• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Airbus outlines unmanned strategies

  12th April 2018

  As drones become more commonplace Airbus is continuing to explore the use of unmanned technologies throughout a variety of different applications. During the Commercial UAV …

• Naval Warfare

  Budget restrictions, need for mature technology driving Lithuanian naval plans

  22nd March 2018

  As maintenance challenges and financial limitations remain at the forefront of the Lithuanian Navy’s current operations, a 2030 fleet plan envisages a class of six …

• Defence Notes

  India publishes ambitious defence roadmap

  28th February 2018

  India released its ‘Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap - 2018’ (TPCR-2018) document in late February, outlining the equipment and technology that the country’s armed forces …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  ​Singapore Airshow 2018: China promotes weaponised VTOL UAV

  9th February 2018

  The China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC) provided new details about its latest U8EW VTOL UAV at this week’s Singapore Airshow. The U8E …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  UAVOS completes Surveyor-HE flight tests

  6th February 2018

  UAVOS has completed test flights of its Surveyor-HE UAS system, the company announced on 27 January. The Surveyor-HE consists of the UVH-EL UAS and ground …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Singapore Airshow 2018: Chinese Star Shadow on the prowl

  8th February 2018

  A new Chinese-built high-altitude UCAV was unveiled at this year’s Singapore Airshow. The Chengdu-based Star UAV System Company displayed a scale model of its new …

• Digital Battlespace

  Commtact unveils M2DLS data link system

  23rd November 2017

  Commtact has unveiled a newly developed Mini-Micro Data Link System (M2DLS) for aerial and ground applications. M2DLS is an advanced and reliable combined digital data …

• Naval Warfare

  Stretched corvette design sketched by Saab

  24th November 2017

  Saab is working to conceptualise and design a new family of surface vessels for the Royal Swedish Navy (RSN), with capabilities that it thinks will …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Dubai Airshow 2017: UMS Skeldar soaring into Middle East

  16th November 2017

  UMS Skeldar will be conducting flight campaigns with its R-350 VTOL platform in the Middle Eastern region next year. A new enhanced version of the …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  D&S 2017: Thai military’s UAV research bears fruit

  9th November 2017

  The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) is working on a platform called the Fixed-wing UAV with VTOL-Enabling Capability (FUVEC), displaying one of four prototypes at the …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Israeli firms showcase unmanned technologies

  5th November 2017

  At the recently held AUS&R; exhibition near Tel Aviv a range of unmanned technologies were showcased to visiting delegates. Unmanned capabilities continue to effect current …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  ​ADEX 2017: IAI/Hankuk announce joint UAV venture

  18th October 2017

  Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Korea-based Hankuk Carbon signed an agreement establishing a new joint venture company, Korea Aviation Technologies (KAT), to be based in …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  ADEX 2017: Uconsystem and Firstec expand ranges

  19th October 2017

  Uconsystem, a South Korean manufacturer of UAVs, demonstrated a strong move into the commercial market at Seoul ADEX 2017 as it builds upon military sales …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Air Hopper demonstrated to IDF

  20th October 2017

  Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is continuing the development of its Air Hopper VTOL UAS platform, having recently completed a proof of concept demonstration to Israeli …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  ADEX 2017: Korean Air promotes crewless aircraft

  17th October 2017

  Amongst its range of UAVs covering the tactical to strategic levels the Aerospace Business Division of Korean Air showed a new type known as the …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

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

  Onboard Mini-Drone Systems (SMDM) (69-90) [France]

  Background Contract Announcement On 3 February 2026, Airbus, Survey Copter’s parent company, announced that the French Directorate General of Armament (DGA) had ordered the Aliaca VTOL variant ...

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

  Camcopter S-300 [South Korea]

  Programme Background Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) On 18 January 2023, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Northop Grumman at a ...

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

  Embarked VTOL UAV [South Korea]

  Background VTOL Development In January 2024, South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced that it would commence development of a VTOL-capable rotary-wing UAV to be ...

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

  Ship-Bourne VTOL UAV [Singapore]

  Background Multi-Role Combat Vessel  The Republic of Singapore Navy will retire its six Victory-class corvettes and replace them with a new platform, the Multi-Role Combat ...

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

  K1000ULE [USMC]

  Programme Background Contact Award After a comprehensive down-selection evaluation, Kraus Hamdani Aerospace's K1000ULE drone won the USN's PMA 263 contract in April 2024. The company will now provide the USN ...

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

  UAV Tactical Level [Norway]

  Background Request for Information (RfI) In September 2022, the Norwegian Defence Material Agency (NDMA) launched a request for information in preparation for a possible procurement ...

• Military UAS - rotary-wing

  VTOL UAV [New Zealand]

  Background Defence Capability Plan (DCP) In April 2025, the New Zealand government published the DCP, a document that is essentially a blueprint for what procurements ...

