• Land Warfare

  US donates demining equipment to Ecuador

  5th May 2020

  Ecuador will increase its capabilities to protect its citizens against landmines and unexploded ordnance, after the US government donated manual demining and medical equipment. The …

• Defence Notes

  Australia sharpens defence force to ‘shape, deter and respond’

  2nd July 2020

  The year 2020 has been dramatic so far, and Australia marked its halfway point by releasing twin documents – the 2020 Defence Strategic Update and …

• Air Warfare

  Seoul orders TA-50s, eyes new Chinooks and AEW aircraft

  3rd July 2020

  In South Korea the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has concluded a KRW688.3 billion ($619.5 million) deal for 20 TA-50 Block 2 jets from Korea …

• Defence Notes

  DoD defies COVID-19 to provide support across Africa

  4th May 2020

  The US DoD is providing ongoing military and medical assistance to its African partners despite the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Laboratory consumables have been shipped to …

• Defence Notes

  DoD announces winners of DEPSCoR competition

  4th May 2020

  The US Department of Defense (DoD) has selected six teams, which will receive up to $600,000 over a three-year period, to carry out research and …

• Land Warfare

  Two stages down, three to go with MGCS

  25th June 2020

  France and Germany are striding firmly towards new MBTs to replace the Leclerc and Leopard 2A6 respectively, having signed an 18-month contract in May for …

• Land Warfare

  Two stages down, three to go with MGCS

  25th June 2020

  France and Germany are striding firmly towards new MBTs to replace the Leclerc and Leopard 2A6 respectively, having signed an 18-month contract in May for …

• Digital Battlespace

  US to gift radars to Indonesia and Malaysia

  11th June 2020

  The US will provide three Lockheed Martin mobile radars to Malaysia and Indonesia, as revealed by a notice of contract action dated 9 June on …

• Training

  KC-10 Training System moves forward

  23rd June 2020

  The USAF Life Cycle Management Center’s (AFLCMC) Air Mobility Organisation briefed delegates at last week’s virtual Training & Simulation Industry Symposium on four near-term requirements …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  US orders more Centaurs from FLIR Systems

  10th June 2020

  FLIR Systems has secured two contracts totalling $23.5 million to provide 160 units of its Centaur UGV to the US Army and USN. Both contracts …

• Air Warfare

  Air National Guard awaits F-15EX basing announcement

  15th June 2020

  The director of the US Air National Guard (ANG) has declared it remains ‘on track’ to deploy its first Boeing F-15EX Eagle fighters in FY2022. …

• Defence Helicopter

  RNLA Chinook damaged during US storm

  11th June 2020

  The Dutch Ministry of Defence reported that one of its CH-47D Chinook helicopters was damaged during a severe storm as it travelled to a Boeing …

• Defence Helicopter

  RCAF lifts operational pause on CH-148 Cyclone fleet

  17th June 2020

  The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) has lifted the operational pause on its CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopter fleet, following a thorough risk assessment. The assessment …

• Defence Helicopter

  Defiant reaches new speed milestone but test progress questioned

  17th June 2020

  An experimental SB>1 Defiant X2 coaxial test aircraft has successfully recorded a speed of 205kt, Boeing and Sikorsky have revealed. The flight at Sikorsky’s West …

• Defence Notes

  DoD invests in medical swab production

  30th April 2020

  The US Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded Puritan Medical Products a $75.5 million investment as part of the Defence Production Act Title 3 funding. …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - small

  Puma 3 AE (Ukraine Aid) [US]

  Programme Background Military Aid - $300 Million On 1 April 2022, the US DoD announced a $300 million military aid package for Ukraine to "bolster Urkaine's capacity ...

• MPVs - 4x4

  M1165 Special Ops HMMWV [USA]

  Background The HHMWV, or Humvee, has been in US service since 1983. The M1165A1B3 is a special operations variant of the platform.  In 2015, the US ...

• Loitering munitions

  Switchblade 300 (Ukraine Aid) [US]

  Programme Background Presidential Drawdown (16 March 2022 & 13 April 2022) On 16 March 2022, President Biden announced $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine through ...

• Loitering munitions

  Point Blank [US]

  Programme Background As IAI stated in a 19 January 2023 press release, it had been awarded a multi-million-dollar contract by the Irregular Warfare Technical Support ...

• 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 ...

• Military UAS - mini

  Puma LE [Kosovo]

  Background Contract Award On 21 January 2022, the US Department of Defence (DoD) announced that AeroVironment had been awarded an $11.01 million firm-fixed contract for Puma ...

• Loitering munitions

  ALTIUS-600M (Ukraine Aid) [US]

  Programme Background On 24 February 2023, the US DoD announced that the Biden Administration had released an additional aid package under the Ukraine Security Assistance ...

• MPVs - 4x4

  M1152A1B2/M1165A1B3 HMMWV [USA]

  Background The HMMWV has been in US service since the 1980s. Despite the introduction of newer platforms, the US DoD continues to utilise the platform ...

