• Air Warfare

  Spain air focus: Demand builds with $19.7 billion up for grabs in unawarded contracts

  29th January 2026

  Despite Spain’s modest GDP spend on defence, the country still has a range of fixed-wing and UAV programme requirements as yet unawarded, with a potential US$3.10 billion set to be spent over the next decade.

• Naval Warfare

  Royal Australian Navy sizes up modernisation plans for new and existing capabilities

  11th December 2025

  The Australian navy is pushing ahead with its efforts to modernise its workforce and capabilities while balancing risky submarine upgrades, ageing Collins-class boats and a shrinking minehunter fleet. Head of navy capability RAdm Stephen Hughes updated Shephard on the force’s progress.

• Air Warfare

  Singapore Airshow 2026: Early adopters and big spenders point to UAV market opportunities

  27th January 2026

  While an estimated $37.99bn is still to be awarded across the Asia-Pacific uncrewed aerial vehicle market, the balance of potential future spending is unevenly split between various countries, with significant opportunities to be found in the collaborative combat aircraft space.

• Naval Warfare

  US Navy budget seeks 34 ships on yesterday’s industrial base

  9th April 2026

  The 2027 budget demands 34 new vessels, but ageing yards and backlogs raise questions about whether American shipbuilding can deliver.

• Naval Warfare

  US Navy SPY-6 approaches FRP with Raytheon already having “a hot production line”

  2nd March 2026

  Jen Gauthier, Raytheon’s VP of Naval Systems and Sustainment, told Shephard that the company is awaiting the US Navy’s green light to move “fully into full-rate production”.

• Defence Notes

  DARPA, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman join forces to improve missile production

  27th May 2026

  Working together with DARPA in the Burn n’ Go programme, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon are supporting the development of a common, single-use solid rocket motor design to equip diverse weapon systems.

• Air Warfare

  March drone digest: Long-range, low-cost loitering munitions are changing warfare economics

  1st April 2026

  The effective use of the Shahed-136 in the Iran war has highlighted the need for countries to acquire a domestically produced, low-cost, long-range loitering munition, with the US, Turkey and European nations all at various stages of developing a similar capability.

• Air Warfare

  Singapore Airshow 2026: Rafael highlights tailored effector solutions for different operational needs

  10th February 2026

  Shephard spoke with Rafael’s CEO about the company’s effector offerings as well as his perspective on one-way attack drones.

• Air Warfare

  January drone digest: MALE, rotary-wing and loitering munition UAVs dominate early 2026

  27th January 2026

  The first month of 2026 has seen activity in the MALE, rotary-wing, and loitering munition UAV markets, with significant investments and commitments from Germany, Turkey, the UAE and the US. At the same time, questions over loitering munition performance in Ukraine highlight the growing scrutiny alongside rising demand.

• Air Warfare

  Scaling for diverse fleet needs: How many CCA will be acquired per crewed aircraft?

  23rd February 2026

  There is currently no industry standard in the ratio of uncrewed to crewed aircraft. Because collaborative combat aircraft vary widely in capability and crewed-uncrewed teaming availability, while country-specific requirements vary, it is unlikely that a single CCA configuration will meet all operational needs.

• Land Warfare

  World Defense Show 2026: Middle East remains focused on US equipment and local industry involvement

  10th February 2026

  Vehicle procurement in the Middle East continues to target big-ticket main battle tanks, with lighter platform purchases also potentially on the horizon including tactical, infantry fighting and armoured personnel carrier vehicles.

• Defence Notes

  Nuclear costs crowd out key defence priorities in UK investment plan, say SDR authors

  8th July 2026

  The UK government’s Defence Investment Plan has been criticised by the authors of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) 2025 which formed the basis of the plan. The SDR’s external reviewers told the country’s defence committee how the plan misses the mark.

• Air Warfare

  November drone digest: GA-ASI eyes Middle East for Gambit, Edge Group unveils new UAVs

  1st December 2025

  In November 2025, GA-ASI unveiled a new Gambit variant, the Gambit 6, and appears to be pitching the aircraft series to various customers in the Middle East, which is a fast-emerging CCA market. The Dubai Airshow also saw the unveiling of various Emirati aircraft from Edge Group.

• Defence Notes

  High tension in the High North – a wake-up call for NATO’s future Arctic defence efforts?

  20th January 2026

  Any potential ‘Arctic Sentry’ mission would be months in the planning, but with tensions high in the region given the US’s push for Greenland, NATO countries will need to continue to emphasise their commitment to the region, analysts have said.

• Air Warfare

  Edge and Indra to form manufacturing entity to meet European loitering munition demand

  15th January 2026

  Once approved by shareholders, the newly established manufacturing company will be developed in Spain and will look to address the burgeoning demand for loitering munitions from Spain and the rest of Europe.

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Landing platform docks/dock landing ships

  San Antonio LPD 17 Flight I [USN]

  The LPD 17 Flight I ships are the first flight of the San Antonio-class Landing Platform Docks (LPD). Procured between FY1996 and FY2017, the vessels ...

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

  Wing Loong I [Eygpt]

  Programme Background SIPRI According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in 2016, Eygpt ordered around 10 Wing Loong I aircraft from China, which were ...

• Fast attack/patrol craft and interceptors

  PKX-B Batch II (13-22) [South Korea]

  Programme Background Contracts Award On 24 November 2022, HJ Heavy Industries was awarded a contract worth KRW212 billion ($160 million) to build four PKX-B Batch-II ...

• Fast attack/patrol craft and interceptors

  PKX-B Batch II (9-12) [South Korea]

  Programme Background Contracts Award On 24 November 2022, HJ Heavy Industries was awarded a contract worth KRW212 billion ($160 million) to build four PKX-B Batch-II ...

