• Defence Notes

  India, US to hold large military exercises in 2019

  6th September 2018

  The US and Indian militaries will carry out large-scale joint exercises off India in 2019, top officials said on 6 September. The drills would be …

• Digital Battlespace

  Five Eyes acquisition struggles with private sector innovation

  13th September 2018

  Members of the Five Eyes alliance have in recent years attempted wholesale reform of their acquisition processes to speed up the fielding of new capabilities. …

• Naval Warfare

  Japan reportedly conducts submarine drill in South China Sea

  17th September 2018

  Japan has carried out its first submarine drill in the South China Sea, a newspaper said on 17 September, a move that could provoke Beijing …

• Digital Battlespace

  Japan requests E-2D AEW&C aircraft

  13th September 2018

  The US State Department has made a determination approving a potential foreign military sale of E-2D Advanced Hawkeye (AHE) airborne early warning and control (AEW&C;) …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  US Army engineers explore USV potential

  10th September 2018

  After the capsizing of the Portland district US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) survey vessel in April 2018, the USACE is turning towards USV in …

• Training

  Exercise Ample Strike concludes in Czech Republic

  19th September 2018

  An international flavour provided added spice to the recently concluded Exercise Ample Strike 2018, which ran from 3-14 September, with personnel from 19 NATO and Partnership …

• Naval Warfare

  NAVAIR receives modified Gulfstream G550

  12th September 2018

  The US Naval Air Systems Command’s (NAVAIR) Tactical Airlift Program Office (PMA-207) Commercial Modifications and Range Support team has accepted delivery of a new Gulfstream …

• Digital Battlespace

  Northrop completes CDR of WSN-12

  7th September 2018

  Northrop Grumman has successfully completed the Critical Design Review phase of the US Navy’s WSN-12 Inertial Sensor Module programme, the company announced on 5 September. …

• Defence Notes

  North Korea holds 70th anniversary parade, without ICBMs

  10th September 2018

  North Korea refrained from displaying its intercontinental missiles in a massive military parade through Pyongyang celebrating its 70th birthday on 9 September – a conspicuous …

• Digital Battlespace

  Sonitus to continue ATAC development

  14th September 2018

  Sonitus Technologies has received Phase II of a contract continue development of its ATAC personal communication system for the US Air Force.Known as Molar Mic …

• Military Logistics

  US Army looks beyond heavy equipment transporter systems

  7th September 2018

  The US Army has begun to look past its current Heavy Equipment Transporter System (HETS) capabilities.  A Request for Information (RfI) released on 4 September points …

• Naval Warfare

  South Korea launches its first missile-capable submarine

  14th September 2018

  South Korea launched its first ever missile-capable attack submarine on 14 September, despite a recent diplomatic thaw with the nuclear-armed North. The $700 million, 3,000t …

• Defence Notes

  Thorny trade, defence issues await US diplomats in India

  4th September 2018

  Two of US President Donald Trump's top officials are finally heading for talks in India in the week of 3 September, after Washington twice pulled …

• Naval Warfare

  Ukraine strengthens its naval power

  18th September 2018

  Ukraine continues to invest in its naval fleet development by taking delivery of new vessels while also planning the purchase of additional platforms. The first …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Opinion: Commercial enterprise

  21st September 2018

  This article first appeared in the Oct-Nov 2017 issue of UV magazine. It has been made available for non-subscribers following its shortlisting by the 2018 …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• 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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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 ...

• MPVs - 4x4

  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 ...

• Loitering munitions

  Phoenix Ghost (Ukraine Aid) [US]

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

• 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 - 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. ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  XQ-58A Valkyrie [USMC]

  Programme Background Contract Award On 30 December 2022, the US DoD announced that it had awarded Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems a $15.52 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to ...

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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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

  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 - 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 ...

• Directed energy weapons

  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 ...

• Data links, Land: Radio and SATCOM, UAS: communication systems

  QNT-200

  The Collins QNT-200 is a dual-channel software-defined radio (SDR) designed for size, weight and power-constrained platforms. Using IP-based mesh networks, it offers high-bandwidth mobile networking ...