• Military Logistics

  Portland completes builder’s trials

  5th July 2017

  The US Navy’s upcoming San Antonio class amphibious transport dock, the future USS Portland (LPD 27), has successfully completed builder’s trials following four days of operations …

• Defence Helicopter

  CH-53K flight testing moves to Patuxent River

  7th July 2017

  The CH-53K King Stallion has completed its first long-range test flight from West Palm Beach, Florida, to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, as it …

• Naval Warfare

  Turkish Coast Guard receives SAR vessels

  11th July 2017

  Damen has delivered the first two of six Search and Rescue (SAR) 1906 vessels to the Turkish Coast Guard (TCG), the company announced on 7 …

• Land Warfare

  L3 awarded M783 mortar fuze contract

  4th July 2017

  L3 Technologies will supply the US Army with M783 Point Detonating/Delay mortar fuzes and M734A1 Multi-Option Fuze for Mortars under a $89.2 million contract announced …

• Digital Battlespace

  Hensoldt to acquire Kelvin Hughes

  5th July 2017

  German sensor house Hensoldt is set to acquire UK radar company Kelvin Hughes from UK private equity firm ECI and management, Hensoldt announced on 30 June. …

• Military Logistics

  USAF KC-10 cockpit upgrade programme completed

  4th July 2017

  Rockwell Collins has completed the cockpit upgrade of the 59th and final US Air Force (USAF) KC-10 aircraft with its Flight2 integrated avionics system, the …

• Digital Battlespace

  CMTL to continue providing satellite services to USMC

  7th July 2017

  Comtech Telecommunications has received a $14.5 million contract modification to continue to support the US Marine Corps’ (USMC's) tactical satellite communications network, the company announced on 5 …

• Defence Notes

  Raytheon makes out like a bandit in Taiwan

  3rd July 2017

  There was nothing new in the first arms package released by the Trump administration that Taiwan did not already have in its inventory, beyond some …

• Defence Notes

  Air Power 2017: CAS highlights partnerships

  12th July 2017

  As the Royal Air Force (RAF) looks forward to its centenary in 2018, the Chief of the Air Staff has highlighted partnerships as key for …

• Defence Helicopter

  Thai army to buy four more Black Hawks

  3rd July 2017

  The Royal Thai Army (RTA) will order four more UH-60M Black Hawks from Sikorsky after receiving US congressional approval. This acquisition will enable the RTA …

• Military Logistics

  HII looks toward LPD 29

  6th July 2017

  Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has received a $218 million contract from the US Navy for material and advance construction activities for landing platform dock LPD 29. The funds …

• Defence Helicopter

  Iranian heliport receives Bell 214s (gallery)

  11th July 2017

  The second air base/heliport of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Corps (IRGCAA), named Seyyed al-Shahada, was officially established during a ceremony on 4 July 2017 …

• Defence Helicopter

  Saudi Arabia’s helicopter inventory bolstered

  5th July 2017

  The skies above Saudi Arabia are soon to be filled with AH-6is and Black Hawks as deliveries begin from Boeing and Sikorsky as part of …

• Defence Notes

  Air Power 2017: UK F-35 training takes off

  11th July 2017

  Preparations for the F-35B Lightning II's arrival to the UK continue apace with the announcement on 5 July that 207 Squadron will be training future Royal Air …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  NS Mayport to get Triton FOB hangar

  6th July 2017

  Hensel Phelps Construction will construct a new Triton Forward Operating Base Hangar at US Naval Station (NS) Mayport, Florida, under a $36 million contract from …

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 ...