• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Ground based sense and avoid capabilities evaluated

  16th November 2012

  Raytheon has announced that as part of its work with the US Air Force (USAF) to integrate unmanned aerial Systems (UAS) into the US National …

• Defence Notes

  Saab extends UK defence presence

  15th November 2012

  Saab plans to extend its presence in the UK by heading its European and Middle Eastern business in London as of 1 January 2013. This …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  X-47B UCAS successfully operated by CDU

  15th November 2012

  Northrop Grumman has taken a first critical step toward demonstrating that the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator can be manoeuvred safely and wirelessly …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  SAIC to develop ACTUV prototype

  13th November 2012

  Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) has been awarded a contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to design, build and test a new …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  DGA reports Watchkeeper programme progress

  9th November 2012

  The French DGA has reported that it has begun evaluation of the Watchkeeper UAV. The Watchkeeper system is being developed by Thales UK to meet …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  ADS-B tracking system demonstrated in UAV flight test

  8th November 2012

  Sagetech has announced that a joint flight demonstration has been carried out between manned aircraft and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with the FAA NextGen …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Wave Glider monitors Hurricane Sandy

  6th November 2012

  Liquid Robotics used one of its Wave Glider USVs to monitor the weather data during Hurricane Sandy, which hit the east coast of the US …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  ScanEagle UAS integrated with McQ ground sensors

  30th October 2012

  The Australian-based subsidiary of Insitu, Insitu Pacific, has successfully integrated its ScanEagle Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) with the McQ iScout Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) and …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  First customer signs on for SkyISTAR UAS mission management system

  29th October 2012

  Selex Galileo are at 'a very advanced stage of negotiation' for the first sale of their SkyISTAR mission-management and data-fusion solution for UAS. Fabrizio Boggiani, …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Selex unveils plans for two new target drones

  29th October 2012

  Following the 2010 announcement of the Mach 0.9, low-radar-cross-section Mirach 100/X, Selex Galileo have unveiled plans for two new products in their long-established target drone …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Falco gets maritime radar as Evo marketing gets underway

  29th October 2012

  Although the Falco platform is in use with five customers, and the larger Evo variant is nearing the end of its flight test programme, Selex …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Kestrel software to be integrated into Insitu UAS

  26th October 2012

  Kestrel land and maritime automated detection software systems are to be integrated into Insitu’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) as part of a long-term licensing agreement …

• Defence Helicopter

  Raytheon enhances CSP with new HD version

  25th October 2012

  Raytheon announced on October 24 that it has successfully demonstrated the enhanced capabilities of its new CSP HD turret, a high definition electro-optical and infrared …

• Military Logistics

  Euronaval 2012: Rolls Royce engine chosen for hovercraft design

  24th October 2012

  Rolls-Royce has been awarded a contract from Textron Marine and Land Systems to provide its MT7 gas turbine for the US Navy's future hovercraft fleet. …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  BACN-equipped Global Hawk delivered to USAF

  24th October 2012

  Northrop Grumman has announced that it delivered a Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN)-equipped Global Hawk unmanned aircraft to the US Air Force (USAF) four months …

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 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 - mini

  U&C reconnaissance drones [US Army]

  Methodology PGO The programme has been assigned a PGO of 100%, as a contract has been awarded. Unit cost It has not been clarified what ...

• Military UAS - small

  Heavy Lift Capability (UASHLC) [UK]

  Programme Background Requirement & Objective The RN identified a requirement to acquire an RPAS to transport cargo and supplies between ships and personnel. When mature, it ...

• 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 ...

• 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

  Shadow R1 [UK]

  Background The RAF is moving forward with an ambitious plan to transform its intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) force to enable greater interoperability ...

• 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 - 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 - 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 ...

• ISR/special mission

  King Air 350ER -Canada

  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 the ...

• Maritime patrol

  P-8A add-on [Canada]

  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 - small

  Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) services [USN]

  Background ISR services In April 2026, several companies announced that the USN had selected them to provide Contractor-Owned, Contractor-Operated (COCO) Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) ...

• 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, ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - tactical

  Zeus

  The Zeus is an Argentine tactical-class UAV from Aerotec, in partnership with its Polish technology partner, Ekolot Aerospace & Defense (EAD). The aircraft is modular and ...

• 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 - 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 - 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

  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

  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 ...

• 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.  ...

• 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) ...

• 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, ...

• 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 - mini

  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 ...

• Military UAS - small

  Nauru 500C

  The Nauru 500C ISR is a VTOL-capable small fixed-wing UAV from Xmobots. Designed for ISR missions, the UAV features XSIS-EO and XSIS-EOLWIR stabilised sensors. The UAV features ...

• Military UAS - small

  Outlaw SeaHunter

  Outlaw UAVs are used by military and research agencies for training, testing, data collection and system development. In the 114-137kg maximum take-off weight class, SeaHunter ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  Viper 1000C

  The Viper 1000C is a fixed-wing MALE UAS. Designed to carry EO/IR sensors over vast distances, it can be employed in a wide variety of ...