• Digital Battlespace

  Comms contract for The MEL Group

  11th April 2016

  The MEL Group will provide internal communications equipment and support to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) for its Maritime Equipment Transformation (MET) programme under …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Unmanned ACTUV becomes Sea Hunter

  8th April 2016

  DARPA’s prototype anti-submarine warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) was christened on 7 May in Portland.  It marks the next development stage for the programme …

• Naval Warfare

  BAE Systems to build more Mk 41 canisters

  8th April 2016

  BAE Systems has been awarded a $38.2 million contract modification from the US Navy to supply additional missile canisters for the Mk 41 Vertical Launching …

• Defence Helicopter

  New weapons for Thai AS550 C3e

  8th April 2016

  Shephard recently witnessed new 12.7mm FN Herstal HMP400 gun pods and FZ220 70mm rocket launchers fitted to Airbus Helicopters AS550 C3e (since being renamed H125M) …

• Digital Battlespace

  Thales, Airbus receive French defence contract

  7th April 2016

  Thales and Airbus Defence and Space have received the GeoMaps contract to supply digital geographic data for the French Ministry of Defence’s mapping database, Thales …

• Military Logistics

  WFEL receives UK support bridge contract

  7th April 2016

  WFEL is to undertake an Assessment Phase Programme for the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MoD’s) review of its bridging capabilities under a contract announced on …

• Digital Battlespace

  Singapore declassifies IAI radar

  6th April 2016

  The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) put its new Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) Elta Systems radar through its paces at the recent Exercise Cope …

• Defence Helicopter

  AVX remains in the FVL race

  5th April 2016

  Following successful wind-tunnel testing of its coaxial, compound design, AVX remains bullish about its involvement in the US Army’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) programme. The …

• Land Warfare

  US JLTV slips a bit

  5th April 2016

  There is likely to be a small delay in the US Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) programme as a result of the industrial protest last …

• Military Logistics

  GA-EMS tests new aircraft arresting gear

  5th April 2016

  General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) has successfully completed an aircraft arrestment using the new Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) system, the company announced on 1 April. …

• Digital Battlespace

  F-35I C4 system enters production

  5th April 2016

  The Command, Control, Communications and Computing (C4) system developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for the Israeli variant of the F-35 aircraft has completed testing …

• Military Logistics

  Japan’s C-2 aircraft enters service

  5th April 2016

  The Japanese Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) announced in March that its new Kawasaki Heavy Industries C-2 cargo aircraft had entered service. The JASDF planned the …

• Defence Notes

  DefExpo 2016: ‘Uplift’ in UK-Indian defence

  4th April 2016

  Spearheaded by Minister of State for Defence Procurement Philip Dunne, the UK was making a push to solidify defence cooperation with India at DefExpo 2016. …

• Land Warfare

  Challenge for US combat vehicles

  4th April 2016

  Modernising the US Army’s combat vehicles when significant reductions in numbers and budgets are taking place present certain challenges. ‘There was a time when 46 …

• Land Warfare

  DefExpo 2016: FICV attraction

  3rd April 2016

  Armoured vehicle manufacturers were out in force at DefExpo 2016, lured by the massive Future Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) programme for the Indian Army. Under …

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 ...