• Uncrewed Vehicles

  US Army invests in Gray Eagle ER capabilities

  13th December 2019

  The US Army has awarded multiple contracts to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) to upgrade the MQ-1C Gray Eagle Extended Range's (GE ER) capabilities and …

• Special Operations

  Croatian helicopter training centre opens

  13th December 2019

  Croatia’s Multinational Special Aviation (MSAP) training centre formally opened at the Pukovnik Mirko Vukušić Barracks in Zemunik on 11 December. The MSAP will train special …

• Digital Battlespace

  SitaWare Frontline for Germany's VJTF (L) 2023

  13th December 2019

  Systematic’s SitaWare Frontline has been selected by the German armed forces for the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force 2023 (Land) (VJTF (L) 2023) programme. …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Endeavor Robotics awarded US Army CRS-H contract

  20th November 2019

  The US Department of Defense has announced that FLIR's Endeavor Robotics has been awarded the US Army’s Common Robotic System-Heavy (CRS-H) contract. The five-year production …

• Defence Notes

  Podcast: I/ITSEC 2019 highlights, the V-22 Osprey topping the 500,000 flight hour milestone and more

  6th December 2019

  Welcome to Episode 46 of The Weekly Defence Podcast. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and more. Sign up to an early email alert of future podcasts here.

• Military Logistics

  Israel’s floating dock will serve to distribute ship maintenance capability

  18th November 2019

  An agreement between Israel’s MoD and Israel Shipyards for the construction of a large floating dock will serve to augment facilities at Haifa while also …

• Naval Warfare

  First Saudi combat vessel build begins

  20th November 2019

  Fincantieri Marinette Marine has commenced construction of the Royal Saudi Navy’s first Multi-Mission Surface Combatant (MMSC) ship.Being delivered by Lockheed Martin as prime contractor, the …

• Training

  I/ITSEC 2019: CH-53K MFTA flight simulator up-close (video)

  6th December 2019

  Amongst the plethora of flight training devices at I/ITSEC 2019 was Lockheed Martin's CH-53K Multi-Function Training Aid (MFTA), which sat centre stage on its booth. …

• Training

  I/ITSEC 2019: Collins Aerospace demos Griffin-2 fast jet sim (video)

  6th December 2019

  Following the official announcement in 2018 of the Griffin-2 fast jet simulator by Collins Aerospace (then Rockwell Collins), the company has used I/ITSEC 2019 to …

• Digital Battlespace

  Terma introduces T-OPS

  2nd December 2019

  Terma has developed a new configurable honeycomb Electronic Warfare (EW) software structure called Terma Operational Software (T-OPS) as part of NATO Defensive Aids System (NDAS) …

• Defence Notes

  Baltic nations advance BALTNET

  6th December 2019

  The Lithuanian Ministry of Defence confirmed on 3 December that the scheduled re-structure of the Baltic Air Surveillance Network or BALTNET will see the activation …

• Land Warfare

  US Army to test StrikeShield APS

  3rd December 2019

  The US Army is to test the StrikeShield Active Protection System under an $11 million contract awarded to Rheinmetall Protection Systems and Unified Business Technologies …

• Defence Helicopter

  Boeing awarded Apache support

  1st November 2019

  Boeing has received a $62.2 million contract modification for performance-based logistics support for the AH-64D/E Apache attack helicopter. The contract, awarded by the US Army …

• Naval Warfare

  D&S 2019: Singapore achieves final Independence

  13th November 2019

  ST Engineering handed over the last of eight Independence-class Littoral Mission Vessels (LMV), one that is christened Fearless, to the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) …

• Training

  Striling Dynamics delivers CH-53K active controls

  6th December 2019

  Stirling Dynamics announced on 5 December that it has delivered its first set of CH-53K active controls to Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, …

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 ...