• Naval Warfare

  Malaysia reveals details of navy fleet renewal…but where’s the money?

  5th December 2018

  On 30 November, Adm Mohamad Reza Mohamad Sany took command of the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) at a period where it faces significant operational, development …

• Naval Warfare

  Navantia to build five frigates for Spanish Navy

  13th December 2018

  Spain's state-owned shipbuilder Navantia will build five frigates for the country's navy in a €4.3 billion deal that will create around 7,000 jobs, the ministry …

• Land Warfare

  UK pushes on with autonomous Last Mile challenge

  14th December 2018

  The UK MoD's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) is pushing ahead with development of an autonomous resupply solution, adding a third phase and further …

• Defence Notes

  EDEX 2018: Egypt eyes JF-17 Thunder Block 3s

  5th December 2018

  The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) is currently reviewing the progress of the PAC/Chengdu JF-17 Thunder.  At EDEX 2018 in Cairo, Shephard has learnt that representatives …

• Naval Warfare

  USCG completes first PDM of C-27J Spartan

  7th December 2018

  The US Coast Guard has completed the first programmed depot maintenance (PDM) on a C-27J Spartan medium range surveillance aircraft. The PDM cycle included a …

• Military Logistics

  Japan to get first post-WWII aircraft carriers

  19th December 2018

  Japan will get its first aircraft carriers since World War II, and buy dozens of fighter jets, under a new defence plan approved on 18 …

• Defence Helicopter

  Egypt requests AH-64E helicopter FMS

  30th November 2018

  The US government has made a determination approving a potential foreign military sale of ten AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to Egypt, the Defense Security Cooperation …

• Training

  I/ITSEC 2018: Another ASDOT re-shuffle

  27th November 2018

  Cobham has announced that QinetiQ will now join Draken International and 3SDL as a member of its team to pursue the UK’s Air Support to …

• Digital Battlespace

  South Korea sows seeds for Green Pine radars

  29th November 2018

  South Korea has decided to proceed with the acquisition of two Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Elta ELM-2080 Green Pine Block C early-warning radars on 27 …

• Training

  Calian to continue to deliver training support

  23rd November 2018

  Calian Group will contract to continue delivering training and support services to the Canadian Department of National Defence and the Canadian Army Simulation Centre (CASC) …

• Digital Battlespace

  Elta’s Drone Guard delivered to Argentina

  4th December 2018

  ELTA Systems has supplied its Drone Guard C-UAS system to Argentina for the detection, identification and disruption of malicious UAS during large-scale international events, IAI …

• Land Warfare

  Qatar requests NASMAS from US

  3rd December 2018

  The US State Department has made a determination approving a potential foreign military sale of the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS) to …

• Land Warfare

  US Marine Corps Sea Dragon future force continues focus shift

  17th December 2018

  The beginning of FY19 has brought a change in focus for the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Sea Dragon programme. The next 12 months will …

• Defence Helicopter

  Philippine AW159s in testing

  30th November 2018

  The Philippine Navy will receive its first AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat anti-submarine helicopter in the first quarter of 2019, with flight testing currently underway. Initial flight-testing …

• Military Logistics

  Bidders for Fleet Solid Support ships selected

  6th December 2018

  The UK Ministry of Defence has selected four shipbuilding firms and a British consortium to compete for the Fleet Solid Support ships contract. The Fleet …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

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

  Seeker 400 - First Batch (UAE)

  Programme Background The UAE has a long history of transactions with Denel Dynamics. The country has been purchasing various Seeker systems from as far back ...

• Maritime patrol

  Challenger 650 ISR - UAE

  Programme Background In February 2019 at IDEX, the UAE announced that it will procure a new special mission aircraft with an option for the second ...

• Military UAS - tactical

  Acquisition of an Initial Depth Support Drone Capacity (ADAPT) [France]

  Background Aftermath of SDT To fill the capability void left by the cancellation of the second section of the Tactical Drone System (SDT) programme, three ...

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

  Seeker 400 - Second Batch (UAE)

  Programme Background The UAE has a long history of transactions with Denel Dynamics. The country has been purchasing various Seeker systems from as far back ...

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

  Chinese UAVs [Bangladesh]

  Background Request for Proposals (RFP) In 2023, as reported by Shephard at the time, the Bangladesh Army released a 106-page tender document to gather information ...

• Military UAS - rotary-wing, Military UAS - small

  Jump 20 [Denmark]

  Background 2020 Tender In January 2018, Denmark's three main political parties signed the Danish Defence Agreement, a cross-party defence white paper covering the period between ...

• ISR/special mission

  ISTAR Aircraft [South Korea]

  Programme Background 2018 - Issue of RfI The South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) stated that Seoul planned to procure additional aircraft to minimise potential surveillance ...

