• Defence Notes

  Amidst threats, Seoul eyes defence budget hike

  9th June 2017

  South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) has requested a record defence budget of KRW43.7 trillion ($38.7 billion) for next year. Although yet to be …

• Special Operations

  DTECH Labs to support USSOCOM’s TACLAN

  8th June 2017

  Cubic company DTECH Labs has received two delivery orders to support the next generation of US Special Operations Command’s (USSOCOM) Tactical Local Area Network (TACLAN), Cubic …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  AUVSI 2017: Air Force unveils cross-domain UAS community

  11th May 2017

  As part of its search for synergies across the broad UAS user community the US Air Force is attempting to establish a broad 'community of …

• Land Warfare

  Brazil receives initial modernised AAVs

  5th June 2017

  The first two modernised AAV7A1 tracked amphibious armoured assault vehicles for the Brazilian Navy Marine Corps arrived at the port of Santos in State of São …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Stinger missiles destroy UAVs

  2nd June 2017

  A Stinger anti-air missile has intercepted two small UAVs for the first time, Raytheon announced on 1 June . The recent US Army test, carried out at Elgin …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Paris Air Show: UAV inspection down under and beyond

  15th June 2017

  Boeing plans to offer its full-service UAV infrastructure inspection system internationally after more than a year of providing inspection for well heads, pipelines and processing …

• Military Logistics

  DLA Distribution opens site in Japan

  1st June 2017

  The Defense Logistics Agency Distribution recently opened its newest facility in Iwakuni, Japan, to decrease customer wait times for critical material by pre-positioning it on …

• Military Logistics

  GE Marine completes fire testing on LM2500

  2nd June 2017

  GE’s Marine Solutions has successfully completed fire testing on its new composite LM2500 marine enclosure as part of the Module Modernisation Program (MMP), the company …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  USAF orders Dronebuster

  6th June 2017

  Radio Hill Technologies (RHT) has received a $2.5 million contract to deliver 100 Block 3 Dronebuster counter-UAS detection and jamming systems to the US Air …

• Defence Helicopter

  COTSEA to manufacture CH-47 components

  6th June 2017

  Germany's COTESA has been awarded a five-year contract by Boeing to manufacture key components for the global CH-47 Chinook helicopter fleet, Boeing announced on 1 June. …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Chinese Rainbow goes stratospheric

  15th June 2017

  China's first solar-powered Caihong (Rainbow) UAS successfully flew at an altitude of 20,000m on 13 June, an altitude that is well within the stratosphere, the country’s …

• Digital Battlespace

  Paris Air Show: Upgraded Rafale set for trials

  13th June 2017

  The French Air Force is on track to carry out qualification trials of the new ‘F3R’ standard Dassault Rafale next year, which will include testing …

• Defence Notes

  Paris Air Show: BTX focus on USAF competition

  12th June 2017

  Boeing believes there is a potential market of 2,000 aircraft for its Boeing T-X (BTX) trainer despite this the company remains focussed on its bidding …

• Digital Battlespace

  EW Europe: Testing times for EW sensors

  7th June 2017

  Electronic warfare systems – whether for land, sea or air platforms – can often mean the difference between life and death, particularly when it comes …

• Special Operations

  ​SOFIC 2017: SOCOM radio interest

  8th May 2017

  Harris' newest addition in its JTAC radio family, the Falcon III RF-300H is proving to be of interest to the US Special Operations Command.The radio …

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 ...