• Defence Notes

  Opinion: Russian defence cooperation tilts US-Saudi relations in favour of Riyadh

  6th April 2018

  Ever since President Franklin D Roosevelt met King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud on board the USS Quincy in 1945, the United States has had a …

• Military Logistics

  Rockwell awarded KC-135 work

  12th April 2018

  Rockwell Collins has received multiple repair contracts from the US Air Force (USAF) to support Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) components on the KC-135 tanker …

• Defence Notes

  China flies bombers around Taiwan

  19th April 2018

  Chinese bombers and spy planes have flown around Taiwan, the air force said on 19 April as Taipei accused Beijing of trying to stoke regional …

• Defence Helicopter

  UK to decide on MH-47G in 2020

  6th April 2018

  A decision on whether the UK chooses to replace or upgrade a number of its current Chinook fleet with newer MH-47G aircraft will be made …

• Defence Notes

  US F-16 crashes near Las Vegas

  5th April 2018

  A US F-16 fighter jet crashed on Wednesday near Las Vegas, the third US military aircraft crash in two days. 'An air force F-16 assigned …

• Digital Battlespace

  Systel servers for Fire Scout programme

  11th April 2018

  Systel will supply computing servers for the US Navy’s MQ-8C Fire Scout programme, the company announced on 9 April.The MQ-8C Fire Scout UAS is designed …

• Naval Warfare

  NATO continues to seek new Med partners

  18th April 2018

  When situational awareness is the aim of the game having a multitude of partners with eyes and ears at sea is a benefit to maritime …

• Land Warfare

  US prepares for interim air defence on Stryker in 2020

  9th April 2018

  Industry is preparing to pitch prototypes for the US Army's interim Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) programme, with plans to integrate technology onto a Stryker …

• Digital Battlespace

  US Army releases Sentinel radar upgrade RfP

  10th April 2018

  The US Army is pushing ahead with upgrades to its fielded Sentinel A3 radar systems as it looks to address growing threats on the battlefield, …

• Defence Helicopter

  Boeing pushing for Polish partnership

  16th April 2018

  Boeing is highly motivated to work with the Polish defence industry in line with the building and maintaining of the country's future fleet of attack …

• Land Warfare

  Australia requests M795 projectiles

  9th April 2018

  The US State Department has made a determination approving a potential foreign military sale of M795 projectiles to the Australian government, the Defense Security Cooperation …

• Defence Helicopter

  Two killed in US Army Apache crash

  7th April 2018

  Two US soldiers with an airborne combat brigade died when their Apache helicopter crashed during a routine training mission at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the army …

• Defence Notes

  Baltic states to ask for greater protection from Russia

  3rd April 2018

  Baltic state leaders will ask the US to send more troops and bolster air defences on NATO's eastern flank to deter Russia when they meet …

• Land Warfare

  Saudi Arabia requests M109A5/A6 howitzer structures

  10th April 2018

  The government of Saudi Arabia has requested a foreign military sale of 155mm M109A5/A6 medium self-propelled howitzer structures for conversion to M109A6 Paladin howitzer systems …

• Naval Warfare

  BAE to provide additional Mk110 guns for LCS

  11th April 2018

  BAE Systems has received a contract from General Dynamics to provide two additional Mk110 naval gun systems for the Independence variant of the US Navy’s …

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 ...