• Defence Helicopter

  Royal Australian Navy receives first MH-60R helicopters

  11th December 2013

  The first two MH-60R helicopters have been accepted by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) at ceremony at Lockheed Martin’s Owego facility. The RAN has 24 …

• Military Logistics

  GOCO dies, but will live again

  11th December 2013

  The UK government has finally abandoned proposals to privatise the MoD’s defence equipment procurement agency, DE&S. The secretary of state for defence, Philip Hammond, told …

• Defence Notes

  EADS details Defence and Space restructure plans

  10th December 2013

  EADS has presented a plan to the European Works Council that will see its future Airbus Defence and Space Division (Airbus DS) and corporate functions …

• Land Warfare

  Puma AIFV completes hot climate testing

  10th December 2013

  Germany’s Puma armoured infantry fighting vehicle (AIFV) have completed hot climate trials, it has emerged. Two of the new AIFVs were flown to the UAE …

• Naval Warfare

  Selex wins ANZAC-Class frigate communications work

  6th December 2013

  Selex ES will provide and support modernised communications systems for the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) eight ANZAC-Class frigates as part of a $188 million contract …

• Land Warfare

  Commercial industry drives UGV technology

  6th December 2013

  Frost & Sullivan has predicted that despite significant opportunities there will only be a limited proliferation of unmanned technology in the ground vehicles market in …

• Land Warfare

  GDLS to continue Stryker ECP upgrade R&D work

  5th December 2013

  General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) will continue research, development and testing work in preparation for the Stryker Engineering Change Proposal (ECP) upgrade programme under a …

• Defence Notes

  IITSEC 2013: US services warn cuts will affect readiness

  3rd December 2013

  High level officials from the US DoD have warned that current budgetary constraints and the reset of US forces will challenge the modelling and simulation …

• Naval Warfare

  Thales Australia to continue RAN combat system support

  28th November 2013

  Thales Australia will continue to support the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN’s) Adelaide Class FFG frigate combat system under a contract extension announced on 27 November. …

• Defence Helicopter

  US Army achieves IOC with AH-64E Apache Guardian

  28th November 2013

  The US Army’s AH-64E Apache ‘Guardian’ attack helicopters have achieved initial operating capability (IOC), the service announced on 27 November. In a statement, the army …

• Defence Helicopter

  USAF set to award combat rescue helicopter contract

  27th November 2013

  Pending budget approval, the US Air Force (USAF) is set to award Sikorsky a contract for its Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) programme, it has been …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Experts reflect on Chinese and Iranian UAV milestones

  26th November 2013

  The sovereignty of Western UAV development has been challenged this week, as details emerge regarding latest developments in Chinese and Iranian systems. Media reports coming out …

• Defence Helicopter

  RAF commences training operations with Puma Mk2

  26th November 2013

  The Royal Air Force has begun training on the newly upgraded Puma Mk2 helicopters from RAF Benson in Oxford. Seven of the 24 aircraft being …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Netherlands selects MQ-9 Reaper

  25th November 2013

  The Dutch ministry of defence plans to purchase the MQ-9 Reaper as its future medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV, it has emerged. After a …

• Military Logistics

  GOCO at death’s door

  22nd November 2013

  The UK MoD’s plans to privatise its Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) equipment acquisition agency appear to be falling apart. With only one team remaining …

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 ...