• Main battle tanks

  Al-Khalid-I

  Programme Background Pakistan operates a vast fleet of Chinese and Ukrainian MBTs primarily aimed at deterring regional rivals such as India. In order to build ...

• Fast attack/patrol craft and interceptors

  PKX-B Batch II (1-4) [South Korea]

  Programme Background Contracts Award On 24 November 2022, HJ Heavy Industries was awarded a contract worth KRW212 billion ($160 million) to build four PKX-B Batch-II fast attack ...

• Fast attack/patrol craft and interceptors

  PKX-B Batch II (5-8) [South Korea]

  Programme Background Contracts Award On 24 November 2022, HJ Heavy Industries was awarded a contract worth KRW 212 billion ($160 million) to build four PKX-B ...

• 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 ...

• Naval: Combat Management Systems

  Naval: Combat Management Systems | Offshore Patrol Vessels (3-4) [Uruguay]

  In December 2021, Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou revealed that the Navy wants to acquire two ships for about $100 million. The procurement of two ...

• Naval: shipboard communication systems

  Naval: shipboard communication systems | Offshore Patrol Vessels (3-4) [Uruguay]

  In December 2021, Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou revealed that the Navy wants to acquire two ships for about $100 million. The procurement of two ...

• LTVs - 4x4

  Light Forces Enhancement [Canada]

  Background The LFE programme was first launched in 2020 with the intention of providing the Canadian army with new light mobility platforms that could rapidly ...

• Submarines: conventional/attack

  KSS-III (Boats 1-3) [South Korea]

  Programme Background Timeline The new KSS-III Dosan Ahn Chang-Ho-class submarines for the Republic of Korea Navy (RoKN) are a significant advance on the earlier KSS-II ...

• Main battle tanks

  Al-Khalid-II

  Programme Background Pakistan operates a vast fleet of Chinese and Ukrainian MBTs primarily aimed at deterring regional rivals such as India. In order to build ...

• Military UAS - micro, Military UAS - rotary-wing

  Soldier Borne Sensor (SBS) (Phase II) [USA]

  Programme Background Requirement The Soldier Borne Sensor (SBS) provides short-range day and night ISR to US Army units at the squad, platoon and other small ...

• Fast attack/patrol craft and interceptors

  Fast Interceptor Craft - Indigenous (FIC-I) (1-120) [India]

  Programme Background Requirements The craft are required to have a length of 13-17m, a sustained speed of 45kt, a range of at least 200nm at 15kt, ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Subsystems: software

  SWORD

  The SWORD is a high-level, automated war-game solution for training, analysis and planning. Developed in close relation with armies worldwide, the SWORD immerses brigade and ...

• Air: air combat simulators

  TAOS

  In Tactical Aircraft Online Services (TAOS), live Aero L-29 jets are flown by experienced combat pilots alongside a wingman flying a ground-based flight simulator, controlled ...

• Land: fire support simulators

  FIDex

  Fidelity has merged the technology of its JTAC and IDF product lines. It released FIDex (Fidelity Extreme) at I/ITSEC 2011 with its first demo of ...

• Air: helicopter flight simulators, Land: tactical engagement simulators

  VBS Blue IG

  At I/ITSEC 2017, Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim) unveiled a new simulation technology to help international militaries train for operations. VBS Blue IG, an upgrade from the ...

• Subsystems: visual

  EP-8100

  At I/ITSEC 2015, Collins Aerospace (formerly Rockwell Collins) unveiled its EP-8100 image generation system, which is driven by real-time, simulation-specific graphics cards and software. It ...

• Subsystems: visual

  WholeEarth Synthetic Environment

  Rockwell Collins unveiled its enhanced synthetic training environment, WholeEarth, at I/ITSEC 2015 and the official release occurred in May 2016. The high-resolution complete Earth database ...

• Land: Radio and SATCOM

  ULV MicroVSAT

  Ultra I&C;'s ULV MicroVSAT is a tri-band, lightweight SATCOM terminal that emphasises portability. First introduced in 2022, the modem-agnostic system supports WGS, Intelsat Flex, Inmarsat GX ...

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

  ELM-2022

  The ELM-2022, developed by IAI ELTA, is a maritime patrol radar family operating in the X-band designed for manned and unmanned, fixed- or rotary-wing airborne platforms. It is engineered for ...

• MPVs - 4x4

  Cockerill i-X

  The Cockerill i-X is a wheeled armoured vehicle designed as a light armoured platform with a modular turret for intercepting enemy forces. John Cockerill Defense unveiled the new ...

• Loitering munitions, Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - mini

  ALTIUS-600 / ALTIUS-600M

  Part of the ALTIUS family, the ALTIUS-600 is an air-launched, tube-integrated UAV that Area-I has designed to conduct ISR, SIGINT collection and electronic warfare missions.  At AUSA 2022, Anduril ...

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

  Wing Loong I

  Designed by Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the Wing Loong I is the first member of the ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - mini

  Skylark I-LEX

  The Skylark I-LEX is a mini-UAV manufactured by Elbit Systems.  Unveiled at the Paris Air Show 2015, the UAV is designed for ISR operations. It enables ...

• Self-propelled rocket launchers

  Pinaka

  The Pinaka 214mm MRL was developed indigenously by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from 1986 to meet the Indian Army's requirement for an ...

• Land: air defence radar

  MSSR-2000-I

  The MSSR 2000 I is a monopulse secondary surveillance radar system manufactured by Hensoldt. It is designed for military air surveillance applications and is capable ...

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

  Anka-I

  Anka-I is a SIGINT/COMINT variant of Turkey’s Anka-S and is operated by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization. The COMINT capability allows operators to track, geolocate and ...