• Defence Notes

  Joint NATO drills kick off in Georgia

  18th March 2019

  Georgian and NATO forces launched joint military exercises on 18 March 2019 as part of the ex-Soviet country's bid to win membership in the 29-nation …

• Military Logistics

  US Army selects AKHAN’s Miraj Diamond technology

  21st February 2019

  AKHAN Semiconductor’s Miraj Diamond technology has been selected for the 2019 US Army Expeditionary Technology Search challenge, the company announced on 18 February 2019. The …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Unmanned Systems Asia 2019: Airbus’ Skyways delivers

  19th March 2019

  A year on from its first flight, Airbus Helicopters’ Skyway UAV has demonstrated shore to ship trials at Singapore’s Marina South Pier. The occasion also …

• Defence Helicopter

  SB>1 Defiant completes initial ground run tests

  5th February 2019

  The Sikorsky Boeing SB>1 Defiant helicopter has completed its initial ground run and is being ground tested before its first flight. The helicopter is being …

• Training

  DSET 2019: Canadian Army outlines simulation plan blueprint

  19th March 2019

  The Canadian Army is set to invest C$2.2 billion ($1.66 billion) in simulation programmes and over C$4 billion in networks and instrumentation over the next …

• Training

  DSET 2019: CTTP is learning from others

  21st March 2019

  The British Army’s Collective Training Transformation Programme (CTTP) continues to move forward and the CTTP team has been looking at other large projects ‘to increase …

• Digital Battlespace

  US programme to beat adversary's ‘formidable’ capabilities

  17th March 2019

  A US government agency will award $45.5 million for development of new technologies able to coordinate a future autonomous army of unmanned air and ground …

• Special Operations

  CANSOFCOM explores reserve element

  14th March 2019

  The Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) is considering the “accelerated recruitment” of civilians in order to diversify specialists skill sets across the organization. The …

• Defence Notes

  Germany to miss NATO spending target despite short-term rise

  19th March 2019

  German defence spending will rise next year but then drop off again as a percentage of GDP, Berlin said on 18 March 2019, in news …

• Land Warfare

  Thales Australia to develop Lithgow Arms facility

  13th March 2019

  Thales Australia has unveiled plans to develop its Lithgow Arms facility in NSW, Australia, to develop and manufacture Australian Defence Force (ADF) next-generation soldier weapons …

• Land Warfare

  BAE offers CV90 for Land 400 Phase 3

  12th March 2019

  BAE Systems is offering its CV90 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) in response to the Australian Army’s Land 400 Phase 3 - Mounted Close Combat Capability …

• Military Logistics

  US Navy outlines shipyard upgrade plans

  12th March 2019

  The US Navy is preparing to conduct what planners describe as a ‘once-in-a-century’ upgrade of its public shipyards to facilitate service logistics support to current …

• Defence Notes

  Podcast: Avalon, counter-UAV tech, armoured vehicle market and more

  8th March 2019

  Welcome to Episode 7 of The Weekly Defence Podcast. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and more. Sign up to an early email alert …

• Digital Battlespace

  G/ATOR Block 2 roll out continues

  13th March 2019

  The US Marine Corps has commenced fielding of Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) Block 2 radar systems to artillery units at 11th Marine Regiment at …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  UAS swarms to restore Oregon rangelands

  26th February 2019

  DroneSeed has signed a contract with The Nature Conservancy to support the replanting of native species with advanced technologies in sagebrush habitat, the company announced …

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 ...