• Land Warfare

  Elbit Systems awarded $200 million contract to supply Iron Beam laser

  28th October 2024

  At AUSA 2024, Rafael Advanced Defence Systems outlined plans for three versions of its Iron Beam air defence system and said it expected to field the largest version next year.

• Land Warfare

  Rafael tests on upgraded Trophy APS prove successful

  25th October 2024

  The Israeli manufacturer has upgraded its active protection system to further protect armoured vehicles from attacks from armed drones and loitering weapon systems.

• Land Warfare

  British Army’s commitment to L118 105mm light gun may be death knell for Light Fires Platform

  15th April 2025

  The UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) was running the programme for the Light Fires Platform (LFP) which was touted as the replacement for the 105mm L118 Light Gun used by the Royal Artillery (RA) regular and reserve units.

• Naval Warfare

  Navantia combat systems selected for Chinese-built Thai LPD

  6th March 2025

  The landing platform dock, believed to be the largest naval vessel that China has exported, will see the Chinese-built vessel embrace Western technology.

• Land Warfare

  AUSA 2024: Rafael expanding Iron Beam family and launches production of large version

  15th October 2024

  Rafael Advanced Defence Systems’ Iron Beam laser for air, UAS and missile defence made its debut at AUSA 2022 and the company is now sweating its investment in the asset to provide protection at different levels.

• Naval Warfare

  Long development phases for capital ships not viable to deal with future threats, says Indra

  27th February 2025

  Defence technology firm Indra believes governments, militaries and industry must focus more on technology to achieve effective naval warfighting.

• Land Warfare

  Steadicopter launches Golden Eagle Heavy Strike RUAS in Washington

  16th October 2024

  Using its platform at AUSA 2024, Steadicopter launched its latest rotary unmanned aerial system (RUAS), having worked alongside partner Rafael on the platform’s payload.

• Land Warfare

  IDEX 2025: IAI pushes ahead with new systems as international interest is roused in Iron Dome

  18th February 2025

  Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) CEO Boaz Levy spoke to Shephard about the company’s decades-long development of it missile portfolio, at a time when countries around the world have been demonstrating a growing appetite in procuring national missile defence systems.

• Naval Warfare

  Indra proposes “Internet of Underwater Things” as possible next step in naval warfare

  11th March 2025

  A new concept of underwater warfare could be needed to take naval defence to its next evolution.

• Land Warfare

  Layered Defence: How new technologies are enhancing armoured vehicle survivability and manoeuvrability (Studio)

  10th October 2024

  As modern threats evolve, armoured fighting vehicles face a new era of challenges, from loitering munitions to kinetic energy projectiles. Advances in active, passive, and reactive protection systems are crucial to ensuring battlefield dominance, freedom of manouver and vehicle survivability.

• Defence Notes

  Ukraine leads the way on battlefield use of directed energy weapons

  18th February 2025

  Increased drone use in Ukraine and in Middle Eastern conflicts has created a strong impetus to develop laser and radio-frequency firepower as exploration of direct-energy technology intensifies.

• Land Warfare

  The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle continues its success as the new variant rolls out

  20th March 2025

  The Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) is becoming the dominant platform in its class as it replaces most of the massive US Army and US Marine Corps (USMC) fleets of HMMWV 4x4s, colloquially known as the Humvee. Shephard dives deep into the JLTV programme background and analyses the latest variants and contracts, including the controversial production switch to AM General and the continued contracts continuing to head Oshkosh's way.

• Land Warfare

  Singapore enhances air defence coverage for army forces in the field

  4th October 2024

  The adapted SPYDER system extends the reach and lethality of the air defence coverage of army units in their area of operations.

• Land Warfare

  Israel turns to advanced situational awareness systems to enhance Merkava and Eitan commanders’ field of vision

  16th August 2024

  Fighting in urban areas has revealed to Israeli forces the vulnerability of their armoured vehicles to anti-tank weapons.

• Land Warfare

  Challenger 3 programme promises capability upgrade as first delivery milestone approaches

  23rd August 2024

  The British Army’s Challenger 3 main battle tank (MBT) will replace existing Challenger 2s with a smaller but more capable fleet of vehicles with improved protection and notably a 120mm L55A1 smoothbore gun firing an Enhanced Kinetic Energy round. The programme is advancing rapidly with several hurdles cleared in the past year.

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• APCs/IFVs - 8x8

  Boxer (Vilkas) [Lithuania - Second Batch]

  Programme Background  Lithuania's Boxers are manufactured by the ARTEC production lines in Germany and the Netherlands. KMW is responsible for producing 56 of the vehicles ...

• APCs/IFVs - 8x8

  Boxer (Vilkas) [Lithuania - Additional Units]

  Programme Background  Lithuania's Boxers are manufactured by the ARTEC production lines in Germany and the Netherlands. KMW is responsible for producing 56 of the vehicles ...

• APCs/IFVs - 8x8

  Boxer (Vilkas) [Lithuania - First Batch]

  Programme Background Lithuania's Boxers are manufactured by the ARTEC production lines in Germany and the Netherlands. KMW is responsible for producing 56 of the vehicles ...

• Fighter - electronic warfare

  Jamming and Escort Electronic Attack Aircraft (luWES) [Germany]

  Programme Background According to earlier reports, Berlin had earlier decided to procure 15 EA-18G Growlers over the Eurofighter Typhoon ECR concept, which is expected to be ...