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

  Cargo UAV (Turkey)

  Programme Background Inception & Requirment Turkey's Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) initiated a programme to procure VTOL-capable cargo drones in June 2018. These were planned for ...

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

  Aerobo Wing AS-VT02A [Malaysia]

  Background Requirment As reported by Shephard, in June 2021, Malaysia issued a tender for fixed-wing, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capable UAVs. The tender stated that Malaysia ...

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

  Artillery UAV [Thailand]

  Programme Background Requirement & Replacement The Royal Thai Army (RTA) was understood to be seeking a new tactical UAV to replace four legacy Israel Aerospace Industries ...

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

  Parrot Anafi (Singapore)

  Programme Background On 7 February 2022, the Singapore Army posted photographs on Facebook that showed the Anafi UAV used as training devices in a five-day ...

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

  Tactical Drone System Light (SDTL) [France]

  Programme Background The French 2024-2030 military programme unveiled the SDTL for the special forces and the French Army. According to reports, the requirement would cover 30 ...

• UAS: communication systems

  UAS: communication systems | Project Proteus [UK]

  Project Proteus is an RN and Leonardo effort to design and develop an uncrewed helicopter demonstrator that could provide an innovative alternative to existing crewed ...

• UAS: flight control systems

  UAS: flight control systems | Project Proteus [UK]

  Project Proteus is an RN and Leonardo effort to design and develop an uncrewed helicopter demonstrator that could provide an innovative alternative to existing crewed ...

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

  WanderB or ThunderB [Colombia]

  Programme Background Expodefensa 2019 During Colombia's Expodefensa 2019 exhibition, BlueBird Aero Systems displayed its ThunderB VTOL small UAV. Reportedly, the Colombian Army requested information on ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

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

  Penguin B VTOL

  The Penguin B VTOL is a variant of the Penguin B platform manufactured by Edge Autonomy. Announced in June 2021, the variant is a reliable, long-endurance ...

• Ikarus

  The Ikarus is a rotary-wing UAV suitable for various roles, including agricultural survey, industrial inspection, search and rescue, and all aspects of health and safety ...

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

  Spider VTOL

  The Spider VTOL is a mini electrical fixed-wing UAV. Unlike traditional VTOL UAVs with dedicated motors, propellors and structural parts for performing take-off and landing, the Spider ...

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

  VTOL UAV

  The Defence Technology Institute launched the VTOL UAV R&D; project in cooperation with the Naval Research and Development Office, Royal Thai Navy and private sector ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing

  Zala VTOL

  Manufactured by Zala Aero Group, the ZALA VTOL is a hybrid platform that can be operated both as a fixed-wing and rotary-wing UAV due to ...

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

  Argus VTOL

  The Argus VTOL, currently in development, is part of the Argus family of UAVs manufactured by Free Horizons, which also features the Argus Predator Mk ...

• Lynx VTOL

  The Lynx VTOL aircraft takes off like a helicopter, flies like a fixed-wing aircraft and is used for precision agriculture and surveying. It has an ...

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

  Rakshak VTOL

  The Rakshak VTOL is a fixed-wing UAV with an EO/IR sensor for ISR missions. Developed by TATA Advanced Systems, the UAV is VTOL-capable, allowing it to operate ...

• Air: aerial targets

  Viking VTOL

  The Viking VTOL is an aerial target designed to mimic the size and flight characteristics of most larger, Group 1 (and potentially Group 2) platforms.  Boresight has ...

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

  Aliaca VTOL

  Unveiled in April 2025, the Aliaca VTOL is, as its name suggests, a VTOL-capable variant of the Aliaca from Survey Copter, an Airbus Defence & Space subsidiary. As part ...

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

  Stream C VTOL

  At IDEX 2019, Threod Systems unveiled a new version of the Stream C UAS, capable of VTOL manoeuvres. Known as the Stream C VTOL, this ...

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

  ThunderB-NG VTOL

  The ThunderB-Next Generation VTOL, or ThunderB-NG VTOL, is a vertical take-off and landing capable version of the ThunderB. The fixed-wing UAV features a fully autonomous flight control system ...

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

  Zada

  Zada is a mini fixed-wing UAV designed for intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance (ISR) missions. It features tilt-rotor systems, which give it a VTOL capability.

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

  Zala 421-22

  The Zala 421-22 is a rotary-wing UAV designed for ship- or land-based reconnaissance and surveillance, bomb damage assessment and real-time target acquisition. The VTOL UAV ...

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

  SR-10 VTOL

  Deftech showcased the SR-10 VTOL at DSA 2022. It has been locally designed in Malaysia to conduct aerial mapping, surveillance and line inspection missions. The hand-launched platform is powered ...