• Uncrewed Vehicles

  US Army operator training on WASP ERS concluded

  24th January 2019

  Drone Aviation has concluded US Army operator training on the Winch Aerostat Small Platform (WASP) elevated relay system (ERS) at the army’s base in Pacific …

• Naval Warfare

  Japan requests Aegis weapon systems

  31st January 2019

  The US State Department has made a determination approving a potential foreign military sale of Aegis weapon systems, Multi-Mission Signal Processors (MMSP) and C2 Processor …

• Defence Helicopter

  US awards V-22 fleet support contract

  23rd January 2019

  Bell Boeing has received a contract from the US Defense Logistics Agency Aviation to provide performance-based logistics and engineering support for the V-22 aircraft fleet, …

• Defence Notes

  Iran denies any intention of boosting range of missiles

  29th January 2019

  Iran has ‘no intention of increasing the range’ of its missiles, a senior defence official said Tuesday, amid threats of European as well as US …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  USAF announces Swarm and Search AI Challenge

  25th January 2019

  The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), in collaboration with Wright Brothers Institute and University of …

• Naval Warfare

  US Navy to commission DDG 1001

  25th January 2019

  The US Navy is set to commission its second Zumwalt-class destroyer, USS Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001), at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, California, on …

• Training

  Cubic upgrading San Diego facility

  30th January 2019

  Cubic Corporation is renovating and upgrading its San Diego manufacturing facility to accommodate the production and testing of air combat training components, the company announced …

• Military Logistics

  Vigor awarded icebreaker maintenance

  28th January 2019

  Vigor has received a $7.3 million contract to provide maintenance support for the US Coast Guard’s polar icebreaker Healy, the company announced on 23 January. …

• Land Warfare

  US Army approves T-Worx Intelligent Rail

  23rd January 2019

  T-Worx’s Intelligent Rail power and data rail product has received approval from the US Army following successful testing, the company announced on 18 January. The …

• Digital Battlespace

  Raytheon receives radar systems repair contract

  24th January 2019

  Raytheon has received a contract to repair radar systems on the US Navy’s F/A-18 aircraft, the company announced on 21 January. Under the $24.4 million …

• Digital Battlespace

  US Army to experiment with MUM-T radio for NGCV

  23rd January 2019

  Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T) will be one of the focuses for the US Army’s Next Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV) programme during 2019 with an experiment for …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  ADECS 2019: Australian air force anticipates Triton’s prospects

  31st January 2019

  The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is looking forward to a wide range of new capabilities and synergies when it begins operating its first MQ-4C …

• Defence Notes

  Opinion: US begins standing up to China… finally

  23rd January 2019

  Say or think what you will about President Donald Trump – his divisive style means you either love or hate him – but the US …

• Military Logistics

  KBRwyle to continue USMC support

  24th January 2019

  KBRwyle has received a contract extension to continue providing prepositioning and logistics support services for the US Marine Corps (USMC) Blount Island Command, KBR announced …

• Defence Notes

  German FM says up to Russia to save missile treaty

  24th January 2019

  Germany said Wednesday that it was up to Russia to salvage a key Cold War arms treaty with days to go before the United States …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, 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 ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing

  BQM-177A [US Navy]

  Background Previous Purchases The BQM-177A was designed for the USN and has been in service with the USN for many years. Indeed, in August 2022, Shephard reported ...

• 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 ...

• Loitering munitions

  Phoenix Ghost (Ukraine Aid) [US]

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

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, 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 ...

• Military helicopters - maritime

  MH-60R Seahawk (India)

  Programme Background On 25 February 2020, a letter of acceptance for 24 MH-60Rs, worth approximately $2.12 billion, was signed by India and the US in Delhi. ...

• 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 $990 million hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price) contract to provide “an ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, 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 ...

• 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. ...

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 ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, 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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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, Military UAS - fixed-wing

  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 - fixed-wing, 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 ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  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 ...