• Uncrewed Vehicles

  MQ-25 engine inlet analysis pays dividends, says Boeing

  23rd April 2021

  Boeing's MQ-25 unmanned aerial refueller has benefitted from engine inlet analysis as the manufacturer looks ahead to low-rate production.

• Land Warfare

  Galvion delivers first Silent Watch packs for LAV 6.0

  15th April 2021

  The 40Kwh Silent Watch system will provide power to run the mounted surveillance system on the LAV 6.0 vehicle in Canada.

• Training

  US Army ready to adopt AR for medic training

  23rd April 2021

  The US Army is investing in VR/AR/MR to improve the training that is on offer for its combat medics.

• Training

  Can an exercise cause a war?

  14th April 2021

  As Russia concentrates its forces on its border with Ukraine, NATO and Russia continue to blame each other for the current friction, much of it attributed by Moscow to NATO exercises in Ukraine.

• Defence Notes

  Air power leaks leave Command Paper to tell old news

  22nd March 2021

  On air force issues, much of what is in the UK's new Command Paper has previously been leaked to the media.

• Land Warfare

  Australia to splash out on heavy armour

  4th May 2021

  Modern Abrams tanks, bridge-layers, recovery vehicles and breaching vehicles for Australia await contract signature.

• Land Warfare

  Slovakia tests IFV contenders

  19th April 2021

  The Slovak MoD is pushing ahead with the procurement of new infantry fighting vehicles to replace its old Soviet-era platforms. Companies interested in bidding for the programme are bringing their platforms to Slovakia to demonstrate their capabilities throughout early 2021.

• Air Warfare

  Singapore MRTTs attain full capability, certified for F-15 tanking

  20th April 2021

  Singapore's fleet of aerial refuelling tankers is up and running, although the RSAF continues to improve the autonomy of its tanking missions.

• Land Warfare

  Hanwha declares large UGV a success

  23rd April 2021

  Hanwha continues to invest heavily in unmanned ground vehicles destined for the country's military.

• Naval Warfare

  USN orders more Tomahawks

  18th March 2021

  Lot 17 production Block V Tomahawk cruise missiles to be provided to USN by December 2023.

• Defence Notes

  DARPA funds research into next-generation PPE

  20th April 2021

  DARPA is working with industry on 'unburdening the warfighter' by developing advanced and ultra-lightweight personal protective equipment. Its Personalized Protective Biosystems programme pre-dates COVID-19, but it arguably assumes even greater importance for defence procurement in the context of the pandemic.

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  US Army takes mixed-fleet FTUAS buy into consideration

  3rd March 2021

  The US Army has just wrapped up almost a year's worth of FTUAS testing and is looking ahead to a formal acquisition. It could see fit to buy more than one aircraft type currently under consideration.

• Land Warfare

  Russia promotes Uran — but to what purpose?

  21st April 2021

  Russia wants to expand its fleet of robotic ground vehicles and is setting up a unit equipped with combat UGVs – but doctrine and CONOPS require more work.

• Air Warfare

  Lancer radar undergoes support work

  12th April 2021

  Northrop Grumman will design a new radar instrumentation system for the B-1B.

• Defence Helicopter

  USMC thinks hard about cutting CH-53K King Stallion numbers

  12th March 2021

  The USMC is weighing up whether or not to reduce CH-53K heavy-helicopter numbers but a decision on that front has not been taken in line with schedule.

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - MALE

  Future Vertical Lift Maritime Strike (FVL-MS) [USA]

  Programme Background Requirement The FVL-MS programme seeks to develop and acquire a family of systems, including crewed and uncrewed aircraft, to replace rotary life aircraft utilised ...

• Tiltrotors

  V-22 Osprey [Japan]

  Programme Background Procurement Contracts The Japanese government is the first export customer of the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey, having ordered 17 helicopters from the US across ...

• Loitering munitions

  Launched Effects - Short Range (LE-SR) [US]

  Background Air-launched effect (ALE) In 2022, the US sought a family of systems comprising an air vehicle, payload, mission systems applications and support equipment to ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  MQ-8C Fire Scout (USA)

  Programme Background Timeline According to the Naval Air Systems Command, having first ordered the MQ-8B in 2009, the UAV has become a pillar of the ...

• 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 - tactical

  Heavy Lift UAV [Germany]

  Background  Victor U250 agreement On 10 June 2026, at ILA Berlin, Rheinmetall, ERC Systems, and the North Rhine-Westphalia state formed a strategic partnership to lay ...

• Loitering munitions

  Launched Effects - Medium Range (LE-MR) [US]

  Background Air-launched effect (ALE) In 2022, the US sought a family of systems comprising an air vehicle, payload, mission systems applications and support equipment to ...

