• Digital Battlespace

  CHA to support Defense Intelligence Agency

  16th November 2018

  Cape Henry Associates (CHA) has received an 18 month contract worth over $2 million to support the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the company announced …

• Military Logistics

  Northrop to support E-8C Joint STARS fleet

  22nd November 2018

  Northrop Grumman has received a one-year, $330 million contract from the US Air Force to support the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint …

• Digital Battlespace

  Talios qualified by French DGA

  22nd November 2018

  Thales’ new Talios optronic pod has successfully completed qualification testing by the French defence procurement agency (DGA), the company announced on 19 November. Talios combines …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Elbit Systems to supply ISTAR solution

  20th November 2018

  Elbit Systems has received a contract from an unnamed Asia-Pacific country to supply a comprehensive UAS-based intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) solution, the …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Phasa-35 team reveal plans to win unmanned solar sky race

  27th November 2018

  BAE Systems and project partner Prismatic have revealed more information about the Phasa-35 as they look to begin production of the solar-powered HALE UAV in 2021. …

• Digital Battlespace

  Harris’ AN/PRC-163 radio NSA Type-1 certified

  12th November 2018

  Harris Corporation has received National Security Agency Type-1 certification for its AN/PRC-163 multi-channel handheld networking radio, the company announced on 6 November. The Harris AN/PRC-163 …

• Digital Battlespace

  AOC 2018: US Army explores integrated tactical network concept

  23rd November 2018

  One of the potential capabilities evaluated at the recent US Army Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) 18.2, held from 1-12 November at Fort Bliss, Texas, was …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Japan secures Global Hawks and eyes Avengers

  21st November 2018

  Tokyo has committed money as part of its order of three RQ-4 Global Hawk HALE UAVs, with the US DoD announcing on 19 November an …

• Defence Notes

  Upcoming PESCO projects highlight EW and unmanned technology

  21st November 2018

  Recent updates to the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) projects, programmes that multiple countries work on together, place a strong emphasis on both unmanned systems and …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Belgium looks to follow UK with SkyGuardian

  19th November 2018

  Belgium looks to be following the UK in the procurement of the General Atomics (GA-ASI) MQ-9B SkyGuardian UAV, after the announcement on 19 November that …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Indo Defence 2018: Turkey looks east for first Anka export

  9th November 2018

  Turkish Aerospace made a statement at this year’s Indo Defence with a full scale model of its Anka UAV on display. The company is pursuing …

• Digital Battlespace

  UK awards F-ADAPT contract to Thales

  1st November 2018

  The UK Ministry of Defence has awarded a contract to Thales UK to modernise the British Army and Royal Marines’ very short-range air defence capability. …

• Digital Battlespace

  Northrop awarded USCYBERCOM contract

  5th November 2018

  Northrop Grumman has received a contract worth $54.62 million from the US Air Force to serve as Unified Platform systems coordinator for the US Cyber …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Australia selects MQ-9 Reaper

  16th November 2018

  The General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9 Reaper has been selected for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) under Project Air 7003 Phase 1, Minister …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Falco EVO flies with upgrade package

  31st October 2018

  Leonardo has completed a series of successful test flights of its Falco EVO RPAS in Bulgaria. The flight was carried out to validate a package …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• 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 ...

• ISR/special mission

  C-208B ISR [Tunisia]

  Programme Background Requirement The acquisition of the C-208B Grand Caravan EX aircraft is part of Tunisia’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its ISR capabilities in response ...

• ISR/special mission

  King Air 350ER -Canada

  Programme Background Canadian Special Forces was looking to procure ISR aircraft to support their missions both overseas and domestically.  There were few Canadian suppliers to sell ...

• ISR/special mission

  King Air 350ER ISR [Kuwait]

  Programme Background In February 2018, the US State Department has approved an estimated $259m potential foreign military sale of King Air 350ER intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - HALE

  Long-Endurance UAV [US AFRICOM]

  Programme Background Ageing MQ-9A Reapers In November 2022, Shephard reported that GA-ASI would continue supporting contractor SMX with its MQ-9A after winning a $2.3 billion task ...

• ISR/special mission

  Shadow R1 [UK]

  Programme Background The RAF is moving forward with an ambitious plan to transform its intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) force to enable greater ...

• Military UAS - small

  Black Hornet 3 PRS (UK)

  Programme Background The British Army operated approximately 160 first-generation Black Hornet PD-100 nano UAS between 2013 and 2017, when the decision was made to retire ...

