• Digital Battlespace

  Raytheon to support RAF Sentinels

  1st November 2016

  Raytheon UK has been awarded a £131 million contract extension from the British Royal Air Force (RAF) to continue to manage support services for the …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  AeroVironment receives Dutch UAV order

  1st November 2016

  AeroVironment will provide the Netherlands Ministry of Defence with small UAS, upgrades and support services under a contract announced on 31 October. The contract will …

• Naval Warfare

  Philippines leases patrol aircraft

  27th October 2016

  During President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to Japan from 25-27 October, the Philippines signed an MoU and letter of arrangement with Tokyo to lease five TC-90 …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  DARPA's ACTUV sails with TALONS

  26th October 2016

  DARPA's Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) has sailed with a prototype sensor mast developed under its Towed Airborne Lift of Naval Systems …

• Digital Battlespace

  L-3 receives UK MoD contract

  26th October 2016

  The UK Ministry of Defence’s (MoD’s) Joint Common Remote Viewing Terminal (JCRVT) will use products from L-3’s Rover family under a $23.2 million contract announced …

• Digital Battlespace

  Singapore commissions ELM-2311 Safari radar

  26th October 2016

  The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) officially commissioned the Elta Systems ELM-2311 tactical counter-rocket artillery and mortar (C-RAM) radar into the 24th Singapore Artillery Battalion on …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Silent Falcon flies BLOS for NASA

  25th October 2016

  Silent Falcon UAS Technologies and MicroPilot have conducted a number of demonstration flights of the Silent Falcon UAS as part of NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft System …

• Digital Battlespace

  Indo Defence 2016: Indonesia upgrades corvette

  24th October 2016

  The Indonesian Navy is upgrading the combat system of one of its Fatahillah-class corvettes, KRI Malahayati, for a sum of $18 million. A consortium made …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  New comms payload for Wasp aerostat

  21st October 2016

  Drone Aviation will integrate a new communications sensor into the US Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) Wasp aerostats under a contract announced on 19 October. The …

• Naval Warfare

  Euronaval 2016: That's a wrap (video)

  21st October 2016

  After a week of interviews and press briefings at this year's Euronaval in Paris, editor Richard Thomas and staff reporter Grant Turnbull discuss some of …

• Defence Helicopter

  Enhanced Fire Scouts reach Southeast Asia

  17th October 2016

  USS Coronado, an Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), arrived in Singapore on 16 October with two enhanced Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scouts and a Sikorsky …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Optical Bar camera sensor on RQ-4

  17th October 2016

  Northrop Grumman has successfully flown an Optical Bar camera broad-area synoptic sensor on an RQ-4 Global Hawk high altitude long endurance (HALE) UAS, the company …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Euronaval 2016: Thales introduce new USV/AUV hybrid

  17th October 2016

  As Europe’s largest maritime and naval defence show gets underway Thales have been among the first of the major exhibitors to unveil a new system …

• Digital Battlespace

  Belarus unveils new air surveillance radar

  14th October 2016

  The Belarus state-owned company SPLLC OKB TSP has made the first public presentation of its new RLS-50 3D air surveillance mobile radar.  This has been …

• Digital Battlespace

  Euronaval 2016: Software boost for SPx radar

  14th October 2016

  Cambridge Pixel has enhanced its SPx radar tracking software with new modelling algorithms to support the detection and tracking of very small targets. The new …

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 ...