• Land Warfare

  MBDA signs new MoUs for Land 400 bid

  5th October 2017

  MBDA has signed new Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with five Australian companies as part of its MMP missile system bid for the LAND 400 Phase …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  AUSA 2017: Army unmanned convoy efforts leap forward

  2nd October 2017

  The US Army’s unmanned resupply effort has taken a step forward following demonstrations of the latest advancements in the Autonomous Ground Resupply (AGR) Science and …

• Military Logistics

  WFEL receives US Army DSB order

  26th September 2017

  WFEL has signed a contract to deliver an additional four Dry Support Bridging (DSB) systems to the US Army, the company announced on 21 September. …

• Defence Helicopter

  AUSA 2017: Bell to fly Valor soon

  2nd October 2017

  The Bell Helicopter V-280 Valor is due to fly imminently as the vehicle is now 100% complete. The FVL technology demonstrator aircraft is being built …

• Digital Battlespace

  MDM 2017: BAE Systems highlights ACV C2 possibilities

  2nd October 2017

  BAE Systems used the Modern Day Marine venue at Quantico, Virginia to highlight ‘the state of the possible’ for a command and control variant of …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Polaris proposes MRZR for SMET

  26th September 2017

  Polaris will throw its hat into the ring for the US Army’s Squad Multipurpose Equipment Transport (SMET) programme with an optionally-manned MRZR. The offering, known Team …

• Naval Warfare

  US Navy accepts USS Colorado

  27th September 2017

  The US Navy has accepted delivery of the future USS Colorado, the 15th submarine of the Virginia-class, Navsea announced on 21 September. Construction of the …

• Land Warfare

  Taiwan initiates M60A3 upgrade plan

  6th October 2017

  The Republic of China Army (ROCA) has announced it will kick off a research process to upgrade its M60A3 TTS MBT fleet. After a long …

• Training

  MacDill looks to add KC-135 training capacity

  28th September 2017

  The US Air Force’s 6 Air Mobility Wing (AMW) is based at MacDill AFB near Tampa, Florida. The AMW’s air refuelling assets currently comprise 91 …

• Land Warfare

  Saudi positions for Russian defence tech

  6th October 2017

  Saudi Arabia and Russia have signed a principal agreement that could lead to a significant arms deal between the two countries, potentially valued at $3 …

• Digital Battlespace

  Curtiss-Wright to provide VDS winch system

  26th September 2017

  Curtiss-Wright has been selected by Raytheon to provide its winch system technology to deploy the new Variable Depth Sonar (VDS) being developed for the US …

• Training

  Australia completes MH-60R CMT tests

  27th September 2017

  The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has completed the factory acceptance tests (FAT) on its MH-60R Composite Maintenance Trainer (CMT) at CAE USA’s Tampa factory in …

• Special Operations

  Analysis: US SOF involvement in Philippines

  8th September 2017

  The US closure of Joint Special Operations Task Force - Philippines (JSOTF-P) in Mindanao, southern Philippines in 2015 appears to have been premature, in light …

• Military Logistics

  US DoD trials robotic fuel tank inspection

  28th August 2017

  A robotics inspection team from Burns and McDonnell and A Hak Industrial Services has conducted a tank bottom inspection of a US Department of Defense …

• Training

  USS Truman completes carrier qualifications

  28th September 2017

  The US Navy's Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman has returned to Naval Station Norfolk (NOB) after completing carrier qualifications and a successful ammunition …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, 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 ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing

  BQM-177A [US Navy]

  Background Previous Purchases The BQM-177A was designed for the USN and has been in service with the USN for many years. Indeed, in August 2022, Shephard reported ...

• 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 ...

• Loitering munitions

  Phoenix Ghost (Ukraine Aid) [US]

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

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, 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 ...

• Military helicopters - maritime

  MH-60R Seahawk (India)

  Programme Background On 25 February 2020, a letter of acceptance for 24 MH-60Rs, worth approximately $2.12 billion, was signed by India and the US in Delhi. ...

• 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 - fixed-wing, 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. ...

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 ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, 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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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, Military UAS - fixed-wing

  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 - fixed-wing, 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 ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  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 ...

• Heavy machine guns

  M2HB

  US Ordnance is one of two US M2HB heavy machine gun manufacturers which has received multi-year contracts to supply weapons to the US DoD. The ...