• 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 ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  Project Proteus [UK]

  Background Requirements The RN requires an uncrewed helicopter to test the viability of larger uncrewed aircraft, possibly providing an alternative to crewed aircraft such as the ...

• Military UAS - tactical

  Heavy Lift VTOL (HVTOL) [US Army]

  Background USMC First, Army Second In September 2021, Kaman unveiled its Kargo UAV, specifically designed to meet the requirements of the Medium Aerial Resupply Vehicle – Expeditionary ...

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  Heavy-lift Helicopter STH [Germany]

  Background Requirement The German government issued a tender in March 2019 for the procurement of heavy-lift helicopters under the Schwerer Transporthubschrauber (STH) program, 60 units are ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) (MV-75 Cheyenne II) [USA]

  Programme Background US Army's Future Vertical Lift Programme The FLRAA is one of three strands of a broader army programme. The others are the Future ...

• Military UAS - small

  Intra-Theatre Lift [UK]

  Background  Relationship to the Heavy Lift Challenge The Royal Navy (RN) embarked on the Heavy Lift Challenge, now called the Heavy Lift Capability (UASHLC), to explore cargo-carrying ...

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  CH-47F CHINOOK [USA]

  Programme Background As the Army's only heavy-lift helicopter, the CH-47F Improved Cargo helicopter is an essential component of the Army's Multi-Domain Battle framework. The CH-47F ...

• Transport

  Large Transport Aircraft-II (LTA-II) [South Korea]

  Programme Background Requirements The aircraft are needed for peacetime, international peacekeeping, emergency and combat operations. They are especially required to ensure a strategic lift capacity ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - MALE

  Korean Future Vertical Lift (KFVL)

  Unveiled at KADEX 2024, the Korean Future Vertical Lift (KFVL) is a family of uncrewed helicopters from Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). Despite being in the ...

• Military UAS - tactical

  Aerosonde Mk 4.8 HQ FTUAS

  From the Texton family of Aerosonde UAS, the Aerosonde Mk 4.8 Hybrid Quad (HQ) FTUAS is a tactical drone purpose-built to meet the US Army's Future Vertical Lift ...

• Military UAS - tactical

  HQ-60

  Similarly to other platforms in the L3 Technologies Hybrid Quadrotor (HQ) and Fixed-Wing Rotator family (see separate entries) of VTOL fixed-wing UAVs, the HQ-60 has ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  SB-1 Defiant

  The SB-1 Defiant is a Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) aircraft. Sikorsky and Boeing announced in February 2013 that they would submit a joint proposal ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  V-247 Vigilant

  The V-247 Vigilant is a tiltrotor UAV from Bell. Officially introduced in 2016, it features an open modular architecture and can host several payloads. These include ...

• Air: Displays

  F-15 Replacement Vertical Situation Display

  BAE Systems Replacement Vertical Situation Display (RVSD) replaces the legacy VSD units on F-15E aircraft. The AMLCD display offers a larger display size and is compatible ...

• Air: Helmet-mounted displays

  X-Sight

  Elbit X-Sight is a developmental helmet-mounted display system designed for helicopters. According to the manufacturer, it will offer a high field of view and colour binocular ...

• Military helicopters - multirole, Military UAS - tactical

  Hexa

  The Hexa, or LIFT Hexa, is a rotary-wing aircraft developed by LIFT Aircraft for military and commercial markets. Due to its configuration and triple redundant autopilot computer, ...

• Military UAS - small

  H6 Poseidon

  Manufactured by Swarmly, the H6 Poseidon is a fixed-wing VTOL-capable UAV. The second largest member of the Poseidon family, the vertical lift is provided through ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  DrN-600

  The DrN-600 is a medium-lift cargo UAV developed by Singapore-based manufacturer ST Engineering. The platform combines vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) with wing-borne forward flight and ...

• Military UAS - tactical

  Victor U250

  The Victor U250 is a heavy lift drone in development by ERC Systems. The UAV has been developed by ERC for critical mission applications including ...

• Light UGVs

  Avenger

  In January 2017, Med-Eng announced the launch of a new bomb disposal and tactical robot, called the Avenger, at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas. ...

• Military UAS - mini

  Veloce-15

  The ST Engineering Veloce-15 (V-15) is a hybrid fixed-wing UAV with four rotors for vertical lift and a tail-mounted two-bladed pusher propeller for horizontal propulsion.  ...

• Military UAS - mini

  Loong 2

  The Loong 2 is a rotary-wing mini-UAV manufactured by LoongUAV. Designed for ISR missions, the UAV features a universal plug-and-play standardised interface, meaning a lot of different ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  Proteus

  Proteus is a technology demonstrator that Leonardo is developing in collaboration with the UK MoD's Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S;) Future Capabilities Group and the ...