• Defence Helicopter

  UK gets final upgraded Merlin Mk2

  1st August 2016

  The UK Ministry of Defence’s (MoD’s) Merlin Capability Sustainment Programme (MCSP) has marked a significant milestone with the handover of the final upgraded Merlin Mk2 …

• Defence Helicopter

  RAN MH-60R fleet nears completion

  1st August 2016

  The final MH-60R Seahawk helicopter destined for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) via the US foreign military sales (FMS) programme has been delivered by Lockheed …

• Defence Notes

  BAE bags gun contract for Type 26 ships

  29th July 2016

  BAE Systems will supply the Maritime Indirect Fires System (MIFS) for the Type 26 Global Combat Ship under a $245 million contract from the UK …

• Land Warfare

  Night-vision advances for US armour

  29th July 2016

  The US Army is looking to enhance the ‘eyes’ of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and M1 Abrams tank with high-definition infrared technology that will allow …

• Digital Battlespace

  Dutch missile defence progresses

  29th July 2016

  Thales-Nederland is developing its SMART-L early warning capability (EWC) L-band long range radar with ballistic missile defence (BDM) capability. The company is talking to the Royal Netherlands …

• Land Warfare

  New RG-31 MRAP version rolled out

  28th July 2016

  The first production unit of the latest version of the RG-31 mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) route clearance vehicle has been rolled out by the US …

• Naval Warfare

  Mauritius concludes maritime exercise

  28th July 2016

  The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has completed a maritime security tabletop exercise held in Mauritius over the 26-27 July.  The exercise looked at the need …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Firefighting warning system for UAS

  27th July 2016

  A new prototype warning system has been developed to prevent UAV pilots from interfering with firefighting operations, the US Department of the Interior announced on …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Sea Hunter in new performance trials

  27th July 2016

  Leidos has completed initial performance trials of Sea Hunter, a technology demonstration vessel being developed for DARPA's Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) programme, …

• Digital Battlespace

  Raytheon working on next-gen airborne comms

  27th July 2016

  Raytheon BBN Technologies is working on new technologies to support seamless communication between the next generation of manned and unmanned flying aircraft, even in hostile …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  UK ScanEagles to be refurbed, redeployed

  27th July 2016

  Some of the ScanEagle systems operated in recent years for the UK Royal Navy (RN) will be refurbished by manufacturer Insitu and made available to …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Queensland funds UAS tech development

  27th July 2016

  The government of Queensland, Australia, is looking to increase funding to advance UAS development for a number of civil markets, it was announced on 25 …

• Military Logistics

  HMAS Canberra embarks AAVs

  26th July 2016

  The Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Canberra, a Canberra-class landing helicopter dock ship, has embarked four US Marine Corps (USMC) Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV) off the …

• Training

  ADF PC-21 takes flight

  26th July 2016

  Pilatus Aircraft and Lockheed Martin have successfully completed the initial production test flight of the first Pilatus PC-21 single-turboprop advanced trainer aircraft for the Australian …

• Naval Warfare

  Russia in Baltic naval command change

  25th July 2016

  The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) earlier in July decided to remove more than 50 senior officers of the Baltic Fleet from their posts, which …

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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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

  Aerial Logistics Connector (ALC) [USMC]

  Background US Marine ULS-A programmes The US Marines are seeking a family of Unmanned Logistics Systems-Air (ULS-A) that will provide logistics and ground units with their ...

• Military helicopters - maritime

  MH-60R Seahawk [Saudi Arabia]

  Background Requirement The FMS is aimed at improving Saudi Arabia’s capability to meet current and future threats from enemy weapon systems, provide the capability to identify, ...

• Military UAS - small

  VTOL UAV [New Zealand]

  Background Defence Capability Plan (DCP) In April 2025, the New Zealand government published the DCP, a document that is essentially a blueprint for what procurements ...

• 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

  Shipborne Small UAV [Portugal]

  Background Shipborne UAV trials In August 2026, during the Iniciativa Mar Aberto 2026 mission, the Portuguese Navy conducted shipborne flight trials of uncrewed aircraft from ...

• APCs/IFVs - tracked

  Japanese Future Amphibious Vehicle

  Programme Background The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's (JGSDF) Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade currently operates a fleet of 58 BAE Systems Armored Amphibious Assault Vehicle 7A1s (AAV7A1s) ...

• Military UAS - small

  Light Tactical Support Intelligence Drone Systems (SDLRAT) (1-30) [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, the French ...

• Military UAS - small

  Future Tactical UAS (FTUAS) (Increment 2) [US Army]

  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 intended to ...

• Military UAS - small

  ALTIUS (US)

  Programme Background Testing The US Army has tested the platform since March 2020. It was launched from a US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that ...

• Military UAS - small

  Light Tactical Support Intelligence Drone Systems (SDLRAT) (31-140) [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, the French ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  Shipborne MALE UAV [Portugal]

  Background Shipborne UAV trials In August 2026, during the Iniciativa Mar Aberto 2026 mission, the Portuguese Navy conducted shipborne flight trials of uncrewed aircraft from the Gama-class frigate NRP Álvares ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• 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 ...

• 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

  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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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 helicopters - multirole

  S-97 Raider

  The S-97 Raider helicopter is based on the five-year, company-funded X2 Technology Demonstrator project. Like the X2, the S-97 Raider will feature twin coaxial, counter-rotating ...

• Surface-to-air missiles, Surface-to-surface missiles

  RIM-174 Standard ERAM SM-6 Block I/IA

  The SM-6 (RIM-174 Standard ERAM) is a surface-to-air supersonic missile launched from cruisers and destroyers, capable of successfully engaging crewed and uncrewed, fixed- or rotary-wing ...

• Helicopter engines

  T901

  The Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP) is the US Army's effort to build a 50% more powerful and 25% more fuel-efficient engine for its Black ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  AVX JMR

  AVX Aircraft proposed a compound helicopter with coaxial rotors, small wings and dual ducted-fan propulsors for the US Army’s JMR-TD FVL programme. In April 2015, ...

• Helicopter engines

  T900

  The Improved Turbine Engine Program is the US Army's effort to build a 50% more powerful and 25% more fuel-efficient engine for its Black Hawk ...

• EO/IR systems

  Pan-Tilt-Zoom Camera with Laser Rangefinder

  Pan-Tilt-Zoom Camera with Laser Rangefinder is a surveillance system with a laser rangefinder. Performance includes 1/3in charge-coupled device colour sensor, NTSC or PAL format. Resolution ...

• Air: AEW/fire control radar

  Super Komar

  The Super Komar is an upgraded version of the Komar, featuring digital signal processing. Air-to-air modes include boresight, head-up display search, look-up/down, range-while-search, track-while-scan (TWS) and vertical manoeuvre. ...

• Military - UUVs

  Roving Bat

  The Roving Bat is a multipurpose, hybrid ROV and crawler built by Exail. It is designed for close inspection and cleaning operations of immersed vertical structures ...

• Long Range Missile Defence Systems: > 90km range

  Sylver A-50

  The SYstème de Lancement VERtical (Sylver) A-50 is a vertical launching system (VLS) developed by DCNS (now Naval Group) to deploy medium- to long-range surface-to-air ...

• Long Range Missile Defence Systems: > 90km range

  Sylver A-70

  The SYstème de Lancement VERtical (Sylver) A-70 is a vertical launching system (VLS) developed by DCNS (now Naval Group) to deploy medium- to long-range surface-to-air ...