• ISR/special mission

  Baekdu-II [South Korea]

  Programme Background This ISR aircraft programme, which first appeared on the 2020-24 Mid-Term Defense Acquisition Plan, comprises four Baekdu-II aircraft. These will add to two ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - rotary-wing

  ISR Civilian-Made UAVs [Taiwan]

  Background Civilian-made, Military-specification As reported by Shephard in April 2025, to accelerate the acquisition process and urgently build a larger UAV inventory, Taipei is enlisting the private ...

• Military helicopters - light/training

  SW-4

  The SW-4 is aimed at the basic and advanced pilot training, troop transport and ISR missions. Its Polish designation is Puszczyk. The SW-4s are based ...

• Light attack, Trainer

  A-29 Super Tucano Afghanistan

  Media reports suggest that with the hourly cost of $1000, the A-29 is a successful platform for counter-insurgency missions. Its operational capability from unprepared airstrips, ...

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

  ISR Drones (First Batch) (Ukraine Aid) [Netherlands]

  Programme Background First Batch On 20 March 2024, Kajsa Ollongren, Minister of Defence of the Netherlands, announced that, following a 19 March Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) meeting, ...

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

  Drone Action Plan (Ukraine Aid) [Netherlands]

  Programme Background APOS On 6 October 2024, the Dutch Minister of Defense, Ruben Brekelmans, visited Kharkiv and Kyiv. During his visit to Ukraine, he announced a new ...

• Maritime patrol

  Multi-Mission Aircraft (Canada - Option)

  Programme Background Canadian Air Force is operating 15 C-3P (Canadian designation CP-140) special mission aircraft in service. They were acquired between 1980-91 and expected to ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing

  Ukrainian Drones (Ukraine Aid) [Netherlands]

  Programme Background Military Package On 5 March 2025, the Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced the Netherlands would reserve €3.5 billion ($3.8 billion) to continue ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

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

  Silent Falcon

  The Silent Falcon is a solar-electric sUAS with long-endurance capabilities for extended-range missions. The UAS can be used for commercial and military applications. The entire ...

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

  ULTRA

  The Unmanned Long-endurance Tactical Reconnaissance Aircraft (ULTRA) is a fixed-wing drone from DZYNE Technologies.  It is described as a long-endurance, GPS-harded intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platform with full ...

• DT18 Airframe

  The DT18 is a civilian UAV with approval for BVLOS operations by the French Civil Aviation Authority. Its applications include linear infrastructure monitoring, precision agriculture ...

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

  Jackal

  The Jackal is a small UAV manufactured by FLY BVLOS, Flyby Technology and Maxwell Innovations. The system features a plug-and-play system, meaning new equipment and technologies can be ...

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

  Delta

  The Delta is a UAV with a VTOL capability before rotating and operating as a conventional fixed-wing aircraft when airborne.  Manufactured by Fly BVLOS, Nigeria was expected ...

• Freya

  An easy-to-use system which requires minimal training, Freya can be operated in difficult situations and weather conditions, including strong winds and mountainous areas. A tracker ...

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

  Indago

  Indago is a small quadrotor UAV with VTOL. It is equipped with a large-screen handset and is marketed as 'whisper-quiet' with a noise level of ...

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

  Canary

  Volatus Aerospace has stated that its civilian Canary rotary-wing cargo-carrying UAV can be adapted for military use in last-mile resupply operations.  Payloads are housed internally ...

• Land: battle management systems

  AIMS-ISR

  AIMS-ISR is a software package used to process the video footage and data gathered from the cameras and other sensors fitted to airborne, ground-based and ...

• Air: mission management systems

  Ageon ISR

  Ageon ISR is a multi-INT C2/PED solution supporting cross-domain collection, ingestion, processing, exploitation and dissemination from tactical units to the global enterprise and cloud. Ageon ...

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

  ENVOY

  The ENVOY is a multi-mission rotary-wing UAV with a tandem-rotor design and a payload carrying capacity of 180kg. General Dynamics renamed the system ENVOY in mid-2025.  ...

• UAS: communication systems

  muLTElink

  Produced by uAvionix, the muLTElink is a multiple-link airborne radio system designed for uncrewed platforms in particular. It combines C-Band, LTE, ISM and Viasat L-Band communications, ...

• Air: UAS radar

  EchoFlight

  The Echoflight radar by Echodyne is a Lightweight Metamaterials ESA (MESA®), a Detect-and-Avoid (DAA) 4D radar designed for mid-sized UAVs flying below the visual line of sight (BVLOS) ...

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

  DrN-15 (series)

  The DrN-15 is a hexacopter mini-UAV from ST Engineering. The platform is highly customizable and can carry various payloads depending on a user's requirements.  All DrN ...

• AR100C

  The AR100C is a quadcopter UAV designed for surveillance and reconnaissance missions at low-altitude BVLOS during day and night operations. The system is an improved ...