• Defence Notes

  Challenges and opportunities abound for US in autonomy research

  19th April 2022

  DARPA continues to explore the potential of uncrewed platforms across the air, land and sea domains — although industry, academia and government agree that challenges must still be overcome.

• Naval Warfare

  Japan commissions its second frigate

  3rd May 2022

  The second of a new class of frigate for Japan's navy has been delivered to the JMSDF.

• Defence Notes

  BAE Systems joins DARPA’s MINC programme

  5th May 2022

  BAE Systems receives a contract from US agency to develop an autonomous tactical network.

• Land Warfare

  DARPA wants to move faster on autonomous off-road UGV simulation

  27th April 2022

  Intel expects new simulation tools in the DARPA RACER-Sim programme to significantly improve the development of autonomous systems using virtual testing.

• Naval Warfare

  Naval Warfare magazine: Aircraft carriers; European joint projects and more

  6th May 2022

  Read the latest edition of Naval Warfare for free in our app or on your desktop.

• Naval Warfare

  Remus 300 joins USN Program of Record

  31st March 2022

  Remus 300 has been selected to join the USN Small UUV Program of Record.

• Air Warfare

  US hails HAWC test but still plays catch-up on hypersonics

  8th April 2022

  The second successful test flight of the HAWC missile fails to obscure patchy progress overall in US hypersonic programmes.

• Digital Battlespace

  T-MUSIC semiconductor programme moves to Phase 2

  1st April 2022

  BAE Systems gains a follow-on contract from DARPA to work on Phase 2 of the Technologies for Mixed-mode Ultra Scaled Integrated Circuits (T-MUSIC) programme.

• Digital Battlespace

  BAE Systems tests prototype iMOTR

  4th April 2022

  BAE Systems designed the phased-array iMOTR system to track up to 20 low-altitude or sea-skimming targets in real time at ranges of up to 100km.

• Land Warfare

  DARPA eyes critical design maturity for OpFires

  14th March 2022

  Lockheed Martin receives new OpFires contract modification to achieve system-level critical design security by September 2022.

• Digital Battlespace

  DARPA chases comprehensive battlespace awareness with JAWS

  1st March 2022

  DARPA is exercising options on the JAWS contract for all-domain battle management planning software.

• Defence Notes

  Australia diversifies AUKUS into advanced capabilities such as hypersonics

  12th April 2022

  AUKUS is about far more than giving Australia nuclear-powered submarines, with the three countries announcing a wide portfolio of defence collaboration.

• Naval Warfare

  DSA 2022: Japan commissions first ship in new frigate class

  25th March 2022

  Both Japan and South Korea are building frigates, with the former commissioning the first of a new class and the latter launching the last of a class on 22 March.

• Defence Helicopter

  ALIAS-equipped uncrewed helicopter takes off

  9th February 2022

  Flexible and extensible automation architecture offers the prospect of uncrewed US Army rotorcraft missions in the Future Vertical Lift programme.

• Air Warfare

  Air Combat Evolution programme progresses to next phase

  16th February 2022

  The US DoD has commenced the search for partners for the next stage of the ACE programme.

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - small

  LongShot [USA]

  Programme Background Requirement According to DARPA, the objective of the LongShot programme is "to disrupt the paradigm of air combat operations by demonstrating an unmanned ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - small

  AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY (ANCILLARY) [US]

  Programme Background Aims & Timeline As stated by DARPA, the ANCILLARY programme aims to develop and fly an X-plane that will provide a "leap-ahead" in long-endurance, ...

• Fighter - multirole

  Penetrating Counter Air (PCA) [USA]

  Programme Background Requirement Originally conceived as a replacement for the F-22, the PCA was designed to counter various air threats, including integrated air defence systems ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Military - UUVs

  Manta Ray

  Manta Ray is an uncrewed underwater vessel (UUV) developed by Northrop Grumman.

• Military - UUVs

  Bluefin-Knifefish

  The Bluefin-Knifefish UUV was initially developed for the Surface Mine Countermeasure UUV (SMCM UUV) programme for the USN’s Littoral Combat Ships. It is manufactured by General Dynamics ...

• Sea: procedural training

  UUV Training Simulator

  The Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) Training Simulator teaches users how to operate and control a UUV, specifically with reference to mine hunting. The UUV is ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - small

  LongShot

  The LongShot is a developmental air-launched platform intended to increase the survivability of friendly crewed aircraft. In February 2021, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - tactical

  XRQ-73

  The US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) unveiled the flying design of the XRQ-73 in June 2024. The aircraft has been developed under the  Series ...

• Sea: procedural training

  2 Sigma Digital Tutor

  A Digital Tutor that is designed to outperform schoolhouse instructors, bringing CTC training to a broad spectrum of sailors. Specifications include improving student outcomes for ...

• Military - USVs

  NOMARS

  The No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) is a US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) effort to develop a first-of-its-kind large uncrewed surface vessel.

• Major networking projects

  CHAIN

  The Compartmented High Assurance Information Network (CHAIN) is described as a robust architecture that improves interoperability of IT systems among the military services and security ...

• Riptide Mk II

  At Oceanology International 2018, Riptide Autonomous Solutions presented its second-generation micro-UUV – the Mk II. The Riptide Mk II UUV has a maximum speed of ...

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

  XV-24A LightningStrike

  The XV-24A LightningStrike, developed by Aurora Flight Sciences and its partners Rolls-Royce and Honeywell, was a project for a tilt-wing UAV powered by an electric-distributed ...

• Sea: sonar systems

  UUV-3500

  The Klein UUV-3500 side-scan sonar family is composed of the mid-depth (3000m) high-resolution, low-power, dual-frequency and the deep (6000m) variant which is a higher power ...

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

  Shrike

  The Shrike was a micro, portable, rugged VTOL-capable UAV designed for frontline day/night ISR.  Development of the Shrike began in 2008 under a $4.6-million contract from ...

• Military - UUVs

  BlueWhale

  BlueWhale is an autonomous uncrewed underwater vessel (UUV) developed by Israel's Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

• Military - UUVs

  Iver4 580

  The Iver4 580 is a UUV designed by L3Harris for commercial and defence survey operations.

• Military - UUVs

  D19 UUV

  Naval Group's family of D19 drones are AUVs designated for varying taskings such as identification, surveillance, EW, mobile target, minelaying and MCM operations.