• Defence Notes

  Myanmar inducts more JF-17B fighters

  18th December 2019

  The Myanmar Air Force inducted two JF-17B Thunder fighters, as well as eight other aircraft and helicopters, during a ceremony marking the 72nd anniversary of …

• Defence Notes

  Air review 2019: Turkey and Trump F-35 trouble overshadows future fighters

  30th December 2019

  Of all the stories that made headlines in 2019, few could claim to have caught fire in the same way as Turkey’s removal from the …

• Digital Battlespace

  Maritime domain provides unique cyber security challenges

  17th December 2019

  Navies must contend with the same cyber threat as other military services. However, there are unique aspects to the shipboard environment, from the complex mix …

• Defence Notes

  Opinion: Another year of instability amid Middle Eastern power plays

  22nd January 2020

  The new decade has opened, quite literally, with a bang. The drone strike by the US military on 3 January to kill the head of …

• Naval Warfare

  UK carrier roadmap plots route to 2021 deployment

  11th December 2019

  With the formal commissioning into service of the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales the UK Royal Navy has two aircraft carriers in its fleet for …

• Naval Warfare

  Argentinian Navy gets first new OPV

  30th December 2019

  The first of four OPV 87 offshore patrol vessels has been delivered by Naval Group to the Argentinian Navy. The vessel has undergone a ten-month …

• Military Logistics

  Future USNS Harvey Milk build begins

  19th December 2019

  Construction of the US Navy’s future USNS Harvey Milk began at the General Dynamics-National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (GD-NASSCO) shipyard on 13 December. The John …

• Defence Notes

  Opinion: Make or break time for UK defence

  18th January 2020

  For the British Armed Forces, 2020 began with an abrupt start as the aftermath of the strike by the US military on Iranian Qods Force …

• Defence Notes

  Podcast: The defence news of 2019

  20th December 2019

  Welcome to Episode 48 of The Weekly Defence Podcast. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and more. Sign up to an early email alert …

• Digital Battlespace

  IBCS demonstrates non-US sensor system

  27th November 2019

  Northrop Grumman, MBDA and Saab have jointly demonstrated the ability to integrate the Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM) family and Giraffe radar system family into …

• Naval Warfare

  Future USS St Louis completes acceptance trials

  17th December 2019

  The US Navy’s future USS St Louis has completed acceptance trials in Lake Michigan, Lockheed Martin announced on 16 December. The vessel, Littoral Combat Ship …

• Digital Battlespace

  Cerberus at the gate

  24th December 2019

  The French government has announced the completion of test flights for its aerostat-based CERBERE signals intelligence system, nine years after the programme first got underway. …

• Digital Battlespace

  Leonardo UK demonstrates Tempest radar tech

  23rd December 2019

  Leonardo UK has demonstrated new radar receiver/warner technology for the Team Tempest programme.The new sensor, which is 1/10th the size of a standard system, demonstrated …

• Naval Warfare

  Carriers, submarines and frigates all part of Russia’s future navy plan

  30th December 2019

  The Russian government has been increasingly voluble on its plans for an expansion of its navy in the coming years, with a series of recent …

• Training

  I/ITSEC 2019: Treality SVS wins C-130 display contract

  4th December 2019

  Xenia, Ohio-headquartered Treality SVS has won a contract to provide two glass mirror collimated visual CD Series systems for C-130H and C-130J full motion trainers …

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 ...