective The Royal Canadian Navy's (RCN) main significant UAV project is the RCN Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance Unmanned Aircraft System (RCN ...

• ISR/special mission

  MC-27J - Algeria

  Programme Background Algeria has a long standing ISR aircraft requirement to support its Beech 1900 fleet comprised of six aircraft. The new ISR fleet is ...

• Light attack, Trainer

  IAR-99 Replacement (Romania)

  On 29 August 2017, Leonardo announced that the IAR-99 trainer technology demonstrator (TD) will be fitted with company's Vixen 500E AESA radar. The Vixen 500E AESA ...

• Military UAS - mini, Military UAS - rotary-wing

  General-Purpose UAS [Australia]

  Programme Background Banned As reported by Shephard in August 2023, in the past, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) used commercial UAS from companies such as DJI for ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - mini

  Mini Reconnaissance Drones [Lithuania]

  Programme Background Planned Purchases On 14 September 2022, the Lithuanian MoD announced in a short statement on Twitter, now X, that it had begun organising ...

• Fighter - multirole

  F-16V (9-16) [Bulgaria]

  Programme Background In April 2022, the US State Department approved a potential FMS worth $1.673 million to procure eight F-16Vs to Bulgaria. The aircraft are ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - small

  Small Reconnaissance Drones [Lithuania]

  Programme Background Planned Purchases On 14 September 2022, the Lithuanian MoD announced in a short statement on Twitter, now X, that it had begun organising ...

• AEW&C

  Airbus A330 AWACS (India)

  Programme Background India is planning to increase its AEW&C; capabilities with indigenous radar systems. IAF has requested to procure six Airbus 330 airliner to host ...

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

  Skeldar V-200 (ASW) [Canada]

  Programme Background Contract Award At Euronaval 2022, Shephard reported that UMS Skeldar and Ultra had been awarded a Phase 2 contract on 19 October to provide ...

• Military UAS - mini, Military UAS - rotary-wing, Military UAS - small

  Company Level Small Uncrewed Aircraft System (SUAS) Directed Requirement (DR) [US Army]

  Programme Background Requirement The US Army approved the Co-Level SUAS DR acquisition in June 2023 to supply Brigade Combat Teams with an "immediate, commercially available capability" to ...

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  AW101-Norway

  AgustaWestland is also providing initial support and training services, including spares at each of the operating bases and aircrew training. It will then provide performance ...

• Military UAS - rotary-wing, Military UAS - small

  Medium Range Reconnaissance (MRR) / Rucksack Portable UAS (RPUAS) [USA]

  The Rucksack Portable UAS (RPUAS) Programme The RPUAS programme will provide the battalion and below-ground manoeuvre elements within the US Army with an organic, on-demand ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing

  Replicator 2 [US]

  Programme Background 1.0 The Replicator programme is a US effort to field thousands of attritable, autonomous systems across multiple domains before the end of 2025 ...

• Military UAS - micro, Military UAS - rotary-wing

  DEF129 (Nano UAS) [Australia]

  Programme Background DEF129 The Australian Ground Service has combined various army procurement efforts under the DEF129 programme to increase the abundance and proliferation of UAVs ...

• Maritime patrol

  Maritime Patrol Aircraft Procurement [Italy]

  Programme Background In an appearance before the Italian parliament’s Foreign and Defence Affairs Committee on 14 July 2022, Italian Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Adm ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Medium Range Missile Defence Systems: 20-90km range

  Falcon Air Defence System

  Unveiled at IDEX 2019, Falcon is a medium range ground-based air defence system, including C-RAM and C-UAS capabilities. The Falcon consists of Lockheed Martin's Skykeeper ...

• Land: air defence radar, Land: battlefield and ground surveillance radar, Land: indirect fire location radar

  TMMR

  The Tactical Multi-Mission Radar (TMMR) is Leonardo’s C-band AESA radar designed for detecting, classifying, and tracking small, high-maneuvering targets. It’s designed for various applications, including counter-UAS, ...

• Air: AEW/fire control radar

  RBE2

  The AESA RBE2 is the first AESA radar produced in Europe for combat aircraft. The active phased array replaces the passive array in the RBE2 currently ...

• Air: helicopter radar, Air: surveillance and maritime patrol radar

  AirMaster-C

  The AirMaster-C is a two-dimensional, AESA, airborne surveillance radar manufactured by Thales. It is marketed as a lightweight surveillance radar designed to be fitted to ...

• Land: RWS

  Pitbull

  General Robotics developed the lightweight Pitbull family of remote weapons station for use on aerial, land and naval crewed or uncrewed platforms. Armed with a single ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  Howler C-UAS

  Developed by Raytheon, the Howler is a counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS), which includes a Ku-band Radio Frequency Sensor (KuRFS), a command-and-control system, and a Coyote ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  Skylock C-UAS

  Skylock, an Avnon Group company, has developed a C-UAS system that is intended to bring sensors, jammers and a laser effector into a single deployable ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  Cobham C-UAS

  Unveiled at the AUVSI 2017 trade show in Dallas, Texas, the Cobham C-UAS primarily consists of wideband omnidirectional, directional helix (single- or dual-band), directional flat ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  Airfence 5.0

  Airfence 5.0 is a C-UAS RF technology released by Sensofusion. It is designed to protect airports, personnel, prisons and private companies from rogue UAS in ...

• Land: air defence radar

  iMOTR

  The Innovative Multiple-Object Tracking Radar (iMOTR) system has been designed to provide military test ranges with more accurate time, space and position information for several ...

• Land: air defence radar, Land: indirect fire location radar

  KRONOS Land

  KRONOS is a mobile multifunctional C-band radar system designed by Leonardo to support air and coastal defence tactical operations.  The system simultaneously performs surveillance, dedicated target ...

• EO/IR systems

  CM262

  Manfuaucted by AVT Australia, the CM262 is a ground-based imaging system combining four sensor configurations into a compact and ruggedised system for C-UAS and ISR ...

• Air: surveillance and maritime patrol radar

  Seaspray 7500E V2

  The Seaspray 7500E V2 is a long-range, maritime-focused multi-mode surveillance radar produced by Leonardo and manufactured in the UK. The system can rapidly interleave radar modes ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - small

  Penguin C VTOL

  The Penguin C VTOL is the VTOL version of the Penguin C MIL Mk2; hence it is sometimes called the Penguin C Mk2 VTOL. Edge ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  Pitbull C-UAS Jammer

  In June 2018, MyDefence launched the Pitbull wearable C-UAS solution, which utilises smart jamming to defeat enemy drones. Pitbull was developed to have a minimal ...