• Air Warfare

  UK firm Skycutter comes out top in first US Drone Dominance Program competition

  12th March 2026

  The startup was the only UK company to take part in the first Gauntlet for the programme, joining forces with its Ukraine partner to participate in the event.

• Land Warfare

  “A staggering rate of change”: how experience combating IEDs is being applied to the C-UAS arena

  10th June 2026

  The scale of the current escalation in drone attacks is fuelling demand for C-UAS technology that must address a rapidly evolving and expanding threat. Against this background, important lessons can be learned from the battle against IEDs, with networked responses and dispersed capabilities essential to deliver enduring protection.

• Air Warfare

  Ukraine fighter jet plans accelerate with Sweden and Belgian updates

  12th May 2026

  The country could be on the cusp of finalising an historic deal with Saab for up to 150 aircraft, with Belgium also increasing its number of donated F-16 aircraft to 53 with refreshed delivery timelines.

• Naval Warfare

  Latest Russian subsea standoff puts pressure on the UK’s seabed defence strategy

  14th April 2026

  UK defence secretary John Healey’s exposure of a covert Russian deep-sea operation against undersea infrastructure in the Atlantic validates the Royal Navy’s Atlantic Bastion concept but lays bare a capacity gap that autonomous systems, allied integration and sustained investment must close.

• Air Warfare

  Saab Gripen E/F: the multirole fighter that’s seeing a resurgence (updated 2026)

  14th April 2026

  The single-engine multirole fighter jet is seeing heightened demand with a sizeable orderbook and expanding export potential, as Shephard summarises the aircraft’s latest orders and developments.

• Land Warfare

  NATO boosts uncrewed usage and shifts on concept of operations based on lessons learned from Ukraine

  12th May 2026

  The war in Ukraine remains a focus of procurement, concepts of operation, tactics and training for NATO countries. The Crystal Arrow Exercise in Latvia, ongoing until 15 May, is a reflection of this.

• Land Warfare

  Ukraine’s ground robot army still finding its feet

  31st October 2025

  Ukraine’s quest to replace soldiers with robots is hitting technical snags. Shephard spoke with industry leaders about difficulties in the field and what solutions are in the pipeline.

• Land Warfare

  Romania selects Rheinmetall Lynx IFV as local defence manufacturing expands

  8th May 2026

  As part of a multi-billion-dollar vehicle and artillery overhaul, Romania has officially selected the KF41 Lynx IFV to replace its ageing Soviet-based platforms.

• Land Warfare

  Ukraine and NATO look to industry to boost capability plans

  5th June 2026

  The Ukraine-Russia war has highlighted the force-multiplying capability of innovation and adaptation of industry and individual companies. NATO is attempting to introduce this flexibility while Ukraine is accelerating these efforts and looking for industrial support.

• Air Warfare

  NATO countries test Canadian-made, high-speed “cannibal” drone

  2nd June 2026

  INKAS Anuri CUAS drone has been built to engage consumer, commercial and modified first-person view enemy drones flying at speeds of up to 400 km/h.

• Land Warfare

  Drone wars: countries are looking for answers but do companies have the solutions?

  18th March 2026

  Manufacturers are speeding up their counter-drone development efforts as countries increasingly focus on procurements to provide battlefield and national protection.

• Air Warfare

  Eurosatory 2026: How the deep-strike, loitering munition market skyrocketed to $13.8 billion in three years

  18th June 2026

  Ukraine’s rapid development of long-range, deep-strike loitering munitions has helped turn the sector into a market worth an estimated US$13.2 billion. The reasons behind this were outlined during Eurosatory 2026, as other countries embark on the early stages of procuring this capability.

• Naval Warfare

  Eurosatory 2026: Red Cat eyes South American market for USV-led EEZ surveillance

  18th June 2026

  Success with the US Army’s Black Widow programme may have strengthened Red Cat’s international position, but executives believe the next growth opportunity lies in uncrewed surface vessels.

• Land Warfare

  Norway orders improved NASAMS technology as more countries sign up

  31st October 2025

  The country’s air defence batteries will be equipped with new command posts, wheeled communication nodes and radios. The system itself is in service with more than 14 countries with 13 systems in Ukraine.

• Land Warfare

  SAHA 2026: Is the Turkish Army’s Altay MBT finally ready?

  12th May 2026

  At SAHA 2026, the Altay was proudly on display. But has the platform finally overcome the problems that have left it repeatedly late?

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Naval: Combat Management Systems

  Naval: Combat Management Systems | Russian Aircraft Carrier Programme

  Russia currently has one aircraft which is nonoperational which the need for a new aircraft carrier at the heart of the Russian naval modernisation programme. ...

• Naval: shipboard communication systems

  Naval: shipboard communication systems | Russian Aircraft Carrier Programme

  Russia currently has one aircraft which is nonoperational which the need for a new aircraft carrier at the heart of the Russian naval modernisation programme. ...

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

  Golden Eagle (Ukraine Aid) [NATO Member]

  Programme Background 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the usage and effectiveness of micro and mini UAV platforms ...

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

  Orlan-10 [Russian Navy]

  Background Frigate Augmentation Before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the country planned to augment its Admiral Gorshkov class frigates with indigenously developed Orlan-10 ...

• Loitering munitions

  Switchblade 600 (Ukraine Aid) [US]

  Programme Background $300 Million USAI (1 April 2022) On 1 April 2022, the US DoD announced a $300 million military aid package for Ukraine following ...

