• Air Warfare

  Germany expects to receive full CH-47F fleet within eight years

  5th March 2024

  On 1 June 2022, the German MoD announced that it had selected CH-47F Chinook for its €5.2 billion (US$5.6 billion) heavy-lift helicopter procurement. The helicopters will replace a fleet of CH-53G helicopters approaching a service life of 50 years.

• Naval Warfare

  Australia releases blueprint for expanded naval surface fleet

  20th February 2024

  The much-anticipated Enhanced Lethality Surface Combatant Fleet review has allocated billions of dollars towards enhancing the Royal Australian Navy’s fleet.

• Naval Warfare

  US and UK forces intensify strikes against Houthi capabilities

  23rd January 2024

  On 22 January, the coalition targeted eight areas controlled by the non-state military group in Yemen.

• Air Warfare

  Singapore Airshow 2024: China debuts Apache competitor attack helicopter in Singapore

  20th February 2024

  China's Aviation Industry Corporation has showcased the Z-10EM, an upgraded version of its Z-10 attack helicopter, designed for export markets.

• Naval Warfare

  Australia’s Tritons edge closer to operations as service contract signed

  9th November 2023

  Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone off the north-west coast stretches almost to the edge of the continental shelf, in places more than 500km from the coastline, and Tritons and upgraded P-8As will massively boost patrol capability as integrated systems.

• Naval Warfare

  Planning begins for Harry S Truman overhaul and refuelling

  29th January 2024

  A total of 10 Nimitz-class were built by Newport New Shipbuilding with the last one entering service in January 2009. The USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) entered service in 1998 with an out-of-service date of the early 2060s.

• Naval Warfare

  Thales Australia wins $1.3 billion navy maintenance contract

  22nd November 2023

  A contract to provide maintenance and support for Australia’s naval fleet in Sydney will create more than 900 jobs and boost Australia's sovereign naval shipbuilding industrial capability.

• Training

  Norway to train Ukrainian marines and supply support equipment

  16th February 2024

  Norway has been a part of the UK-led Maritime Capability Coalition which has supported the development of a maritime force in the Black Sea, the creation of a Ukrainian Marine Corps, and the provision of river patrol craft to defend coastal and inland waterways.

• Defence Notes

  I/ITSEC 2023: How wide is the gap between the US and China’s capabilities?

  29th November 2023

  While Washington sees Beijing as its most comprehensive and serious challenger, the Jinping administration has been taking the lead in R&D within certain domains.

• Digital Battlespace

  US DoD updates approach to the threats and benefits of AI

  3rd November 2023

  The first DoD AI Strategy, published in 2018, and revised DoD Data Strategy, published in 2020, are two foundational documents that matured the department's data-centric structures to increase the efficacy of fielding modern AI-enabled capabilities.

• Land Warfare

  BAE Systems receives contract for more howitzers and ammunition carriers

  30th January 2024

  BAE Systems received the initial contract for M109A7 production in 2017 with the most recent order bringing the total contract value to US$2.5 billion.

• Air Warfare

  Northrop and Mitsubishi partner to enhance Japan’s air and missile defence network

  23rd January 2024

  The partnership between Northrop Grumann and Japan's Mitsubishi Electric will set out to integrate advanced solutions facilitating seamless sharing of target information among the Japanese Army.

• Training

  Krauss-Maffei Wegmann to supply Leopard trainers for Sweden

  13th February 2024

  The Leopard 2 MBT has benefited from continuous development both to meet the requirements of the German Army and export customers. The Leopard 2A5, of which Sweden has 120, was the first model to feature arrowhead-shaped armour on the front of the turret.

• Naval Warfare

  New US Navy expeditionary ship commissioned

  19th February 2024

  The US Navy's Expeditionary Sea Base (T-ESB) programme was created as a derivative of the Montford Point-class Expeditionary Transfer Docks, also built by General Dynamics NASSCO.

• Land Warfare

  US Marine Corps receives production standard ACV-30

  1st February 2024

  The Amphibious Combat Vehicle 30mm Canon (ACV-30) will provide the US Marine Corps (USMC) with substantial firepower when landing and is one of four types being manufactured for the force.

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

  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

  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 - 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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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 of $990 million hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price) contract to ...

• 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 ...

• Military helicopters - light/training

  TH-73 Advanced Helicopter Training System (AHTS) (TH-57 Replacement)

  Programme Background Contenders for the competition included the Leonardo single engine TH-119 – a military variant of the AW119Kx – and Bell’s newly upgraded single ...

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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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 ...