• Military UAS - HALE

  RQ-4 Global Hawk [Japan]

  Background Selection and contract award In 2015, Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4 Global Hawk UAS and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft were selected by Japan ...

• Military UAS - HALE

  RQ-4 Global Hawk [South Korea]

  Background Requirments Seoul required UAS assets to help monitor its neighbour to the north and, increasingly, Chinese activities in waters and in the air near ...

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

  MQ-9A Reaper (First Batch) [Netherlands]

  Programme Background Acquisition Decision The Netherlands cancelled a project to procure a MALE UAV in 2007. Six years later, in 2013, it was revealed the Dutch ...

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

  MQ-9A Reaper Block 5 [Italy]

  Programme Background Initial Procurement Italy submitted a $330 million FMS request through the Defence Security Cooperation Agency for four MQ-9A aircraft, four GCS and five ...

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

  AR3 (Ukraine Aid) [UK]

  Background £270 Million investment On 15 September 2025, the UK MoD noted that, since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the UK ...

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

  Gladius [Poland]

  Programme Background Contract Signing On 6 May 2022, the Minister of National Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak, the president of the WB GROUP, Piotr Wojciechowski and the head ...

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

  Tactical UCAV [Czechia]

  Programme Background Inception In November 2017, the Chief of Staff of the Army of the Czech Republic (ACR) announced that the service had earmarked CZK1 billion ...

• 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 ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

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

  AR5

  First announced in October 2012, the AR5 is a MALE UAS designed for SAR, surveillance and maritime patrol missions. The AR5 can be flown manually or commanded ...

• Air: surveillance and maritime patrol radar

  AN/APY-10

  The AN/APY-10 is an airborne maritime surveillance radar manufactured by Raytheon. It is designed to equip the USN'S Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and has ...

• Air: surveillance and maritime patrol radar

  AN/ZPY-1 STARLite

  The AN/ZPY-1 Small Tactical Radar-Lightweight (STARLite) is a synthetic aperture radar and GMTI sensor for UAVs, manufactured by Northrop Grumman. It offers strip and spot synthetic ...

• Air: surveillance and maritime patrol radar, Air: surveillance radar

  AN/APS-137B(V)5

  The AN/APS-137B(V)5 is a maritime patrol radar manufactured by Raytheon. It provides both multi-resolution synthetic aperture radar and inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR), allowing performance over the ...

• Air: surveillance and maritime patrol radar

  TriSAR

  The Tri-mode Synthetic Aperture Radar (TriSAR) is a real-time, high-resolution land and maritime surveillance radar designed by Array Systems Computing in Canada. It is suited ...

• Air: helicopter radar

  AN/DPY-1 Lynx Block 30

  The multi-mode AN/DPY-1 Lynx Block 30 is a reduced weight, power and volume variant of the AN/APY-8. It is a high-resolution, wide-area surveillance, Ku-band synthetic ...

• Air: surveillance and maritime patrol radar

  Seaspray 7500E V2

  The Seaspray 7500E V2 is a long-range, maritime-focused multi-mode surveillance radar produced by Leonardo and manufactured in the UK. The system can rapidly interleave radar modes ...

• Subsystems: software

  Radar Simulation Systems

  The Digital Radar Landmass Simulator (DRLMS) model accurately simulates real-world terrain and cultural feature returns, as well as weather patterns and targets. Configurable parameters allow ...

• Air: surveillance radar

  AN/APY-3

  The AN/APY-3 is a large, phased-array, ground surveillance, side-looking airborne radar with synthetic aperture radar/moving target indication (MTI) capability. It is the primary sensor of ...

• Air: surveillance and maritime patrol radar

  TacSAR

  The Tactical Synthetic Aperture Radar (TacSAR) is an airborne reconnaissance system designed by Collins Aerospace (now part of Raytheon). It is intended for land and ...

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

  AR3

  The AR3, or AR3 Net Ray, is an autonomous small-UAS designed to support land-based and maritime missions.  In May 2025, the Royal Air Force announced ...

• Air: surveillance and maritime patrol radar

  MOSAIC

  The MOSAIC is a three-dimensional, AESA-based, multi-mode surveillance radar manufactured by Telephonics. It is designed for maritime, littoral and overland surveillance missions for rotary- and fixed-wing ...

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

  Black Swan

  The Black Swan is a cargo-carrying drone manufactured by Dronamic.  In February 2026, the company released the Detect & Defend version, a military variant of the platform ...

• Air: surveillance radar

  ASTOR

  The Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) is abattlefield surveillance synthetic aperture radar/moving target indication (MTI) system installed in the UK RAF's Raytheon SentinelR1 aircraft, a version ...

• Air: surveillance and maritime patrol radar

  Seaspray 7300E V2

  The Seaspray 7300E V2 radar is an airborne, maritime, multi-mode surveillance radar manufactured by Leonardo. It is designed for the detection of small maritime targets in ...