• APCs/IFVs - 8x8

  VCR (Batch 2) [Spain]

  Programme Background Purpose The VCR programme is to replace several legacy wheeled and tracked vehicles currently in service with the Spanish Army including the BMR-600 6x6, ...

• APCs/IFVs - 8x8

  VCR (Third Batch) [Spain]

  Programme Background Purpose The VCR programme is to replace several legacy wheeled and tracked vehicles currently in service with the Spanish Army including the BMR-600 ...

• APCs/IFVs - 8x8

  VCR (Batch 1) [Spain]

  Programme Background Purpose The VCR programme is to replace several legacy wheeled and tracked vehicles currently in service with the Spanish Army including the BMR-600 6x6, ...

• Loitering munitions

  Maritime Launched Effects (MLE) [US]

  Background Origin & Requirment The loitering munition effort dates back to at least 2018 and used to be called the Maritime Precision Engagement (MPE). The US Special ...

• APCs/IFVs - 8x8

  Boxer [Slovenia]

  Programme Background Requirement As part of its broader military modernisation plans outlined in its Medium-Term Defense Plan 2018-2023, the Slovenian MoD identified a requirement for ...

• Loitering munitions

  Loitering Munitions [Germany]

  Programme Background Testing Models Between April 2023 and April 2025, the German Army acquired various loitering munitions to further assess their suitability for the German ...

• APCs/IFVs - tracked

  Project Land 400 Phase 3 [Australia]

  Programme Background Requirement: 2015 RfI The Land 400 Phase 3 programme will procure a new tracked IFV to replace the Australian Army's legacy fleet of ...

• APCs/IFVs - tracked

  Hunter [Singapore - Contracted]

  Programme Background Development of the Hunter began in 2006 and was assisted by Singapore's Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA). At least five variants of the platform ...

• Military helicopters - scout/light attack

  Project Land 2097 Phase 4 [Australia]

  Programme Background According to the RfI, under Project Land 2097 Phase 4, the selected helicopter must comprise a commercial or military off-the-shelf solution that is ...

• APCs/IFVs - tracked

  Hunter IFV [Singapore - Forecast]

  Programme Background Development of the Hunter began in 2006 and was assisted by Singapore's Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA). At least five variants of the platform ...

• Loitering munitions

  Testing Loitering Munitions [Germany]

  Programme Background Three Tested Models In April 2023, Germany reportedly ordered three different loitering munition systems to assess further their suitability for use by the German ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

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

  Spark

  The Spark is a fixed-wing UAV manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems and Aeronautics. Little is known about the drone, other than that, in September ...

• Air-to-air missiles, Surface-to-air missiles

  I-Derby

  The I-Derby is an advanced beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missile developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. It builds upon the capabilities of the original Derby missile ...

• EO/IR systems

  LITENING

  The LITENING Advanced Targeting Pod is an electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) system designed to detect, acquire, identify, and track targets over extended ranges.  It supports diverse mission ...

• Land: Defensive Systems - Gunshot Detection / Hostile Fire Indicator

  SpotLite P

  The SpotLite-P is a portable EO muzzle flash detection and positioning system developed by Rafael. It is based on previous Rafael flash detection and hostile ...

• Surface-to-air missiles

  SkySonic

  The SkySonic is an advanced hypersonic missile interceptor developed by Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Unveiled in June 2023, it is designed to counter the ...

• Anti-ship missiles

  Sea Breaker

  Sea Breaker is a precision-guided, long-range, autonomous missile system manufactured by Rafael. Debuted at DSEI 2021, the platform delivers pinpoint strikes from stand-off ranges up to 300km ...

• Surface-to-air missiles

  Tamir

  Tamir is a short-range, surface-to-air missile developed for Israel's Iron Dome air defence system. Each missile firing unit, carried on 8x8 heavy-duty trucks, consists of ...

• Individual assault/anti-tank weapons

  Spike SR

  Part of Rafael's Spike missile family, the fire-and-forget, man-portable Spike Short Range (SR) EO-guided missile system has operational capabilities in all weather conditions. Although the ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  Drone Dome

  Drone Dome is a counter-UAS system manufactured by Rafael. It is designed to provide detection, identification, classification, neutralisation, and interception against aerial threats such as ...

• Naval guns

  Typhoon 25mm Naval Gun System

  Typhoon is a medium-calibre naval gun system developed and produced by Israeli Rafael. It was initially launched in 1997 (the Mk-23 version). Today, there are ...

• Land: Radio and SATCOM

  BNET-V

  BNET-V is a MANET Software-Defined Radio for vehicles. Designed by Rafael, the multiband radio has a modular architecture and offers compatibility with several legacy systems.

• Military - USVs

  Protector

  The Protector, having been in use since 2004, was the first USV to enter operational service. It is manufactured by Rafael and designed for coastal ...

• Air-to-air missiles

  Python-3

  The Python-3 is an Israeli beyond-visual-range anti-air missile developed by Rafael and emerged from Israel's earlier development of the Shafrir-1 and Shafrir-2 missiles. 

• Multipurpose missiles

  Spike ER

  The Spike ER is a fourth-generation, multipurpose missile fitted with EO charge-coupled device/imaging IR sensors for operation during the day, night and in adverse weather. ...

• Naval: shipboard communication systems

  SeaCom

  Rafael SeaCom is a shipboard communication system that integrates internal and external communication under a single suite. Featuring a modular design, the IP-based system can ...