• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Fire Scout UAV reaches 5,000 flight hours in Afghanistan

  14th August 2013

  The MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter has surpassed 5,000 flight hours in support of operations in Afghanistan since its first deployment in 2011. Prime contractor …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  AUVSI 2013: Triton aims for 11-hour endurance mark

  14th August 2013

  The US Navy’s MQ-4C Triton will attempt an 11-hour flight on 14 August as part of ongoing tests, programme managers have revealed. Addressing a media …

• Defence Helicopter

  AUVSI 2013: Royal Navy selects AgustaWestland for RWUAS

  13th August 2013

  The Royal Navy has awarded AgustaWestland a £2.3 million contract to develop its Rotary Wing Unmanned Aerial System (RWUAS) concept. It is understood that the …

• Digital Battlespace

  E-2D Advanced Hawkeye enters full-rate production

  13th August 2013

  The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft will move into full-rate production following the award of a $617 million contract to Northrop Grumman by the US Navy …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Keymerging Technologies orders Responder UAV

  13th August 2013

  ING Robotic Aviation has announced that it will provide its Responder rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicle system (UAV) to Keymerging Technologies for use in aerial …

• Defence Helicopter

  AUVSI 2013: Sikorsky goes public with 'Matrix'

  13th August 2013

  Sikorsky has officially introduced its latest unmanned research and development (R&D) programme, the Matrix autonomous technology demonstrator, at the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  AUVSI 2013: ‘Wave Relay’ unveiled for UAV swarm ops

  13th August 2013

  Persistent Systems is integrating a MANET communications capability onto an undisclosed US customer’s UAV for use in ‘swarm’ applications, company officials have revealed. Speaking to …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  HoodTech Vision introduces dual-payload on a single aircraft

  12th August 2013

  HoodTech Vision has demonstrated the ability for a single aircraft to carry two stabilised imaging systems. The system allows operators to simultaneously and independently operate …

• Digital Battlespace

  Analysts warn against reliance on Chinese weather satellites

  8th August 2013

  The US Department of Defense (DoD) is in danger of relying on Chinese state-owned satellites for future meteorological service requirements should a suitable alternative fail …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  CAE USA to train USAF Predator and Reaper aircrew

  8th August 2013

  CAE USA will provide comprehensive Predator and Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) aircrew training services to the US Air Force (USAF) under a new $20 …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Knifefish UUV programme makes progress

  6th August 2013

  The US Navy’s programme to deploy the Knifefish Surface Mine Countermeasure Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) has reached a new milestone, with General Dynamics Advanced Information …

• Naval Warfare

  US Navy orders 13 P-8A Poseidon aircraft

  2nd August 2013

  Boeing will supply 13 additional P-8A Poseidon aircraft to the US Navy under a recently signed $1.98 billion contract announced on 1 August. The order …

• Digital Battlespace

  US Army completes second 'Enterprise Challenge'

  2nd August 2013

  The US Army has completed the second iteration of Exercise ‘Enterprise Challenge’ with the demonstration of its Distributed Common Ground System-Army (DCGS-A) capability. Held at …

• Digital Battlespace

  Northrop Grumman SABR selected for F-16 AESA upgrade

  1st August 2013

  Northrop Grumman will supply its Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) for the US Air Force and Taiwan F-16 radar modernisation and upgrade programme, following the …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Orbital announces UAV engine contract

  31st July 2013

  Orbital will develop a next-generation unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) engine for an unnamed customer in the US under a new contract announced on 31 July. …

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

  Feb 2018: The US State Department has approved an estimated $259m potential foreign military sale of King Air 350ER intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft ...

• 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 - fixed-wing, Military UAS - rotary-wing

  ISR Civilian-Made UAVs [Taiwan]

  Background Civilian-made, Military-specification As reported by Shephard, to accelerate the acquisition process and urgently create a larger UAV inventory, Taipei is enlisting the help of the ...

• 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 ...

• 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 ...

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

  V-Bat [Netherlands]

  Background Contract Award On 9 July 2025, Shield AI announced that the Netherlands MoD had acquired eight V-Bat, specifically the V-Bat 400, aircraft to enhance the maritime intelligence, surveillance ...

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 ...

• 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 - 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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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, ...

• 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 ...

• 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) ...

• 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 ...

• Indago 2

  Lockheed Martin's Indago 2 UAS is designed to be programmed and integrated into existing systems and work processes for a range of applications. The folding, ...

• Foremost UAS Range

  The Foremost UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) Range is an area of restricted airspace, located near the village of Foremost, for UAS research and development or ...