• Land Warfare

  How the Ukraine war is shifting the US Army’s EW capabilities

  4th November 2024

  The branch has been planning multi-billion dollar investments in reliable communications and solutions to prevent enemy detection.

• Land Warfare

  German rearmament – three potential scenarios

  5th September 2025

  With the possibility of a massive increase in German defence spending on the horizon, Shephard analyses what such a boost could mean for the Bundeswehr’s procurement of new armoured vehicles.

• Air Warfare

  Finland secures possible $1.07 billion AMRAAM deal with US State Department

  12th September 2025

  The Nordic country is set to bolster its defence capabilities after its foreign military sales request for AIM-120D-3 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAMs) was approved.

• Land Warfare

  UK MoD extends Army training programme with Saab

  28th October 2024

  Saab signed an initial three-year contract with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) in April 2024 for the provision of support to live simulation systems with ILT-D (instrumented live training), valued at £60 million. The new contract has been extended to include Oman.

• Land Warfare

  First UK-made British Army Boxer rolled out

  21st January 2025

  The first batch of 623 Boxer ordered were built in Germany with the majority of the work now done in West Midlands and North-East Wales.

• Air Warfare

  US clears Australia for MC-55A fleet upgrade

  8th August 2025

  The upgrade package, at a cost of US$404 million, will support the aircraft which are due to be delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) this year after a series of delays to the programme.

• Naval Warfare

  Chinese icebreaker sailing in the US Arctic mobilises the US Coast Guard’s assets

  29th July 2025

  The growing presence of Beijing’s vessels in the Arctic has been challenging the US, while the Coast Guard still struggles with ageing platforms and delayed acquisition programmes.

• Naval Warfare

  US Coast Guard orders 10 additional Fast Response Cutters

  16th September 2025

  The USCG exercised a $507 million contract option for the acquisition of 10 extra FRCs. This new order will raise the total number of Sentinel-class vessels procured by the service from 67 to 77.

• Air Warfare

  Tiltrotor: The Long-Range Maneuver Solution

  25th February 2025

  If competition turns to conflict, the United States, along with its allies and partners, must be prepared to confront peer and near-peer competitors capable of achieving parity in military capability.

• Naval Warfare

  US Navy selects 25 companies for up to $1.9 billion nuclear submarine contract

  4th September 2025

  The multi-award contract will support the scheduled repair and maintenance of nuclear-powered attack submarines at the US Navy’s primary public shipyards.

• Air Warfare

  US boosts missile buy with $7.8 billion in AMRAAM, JASSM and LRASM contracts

  4th August 2025

  Raytheon has been awarded a contract by the US Pentagon for Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) and Lockheed Martin for Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM) munitions as global demand increases.

• Land Warfare

  Romania acquires additional Patriot air defence systems

  7th January 2025

  The third Patriot order from the country comprised radars, control stations and missiles.

• Land Warfare

  British Army programme cuts could continue in 2025

  24th December 2024

  The six-month old Labour leadership in the UK has already made cuts and army programmes could be on the chopping block in 2025. Where might the axe fall?

• Air Warfare

  BAE Systems lauds counter-UAS drone progression with live fire trials

  18th July 2025

  The US-based tests successfully demonstrated the first live trial of a precision guided missile from a modified TRV-150 drone which destroyed both aerial and ground targets.

• Naval Warfare

  Anduril Australia wins A$1.7 billion Ghost Shark XL-AUV contract

  10th September 2025

  The vessels are expected to deliver a major boost to Australia’s undersea warfare capabilities, with production set to start immediately.

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - MALE

  MQ-1 Gray Eagle [US Army]

  Background Required Quantity Although the US Army first envisioned a requirement for 132 MQ-1C Gray Eagles, the US Army's Army Acquisition Objective (AAO) was increased ...

• Tanks

  NGCV: DLP

  Programme Background Requirement The DLP is one of five vehicle families being developed for the US Army's NGCV programme. Expanded to include five programmes in ...

• AGMV 1.1

  Programme Background The US Army has been seeking a lightweight, air-droppable, high mobility vehicle since as early as 2014, when it initiated its Ultra Light ...

• APCs/IFVs - tracked

  AMPV [USA]

  Programme Background Platform Development The US Army initiated the AMPV programme to acquire a replacement for several variants of the M113 tracked APC, which has ...

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

  Heavy Lift VTOL (HVTOL) (Forecast) [US Army]

  Background USMC In September 2021, Kaman unveiled its Kargo UAV, which had been specifically designed to meet the requirements of the Joint Tactical Autonomous Aerial ...

• Military UAS - small

  Long Range Reconnaissance (LRR) / Rucksack Portable UAS (RPUAS) [USA]

  Programme Background The Rucksack Portable UAS (RPUAS) Programme The RPUAS programme will provide the battalion and below-ground manoeuvre elements within the US Army with an ...

