• Digital Battlespace

  Airbus launches RedKite camera

  1st June 2015

  Airbus Defence and Space has launched RedKite, a new short-wave infrared technology (SWIR) camera, designed to give a clear view in spite of mist, fog …

• Land Warfare

  Poland plans $42bn modernisation

  1st June 2015

  Poland plans to invest up to 150 billion zlotys ($42 billion) to modernise its armed forces over the next 10 years. The planned volume of …

• Digital Battlespace

  Lockheed C4ISR for USCGC Midgett

  1st June 2015

  Lockheed Martin has received a $72 million contract to provide the C4ISR system to the future USCGC Midgett, the eighth National Security Cutter (NSC) of …

• Land Warfare

  MCL wins UK electronic surveillance contract

  29th May 2015

  Marlborough Communications Limited (MCL) has been awarded a contract from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) for its Light Weight Electronic Surveillance Capability (LWESC), it …

• Digital Battlespace

  ADF C-17A demos new SATCOM, display system

  21st May 2015

  An Australian Defence Force (ADF) C-17A Globemaster fitted with a new imagery display and Satellite Communication (SATCOM) system has demonstrated its capabilities to senior ADF …

• Land Warfare

  EOS provides subsystems to Hyundai WIA in South Korea

  15th May 2015

  Electro Optic Systems (EOS), based in Australia, has announced receipt of a contract from Hyundai WIA in South Korea to supply advanced military subsystems and …

• Naval Warfare

  IMDEX Asia: ASIA Infrared Systems introduces new Cyclope functions

  14th May 2015

  ASIA Infrared Systems – a provider of thermal imaging technologies and systems – will showcase new functionalities for its Cyclope advanced image processing software at …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  AUVSI 2015 (video): Big fans of the Hummingbird

  11th May 2015

  Allen Bishop, the founder of Reference Technologies, tells Shephard about the company's Hummingbird ducted fan-powered UAV on display at the AUVSI exhibition in Atlanta. The …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Drone Aviation wins order for WASP aerostat systems

  8th May 2015

  Drone Aviation has received an order for a set of Winch Aerostat Small Platform (WASP) aerostat systems from defence contractor Troll Systems, the company announced …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Trimble introduces BD935-INS module with precision GNSS

  8th May 2015

  Trimble has introduced its BD935-INS module featuring precision GNSS with an integrated 3-D Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) inertial sensor package, as announced on 6 May. The …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  UAV Vision gimbal selected for Airbus Zephyr 8

  8th May 2015

  The solar-powered Zephyr 8 is part of the High-Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) programme being conducted by Airbus Defence and Space, and in early May the company …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  AUVSI 2015: US Navy outlines vision for the future

  7th May 2015

  The US Navy has ambitious goals for the future use of unmanned assets, which will see families of interconnected systems gathering information able to be …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  CPI awarded MALE UAV antenna contract

  6th May 2015

  Communications & Power Industries' (CPI) Malibu Division has been awarded a $3.5 million contract to supply advanced antenna products for a medium altitude long endurance …

• Digital Battlespace

  IDEF 2015: Fotoniks and BAE to deliver Turkish digital displays

  6th May 2015

  Turkish electronics company Fotoniks will deliver 16 new LiteHUD (Heads Up Display) systems to the Turkish Air Force with the assistance of BAE Systems. The …

• Land Warfare

  Lockheed Martin opens missile seeker lab

  5th May 2015

  Lockheed Martin has opened a new laboratory in Silicon Valley for the development of next-generation seekers for the US Missile Defense Agency, as announced by …

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 ...