• MPVs - 4x4

  M1165A1B3 HMMWV [USA]

  Background The HMMWV has been in US service since the 1980s. Despite the introduction of newer platforms, the US DoD continues to utilise the platform ...

• Loitering munitions

  Phoenix Ghost (Ukraine Aid) [US]

  Background Presidential Drawdown Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, on 21 April 2022, President Biden announced an $800 million Presidential Drawdown security ...

• Military UAS - small

  Puma 2 AE [Estonia]

  Programme Background The US DoD announced that it had awarded AeroVironment an $8.868 million firm-fixed-price contract to supply an undisclosed number of RQ-20B Puma AE ...

• Transport/tanker aircraft

  KC-46A (3-6) [Japan]

  On 30 October 2020, the US DoD announced that it awarded a $342 million contract to Boeing for two Japanese KC-46A tanker aircraft. Work will be performed ...

• Loitering munitions

  Lethal Unmanned Systems (LUS): Switchblade [US]

  Background DoD contract On 27 August 2024, the US DoD announced that AeroVironment had been awarded a ceiling of $990 million hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price) contract to ...

• APCs/IFVs - 8x8

  ACV-30 PRTV [USA]

  Background The Armoured Combat Vehicle (ACV) programme is intended to provide a replacement for the USMC's fleet of Amphibious Assault Vehicle 7 (AAV7) tracked vehicles. ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  XQ-58A Valkyrie [USMC]

  Programme Background Contract Award On 30 December 2022, the US DoD announced that it had awarded Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems a $15.52 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Pistols

  M9

  M9 is the US DoD designation for the military-specification 9mm Beretta 92FS, selected in 1985 to replace the 45cal M1911A1 in US service. Sales to ...

• Man-portable missile systems

  Igla/SA-18

  The 9K38 Igla (US DoD designation SA-18, NATO reporting name Grouse ) IR-homing MANPADS was developed by KBM and entered service in 1983 to meet the requirements ...

• Loitering munitions

  Point Blank

  Point Blank Weapon System is a hand-launched electro-optical VTOL-capable loitering munition developed by Isreal Aerospace Industries (IAI). IAI has been awarded a contract by the US ...

• Military UAS - small

  ScanEagle 3

  Insitu unveiled the ScanEagle 3 at the Xponential exhibition in Denver in May 2018. The platform has twice the payload capacity of its ScanEagle predecessor ...

• Land: Radio and SATCOM

  BAT-850

  Pathfinder's BAT-850 VSAT is a carbon fibre, tri-band terminal with auto-acquisition capability. Suitable for flyaway (case-based) and vehicle-mounted applications, it is in service with the ...

• Land: Radio and SATCOM

  URC-300

  The URC-300 is a software-defined radio designed for line-of-sight, ground-to-air communications in particular. Introduced in 2020, it adheres to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards as well ...

• Air: aerial targets

  BQM-177A/i

  The BQM-177A subsonic aerial target (SSAT) was designed for the USN, and the BQM-177i is the export variant. The BQM-177 provides realistic threat emulation for ...

• Land: Radio and SATCOM

  Banshee Tactical Radio

  Developed by Fenix Group, the Banshee Tactical Radio (BTR) is a communications system that uses 4G/LTE connectivity to provide secure mesh networking capability on the ...

• Crew-served grenade launchers

  Striker 40/MK47

  General Dynamics is systems integrator for the Striker 40 (MK47 AGL in US service). The complete system comprises the weapon, AN/PWG-1 Lightweight Video Sight and ...

• Air: Radio and SATCOM

  AN/ARC-231 Skyfire

  The AN/ARC-231 Skyfire is an airborne VHF/UHF/LOS and DAMA SATCOM system. This system supports US DoD requirements for airborne, multi-band, multi-mission, secure anti-jam voice, data ...

• Air-to-air missiles

  9M39 Igla-V

  The 9M39 Igla-V (‘needle’) is a Russian IR homing SAM adapted for helicopter use. It is an air-launched version of the Igla MANPADS, which the ...

• Military UAS - HALE

  Global Observer

  The AeroVironment Global Observer HALE UAV was a developmental HALE UAV designed for various civil, commercial and government applications.  Development of the platform began in 2007 ...

• Directed energy weapons

  CLWS

  Developed by Boeing, Compact Laser Weapon System (CLWS or CLaWS) is a medium-range, low-power laser C-UAS system. According to the reports, the CLWS prototype has ...

• Weapon sights for day use

  CompM4/M4s

  The US DoD has bought over one million Aimpoint sights since 1997. The US Army is now fielding the CompM4s as the latest version of ...

• Heavy machine guns

  M2HB

  US Ordnance is one of two US M2HB heavy machine gun manufacturers which has received multi-year contracts to supply weapons to the US DoD. The ...