• MPVs - 4x4

  JLTV Oshkosh Contract [US Army]

  Programme Background As of January 2021, the US DoD had signed 15 contracts with Oshkosh Defense covering the delivery of approximately 17,731 JLTVs to all ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - MALE

  Group 4/5 UAV [US Army]

  Background Request for Information (RfI) On 5 June 2024, the American DoD published an RfI with an original response date of 19 July 2024. The ...

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

  Future Tactical UAS (FTUAS) (Increment 2) [US Army]

  Programme Background Programme Objective The Future Tactical UAS (FTUAS) was to provide a tactical ISTAR capability for US Army Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs). It was intended to ...

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

  Future Tactical UAS (FTUAS) (Increment 1) [USA]

  Programme Background Programme Objective The Future Tactical UAS (FTUAS) was to provide a tactical ISTAR capability for US Army Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs). It was ...

• APCs/IFVs - 8x8

  Stryker (Sergeant Stout) [USA]

  Programme Background As part of the Army Transformation Initiative the US DoD is fundamentally reorganising the structure of the US Army. As part of this all Infantry ...

• Loitering munitions

  Lethal Miniature Aerial Missile System (LMAMS) [US Army]

  Background First Contract In June 2011, the US awarded AeroVironment a $4.9 million series-production contract for the loitering munition, satisfying the US Army's Lethal Miniature ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing

  Switchblade 300 (USA)

  Programme Background AeroVironment has been providing the Switchblade 300 loitering munition to the US Army under the long-standing Lethal Miniature Aerial Missile Systems (LMAMS) programme ...

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

  Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) [Tranche 1] / Rucksack Portable UAS (RPUAS) (USA)

  Programme Background The Rucksack Portable UAS (RPUAS) Programme The RPUAS programme will provide the Battalion and below-ground manoeuvre elements within the US Army with an ...

• Loitering munitions

  Loitering Munitions [Switzerland]

  Programme Background Announcement In a February 2023 interview with Swiss news outlet CH-Media, Swiss army chief Thomas Süssli stated that the country was considering acquiring loitering ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Air: helicopter flight simulators

  US Army AVCATT PDSS

  L3Harris Technologies is the prime contractor for the US Army’s Aviation Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (AVCATT) Post Deployment Software Support (PDSS) programme. L3Harris Technologies is ...

• Air: helicopter flight simulators

  US Army Flight School XXI OFT/RCTD

  L3Harris Technologies is a major subcontractor to CSC on the US Army’s Flight School XXI (FSXXI) programme. L3Harris Technologies has built or is under contract ...

• Maritime patrol

  US-2

  The ShinMaywa US-2 is an amphibious short take-off and landing aircraft used primarily by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) for SAR. 

• Military helicopters - scout/light attack

  OH-58 Kiowa

  The single-engine OH-58 Kiowa, derived from the Bell 206, entered US Army service in 1969 as a light observation helicopter. More than 2,200 were built for ...

• Towed guns

  M198

  The US Army developed the M198 155mm towed howitzer from 1969 to replace the M114 155mm howitzer. From 1978, 1,600 weapons were built by Rock ...

• Tanks

  M10 Booker

  The US Army awarded General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) a contract worth US$1.14 billion to supply 96 light tanks under the Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) ...

• Towed mortars

  M120/M120A1

  The M120/M120A1 120 mm Towed Mortar System is a US-built version of the Soltam K6 mortar that was accepted into US Army service in 1990.

• JPT

  Designed for military applications, the Joint Platform Tablet (JPT) features a rugged design, including a military-grade aluminium case, dual-core processor, 128GB removable hard drive and ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  UH-72A/B Lakota

  In 2006, the US Army selected a version of the medium-sized, twin-engine H145, designated the UH-72A Lakota,  to meet its requirement for a new Light ...

• Armoured engineer vehicles

  M1150 ABV

  The M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicle (ABV) project, launched by the USMC in 2002, is a joint programme to meet the requirements of both the US ...

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

  RQ-7 Shadow 200

  The Shadow 200, designated RQ-7B by the US Army, is flown by the army brigade combat teams and combat aviation brigades along with the UAV ...

• Infrastructure - bridges

  REBS

  The Rapidly Emplaced Bridge System (REBS) is a 13m dry-gap bridge. It was designed by GDELS to meet a US Army requirement to provide a ...

• Land: Electronic Attack - Jamming

  AN/PLQ-9 Thor-III

  Sierra Nevada’s AN/PLQ-9 Thor-III is the standard Counter Improvised Explosive Device (CIED) manpack system in service with the US Army and US Marine Corps (USMC). ...

• Infrastructure - bridges

  DSB

  WFEL was selected in 1996 to develop the M18 Dry Support Bridge (DSB) for the US Army. The company designed, manufactured and integrated the DSB ...

• Individual grenade launchers

  M320 GLM

  The M320 Grenade Launcher Module (GLM) is a further development of the HK AG36 (see separate entry) to meet a US Army requirement. The M320 ...