• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Fire Scout departs for first deployment

  9th October 2009

  The MQ-8B Fire Scout made naval aviation history when the fleet deployed this revolutionary rotary wing unmanned aircraft system aboard the USS McInerney (FFG-8) Monday. …

• Defence Helicopter

  US Army Awards Raytheon $13 Million to Improve Situational Awareness for Pilots

  7th October 2009

  The US Army has awarded Raytheon Company a $13 million contract to develop additional sensor prototypes for the Advanced Distributed Aperture System, which gives helicopter …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Zala 421-16 awarded certification

  7th October 2009

  The ZALA 421-16 UAV has been awarded certification of air worthiness after successfully completing its final stage of development and completing 1000 test flight hours. …

• Defence Helicopter

  AgustaWestland Awarded Apache Integrated Operational Support Contract - Delivering Cost and Capability Benefits

  6th October 2009

  AgustaWestland has announced the award of the Apache Integrated Operational Support (IOS) contract by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to meet the Apache Attack …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Northrop Grumman's Fire Scout Unmanned Helicopter Completes Flight With New Ground Control Station

  6th October 2009

  The Northrop Grumman Corporation-developed MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Unmanned Aircraft System (VUAS) recently completed a flight under the command and control of a new company-developed …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  GE Aviation Delivers First X-47B Navy Unmanned Combat Air System Landing Gear

  6th October 2009

  GE Aviation recently delivered the first fully-dressed landing gear to Northrop Grumman Corporation in support of the X-47B Navy Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration …

• Defence Helicopter

  Army Apaches get a £439m Boost

  6th October 2009

  The British Army's Apache attack helicopters operating in Afghanistan will benefit from a £439m contract that will further improve their technical, engineering and logistic support, …

• Defence Helicopter

  Building on success: the UH-72A continues its rapid fielding with the US Army

  6th October 2009

  The on-time, on-budget deliveries of EADS North America’s UH-72A Lakotas to the US Army reached its 86th aircraft at the end of September, with this …

• Defence Helicopter

  EADS North America and US Army validate global mobility of the UH-72A Lakota

  6th October 2009

  EADS North America and the US Army successfully loaded four US Army UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopters (LUH) and one additional company-owned EC145 helicopter onto …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Rotomotion SR20 first and only UAS to complete multiple high wind flights DSEi 2009 in London

  6th October 2009

  ASM Europe Ltd demonstrated Rotomotion’s Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) at the Defence Systems & Equipment International (DSEi) conference last month, successfully completing a total of …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Extended Range/Multi-Purpose Unmanned Aircraft System Readies for Immediate and Future Combat

  5th October 2009

  The Extended Range/Multi-Purpose (ER/MP) MQ-1C unmanned aircraft system (UAS) – the Army’s newest UAS – is undergoing successful testing in Iraq in preparation for near-term …

• Defence Helicopter

  AgustaWestland Congratulates the 2009 Cormorant Trophy Winners

  4th October 2009

  AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, congratulates the crew of the Canadian Forces 442 Search and Rescue Squadron, based at CFB Comox, on winning the 2009 Cormorant …

• Defence Helicopter

  AUSA 09: Boeing links Apache to multiple networks in C4ISR On-The-Move demo

  3rd October 2009

  In the run up to the Association of the US Army’s annual meeting in Washington DC next week, Boeing has revealed details of its networking …

• Defence Helicopter

  Boeing Wideband Networking Waveform, Apache Demonstrate Future Force Interoperability

  2nd October 2009

  Two Boeing programs, the Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) and the AH-64 Apache, participated in a successful integrated capabilities event this summer at the U.S. Army's …

• Digital Battlespace

  NATO Agency Delivers Airborne Chat Capability

  30th September 2009

  Real time collaboration via an airborne internet protocol (IP) based ‘chat’ capability is now possible onboard the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft. …

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 ...