• Digital Battlespace

  IBCS in dual engagement testing

  20th April 2016

  The US Army has conducted a dual engagement flight test of the Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS) developed by Northrop …

• Digital Battlespace

  Harris receives radio orders from US Army

  19th April 2016

  Harris Corporation has been awarded $20 million worth of orders for tactical radios from the US Army's Communications-Electronics Command for a number of unnamed North …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  AUVSI 2016: Nocturnal UAV ops approved

  27th April 2016

  An Ohio-based construction company has become the first-ever commercial drone operator to be granted US FAA approval to conduct UAV operations at night, it has …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  AUVSI 2016: Sentient pushes ahead with ViDAR

  27th April 2016

  Sentient Vision Systems are continuing with their development of the Kestrel maritime ViDAR software, and revealed that the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) will deploy a …

• Digital Battlespace

  IEE to provide 3.5-inch CDU to Cubic

  21st April 2016

  IEE has received a contract from Cubic Global Defense to provide a 3.5-inch control display unit (CDU) as an upgrade to the existing Personnel Locator …

• Defence Notes

  DSA 2016: Triple strike options from MBDA

  16th April 2016

  The European missile house MBDA is promoting Sea Ceptor, Sea Venom and EMADS to the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN). With old Otomat and Aspide missile systems aboard the …

• Land Warfare

  Mine clearance vehicle for Ukraine SSES

  26th April 2016

  The Kremenchug Automobile Plant has built a special heavy mine clearing vehicle for the Ukraine State Service for Emergency Situations (SSES) department in Lugansk, it was …

• Defence Helicopter

  Aurora flies subscale LightningStrike

  20th April 2016

  Aurora Flight Sciences has successfully conducted the first flight of a subscale vehicle demonstrator (SVD) of its LightningStrike vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) X-Plane for DARPA …

• Land Warfare

  DSA 2016: Malaysia fires first Starstreaks

  13th April 2016

  The Malaysian Army has conducted the first live firing of a new very short-range air defence (VSHORAD) system. The Thales UK Starstreak VSHORADS missiles were fired at the Tanjung Logok …

• Defence Helicopter

  DSA 2016: Anka-S achieves milestones

  19th April 2016

  The Anka-S UAV from Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has clocked up a number of achievements as it heads towards first delivery to the Turkish Air …

• Land Warfare

  Bhutan acquires Puma for UN missions

  28th April 2016

  Bhutan has ordered, Shephard has learned, around 20 Puma M36 Mk5 4x4 protected mobility vehicles for use in United Nations stabilisation missions. The vehicles should …

• Digital Battlespace

  DSA 2016: Malaysian LCS gets IP comms

  20th April 2016

  Rohde & Schwarz (R&S) has signed a contract with Malaysian shipbuilder, Boustead Naval Shipbuilding to provide communications for its new Littoral Combat Ships. Signed at …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Patroller to replace French Army Sperwer

  5th April 2016

  The Patroller UAV has finally been confirmed as the replacement for the Sperwer UAS currently deployed with the French Army’s 61st Artillery Regiment from 2018. …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  UltiSat receives Global Hawk support order

  20th April 2016

  UltiSat has received a COMSATCOM Transponded Capacity (CTC) task order from the US Defense Information Systems Agency's (DISA) to provide Ku bandwidth capacity to support …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  AUVSI 2016: Power to make its point

  27th April 2016

  South Korean company Kokam launched their new range of unmanned vehicle capable high energy battery solutions on 26 April, days before the start of the …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Military helicopters - multirole

  UH-2 (Japan)

  Programme Background The UH-2 is a Japanese militarised version of Bell’s civilian 412EPX, with the two OEMs cooperating on this particular programme. The Acquisition, Technology ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  UH-2 Forecast (Japan)

  Programme Background The UH-2 is a Japanese militarised version of Bell’s civilian 412EPX, with the two OEMs cooperating on this particular programme. The Acquisition, Technology ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - MALE

  Bayraktar TB2 [Croatia]

  Programme Background Contract Award As reported by Shephard in November 2024, Croatia's government approved the purchase of six Bayraktar TB2 drones, a training package in Türkiye, a command-and-control centre, ...

• Trainer

  T-6C [Thailand]

  Programme Background The contract is for 12 Beechcraft T-6C Texan II advanced military training aircraft, ground-based training systems for pilots and maintenance professionals, a mission ...

• ISR/special mission

  ISTAR Aircraft (South Korea)

  Programme Background South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration stated that Seoul is planning to procure additional aircraft to minimize potential surveillance gaps amid growing security ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - small

  KUS-FT (South Korea)

  Programme Background Requirement The ROKA had identified a need for tactical UAVs that can be employed at the divisional level to carry out ISTAR missions ...

