• Uncrewed Vehicles

  NASA debuts Global Hawk autonomous aircraft for Earth Science

  15th January 2009

  NASA and the Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles have unveiled the first Global Hawk aircraft system to be used for environmental science research, heralding …

• Defence Helicopter

  Helicopter Flight Training Services inaugurates World's first NH90 Full-Mission Simulator

  15th January 2009

  Helicopter Flight Training Services (HFTS), a consortium owned equally by CAE, Eurocopter, Thales and Rheinmetall Defence Electronics, today officially inaugurated the world's first NH90 full-mission …

• Defence Helicopter

  US Army looking at future of aviation

  14th January 2009

  Army aviation resourcing is on track to meet the challenges of prolonged, 21st century combat, said two of the Army's top program and acquisition officials …

• Defence Helicopter

  Canadian Chinooks make their debut

  13th January 2009

  With handshakes over signed documents, the transfer of six D-model Chinook medium- to heavy-lift helicopters from the U.S. Army to the Canadian Forces was completed …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  France chooses Sagem to design the datalink system for tomorrow's UAVs

  12th January 2009

  French defense procurement agency DGA has chosen Sagem (SAFRAN Group) over a field of competing companies to design the datalink system for unmanned aerial vehicles …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Army micro-UAS research in the spotlight

  12th January 2009

  In addition to highlighting expanding tactical UAS applications and new programme opportunities, the recent Association of the United States Army’s (AUSA) Army Aviation Symposium and …

• Defence Helicopter

  Boeing Completes Apache Longbow Training Upgrade Contract

  9th January 2009

  Boeing announced today that its Integrated Defense Systems Training Systems and Services organization has completed a six-year U.S. Army contract to retrofit and upgrade 22 …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  No 'hidden message' in Army briefing

  9th January 2009

  Titled “Above the Best: Army Aviation Today & Tomorrow,” the keynote address presented at the Association of the United States Army’s (AUSA’s) Army Aviation Symposium …

• Defence Helicopter

  Snark seeking a new home

  9th January 2009

  The New Zealand team behind the Snark unmanned combat helicopter family say the programme is far from becoming history and development work is planned to …

• Defence Helicopter

  The heat is on in new RAF training simulator

  8th January 2009

  RAF Medical Emergency Response Teams (MERTS) will benefit from a new training simulator at RAF Lyneham. According to the Ministry of Defence, the £42,000 simulator …

• Defence Helicopter

  Technicians prepare Griffons for theatre

  8th January 2009

  After the Minister of National Defence announced in November that Canada would deploy eight CH-146 Griffon helicopters as part of the Joint Task Force - …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Boeing-Insitu ScanEagle Completes 1,500th Shipboard Sortie With US Navy

  7th January 2009

  The ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system (UAS) - a joint effort of The Boeing Company and Insitu - has completed its 1,500th shipboard sortie in service …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  AAI Conducts Successful Test Flight of Its New Aerosonde Mark 5 Unmanned Aircraft

  5th January 2009

  AAI Corporation has conducted the successful first flight of its new Aerosonde Mark 5 unmanned aircraft system (UAS) at Yuma Proving Grounds in Yuma, Ariz. …

• Defence Helicopter

  Eurocopter and Helibras sign a historic contract with the Brazilian government

  23rd December 2008

  French President Nicolas Sarkozy and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil officially announced the contract for 50 EC725 helicopters which has been signed …

• Defence Helicopter

  HAI names winner of Honorary Lifetime Member Award

  19th December 2008

  W. "Dub" Blessing; Chief Pilot Emeritus, Helicopter Division, Perot Group; and Special Projects Coordinator, Hillwood Properties, will receive HAI's Honorary Lifetime Member Award on February …

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 ...