• APCs/IFVs - 6x6

  Patria 6x6 (Ukraine Aid) [Latvia]

  Programme Background Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Latvia has been part of the allied coalition providing Ukraine with military support. Previous Latvian ...

• Self-propelled rocket launchers

  HIMARS (Batch 1) [Estonia]

  Programme Background Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many European countries embarked upon an expansion of their military capabilities. This led Estonia ...

• APCs/IFVs - tracked

  CV90 (Ukraine Aid) [Denmark & Sweden]

  Programme Background Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine was the recipient of a number of Western systems, many of which ...

• MPVs - 4x4

  Spartan SUT [Russia]

  Programme Background Despite international sanctions following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Streit Group vehicles are believed to have continued to make their way into ...

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

  Penguin [Ukraine]

  Background Long-Standing Deal Red Wire announced in September 2025 that its wholly owned subsidiary, Edge Autonomy, had delivered additional aircraft from its Penguin uncrewed aerial system ...

• Self-propelled guns

  FH77 BW L52 Archer (Ukraine Aid) [Sweden]

  Programme Background Since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, Sweden has consistently supported Ukraine with military aid. This has included the provision of air defence ...

• Main battle tanks

  Leopard 2A8 [Croatia]

  Programme Background Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Croatia became the latest in a string of Eastern/Central European countries to bolster its ...

• APCs/IFVs - 8x8

  LAV 6 (Ukraine Aid) [Canada]

  Background Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Canada has been one of several NATO countries to supply Ukraine with continuous support. Canada ...

• APCs/IFVs - tracked

  KF41 Lynx [Ukraine]

  Programme Background Following the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine has sought to acquire a range of different Western platforms to replace its older Soviet ...

• APCs/IFVs - tracked

  CVR(T) Scimitar 2 (Ukraine Aid) [Latvia]

  Programme Background Latvia acquired 123 Scimitar 2s from the UK, with deliveries from 2015 to 2020.  They are due to be replaced by 84 ASCODs ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Transport/tanker aircraft

  Il-78M

  Based on the Il-76 transport, the Il-78 convertible tanker/transport aircraft first entered service in 1974 and was followed three years later by the improved Il-78M ...

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

  Shark

  The Shark is a fixed-wing catapult-launched ISR UAV developed by Ukrspecsystems. The Shark-D is the original variant; an improved Shark-M variant was unveiled in early 2025. ...

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

  Bayraktar TB2

  The Bayraktar TB2, or Bayraktar-2, is a medium-altitude long-endurance UAV developed and manufactured by Baykar. The platform can conduct ISR and armed attack missions and has a ...

• Land: battlefield and ground surveillance radar, Land: coastal surveillance radars

  SNAR-10M1

  The SNAR-10M1 is a mobile, armoured, self-propelled radar system manufactured by Almaz-Antey. It is designed with an automatic coordinate readout for locating moving ground and ...

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

  Orion / Orion-E

  The Orion, sometimes called the Inokhodets, is the first Russian-manufactured MALE UAV that has been designed to carry out a wide variety of military surveillance applications. Russia has ...

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

  Forpost (series)

  The Forpost was a variant of the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Searcher Mk II produced under license in Russia until 2016. Following US pressure, Israel refused to ...

• APCs/IFVs - tracked

  BMP-1

  The BMP-1 (Bronevaya Maschina Piekhota-1) is a tracked amphibious IFV that was developed in the Soviet Union during the 1960s.  Entering service with the Soviet ...

• Land: air defence radar

  Nebo-SVU

  The Nebo-SVU is an air defence radar distributed by Rosoboronexport in Russia and is currently used by the Russian Army and the Iranian Army. It ...

• Artillery rockets

  MO.1.01.04

  MO.1.01.04 is a short-range 220mm artillery rocket armed with a thermobaric warhead developed for Russian TOS-1 MLRS.

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - mini

  Eleron-3 (Series)

  The Eleron series comprises several variants, including Eleron-3 (T23E), Eleron-3SV, Eleron-B, Eleron-10 (T10D and 10E) and Eleron-10SV (T10). The Russian Armed Forces use Eleron-3 aircraft ...

• MPVs - 4x4

  KamAZ-43269 Vystrel

  The KamAZ-43269 Vystrel (originally known as the BPM-97) is a 4x4 armoured vehicle based on the proven KamAZ-4326 4x4 military truck chassis. Although development started in ...

• Military UAS - tactical

  Orlan-10/10E

  Developed by the Russia-based Special Technology Center, the Orlan-10 is a medium-range UAS with many variants, such as the 10E, an export version introduced in 2017. The ...

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

  Mavic 3 (Series)

  The Mavic 3 is a rotary-wing UAV manufactured by DJI, designed for commercial aerial photography and video capture. It has a Hasselblad L2D-20c two-camera payload, omnidirectional obstacle sensing, and ...

• Main battle tanks

  BMPT

  UVZ developed the BMPT Fire Support Combat Vehicle, nicknamed Terminator by the company, after studying the Russian Army's performance during the Chechen War. Designed to ...

• Air: aerial targets, Loitering munitions, Military UAS - fixed-wing

  Gerbera

  The Gerbera is a rudimentary Russian UAV manufactured by the Gastello Design Bureau.  The drone's body is made of radar-absorbent foam, and the platform is ...