• Loitering munitions

  ALTIUS-600M [Taiwan]

  Programme Background China's Aggression Taiwan's national defence policy revolves around defending itself from a possible invasion by China. In Early 2025, the Taipei Times elaborated ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - MALE

  KUS-FS (ROKA) [South Korea]

  Programme Background Inception The Aerospace Division of Korean Air (KAL-ASD) commenced developing the MUAV in 2008 in response to a ROKAF requirement for a MALE ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - MALE

  KUS-FS (ROKAF) [South Korea]

  Programme Background Inception The Aerospace Division of Korean Air (KAL-ASD) commenced developing the MUAV in 2008 in response to a ROKAF requirement for a MALE UAV ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - HALE

  RQ-4 Global Hawk (South Korea)

  Programme Background Requirments Seoul required UAS assets to help monitor its neighbour to the north and, increasingly, Chinese activities in waters and in the air near ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - HALE

  RQ-4 Global Hawk (Japan)

  Programme Background Selection & Contract AwardIn 2015, Northrop Grumman's RQ-4 Global Hawk UAS and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft were selected by Japan to ...

• Loitering munitions

  Long Range One-way Platforms [US]

  Solicitation In October 2024, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) released a solicitation for long-range, one-way platforms. The DIU noted recent conflicts highlighted the asymmetric impact of low-cost, ...

• Fighter - multirole

  Swiss Air 2030 - Combat Aircraft

  Programme Background Switzerland began the latest phase of flight and ground tests on 8 April 2019. In June 2019, Saab announced that the company’s in-development ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - MALE

  Eurodrone (Forecast) [Czechia]

  Programme Background Eurodrone Programme For context, the European MALE RPAS, or Eurodrone, is a quad-nation effort from some of Europe's most prominent defence manufacturers to ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - MALE

  Eurodrone (Forecast) [Japan]

  Programme Background Japan's Application The Letter of Approval (LOA) for observer status in the programme was presented to the Japanese Ambassador to Germany, Hidenao Yanagi, by Joachim ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Land: COMINT and ELINT systems

  GenCOM Defense Ground

  GenCOM Defense Ground provides an automatic multi-layered situational awareness picture to the decision-maker, based on external signal data (metadata) gathered in real time. Integrating with ...

• Major networking projects

  DCGS

  The Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) is the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office plan for the integrated architecture of all ground and surface computing and communications ...

• EO/IR systems

  CM262

  Manfuaucted by AVT Australia, the CM262 is a ground-based imaging system combining four sensor configurations into a compact and ruggedised system for C-UAS and ISR ...

• Land: air defence radar

  KRONOS Power Shield Land

  This system is an L-band digital AESA anti-TBM radar. It is the land-based version of the naval KRONOS Power Shield, also known as KRONOS Ground ...

• Surface-to-air missiles

  AMRAAM-ER

  The AIM-120 AMRAAM-ER is essentially an upgraded version of the AIM-120 AMRAAM tailored for extended range and enhanced performance in ground-based air defense systems like ...

• Short Range Missile Defence Systems: 0 to 20 km range

  Initial Maneuver - SHORAD

  Unveiled at AUSA 2019, Initial Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (IM-SHORAD) is a multipurpose platform, based on the Stryker IFV, which moves and maneuvers in ...

• AEW&C

  P600 AEW&C

  In June 2019, Embraer and IAI/Elta signed a cooperation agreement aimed at developing an AEW&C; aircraft based on the business jet Praetor 600, namely the ...

• Land: battle management systems

  AMDWS

  AMDWS (Air and Missile Defense Work Station), is a collaborative battlespace awareness information management system developed by Northrop Grumman to meet the requirements of the ...

• APCs/IFVs - 6x6

  Type 87

  The Type 87 is a 6x6 armoured reconnaissance vehicle developed by the now defunct Defense Division of Komatsu to meet the specific requirements of the ...

• Parvus DuraCOR 312

  The Parvus DuraCOR 312 is an Ultra-Small Form Factor (USFF) modular mission computer unveiled by Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions in November 2016. The DuraCOR 312 is ...

• Long-range Video and Data Downlinks

  BMS airborne and ground-based equipment enables long-range, real-time HD video and broadband data links. Products include cockpit control panels, airborne antennas, real-time encoders, compact high-power ...

• Land: battle management systems

  FAAD/C-RAM C2

  The Forward Area Air Defense (FAAD) Command and Control (C2) system was developed by Northrop Grumman to provide command and control (C2) for the US Army ...

• Data links

  Universal Link System

  Developed by Scytalys, the Universal Link System (ULS) is a modular, scalable multi data link processor. It supports all NATO and US standard data links ...

• Surface-to-air missiles

  MIM-72 Chaparral

  The MIM-72 Chaparral is a short-range, low-altitude, surface-to-air missile produced for the M48 Chaparral fire unit. It was produced as a replacement for the cancelled MIM-46 Mauler ...

• Air: AEW/fire control radar

  AN/APG-67

  The AN/APG-67 is a multi-mode, pulse-Doppler X-band radar designed for the Northrop F-20 Tigershark. It provides both air-to-air and air-to-surface capabilities, including look-up/look-down detection, tracking, ...