• Naval Warfare

  LIMA 2017: China proposes light LHD

  21st March 2017

  The China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Company (CSOC) showed a large scale model of a landing helicopter dock (LHD) vessel at the LIMA 2017 exhibition …

• Naval Warfare

  SAFE Boats, Cotecmar to produce aluminium vessels

  21st March 2017

  Safe Boats International has partnered with Cotecmar to jointly produce aluminium vessels for the Colombian military and other regional customers, the company announced on 15 …

• Naval Warfare

  BAE to upgrade cruiser USS Vicksburg

  20th March 2017

  BAE Systems has received a contract worth $42.9 million from the US Navy to upgrade the USS Vicksburg (CG 69), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, …

• Land Warfare

  AUSA Global: Patriot used to shoot down quadcopter

  20th March 2017

  News that a Patriot air defence missile was used to shoot down a small quadcopter brought groans from some audience members at this week's Association …

• Special Operations

  ​SOCOM searches for 7.62mm conversion kit

  20th March 2017

  A US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) solicitation calling for the design of a Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) could have serious implications for the future of …

• Land Warfare

  Turkey orders new amphibious vehicle

  20th March 2017

  A step towards the production of a new amphibious vehicle for the Turkish marines has been taken that could offer the service new capabilities. Turkey's …

• Land Warfare

  Marines introduce breaching shotgun upgrade

  20th March 2017

  The United States Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced an upgrade to its currently-fielded Mossberg M500A2 pump-action shotguns, which optimise the weapons for ballistic door breaching …

• Digital Battlespace

  Raytheon awarded CIIF contract

  17th March 2017

  Raytheon will carry out work to improve interconnective networking technologies under an $11.8 million contract from the US Office of Naval Research announced on 14 …

• Naval Warfare

  Capability and cash worries for USCG

  17th March 2017

  Amid the headlines and clamour created by a supposed billion dollar cut in the US Coast Guard's budget the force's commandant, Adm Paul Zukunft, has …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  DARPA awards Gremlins Phase 2 contracts

  17th March 2017

  The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded phase two contracts for its Gremlins programme to two teams led by Dynetics and General Atomics …

• Land Warfare

  Singapore requests APMI Rounds from US

  16th March 2017

  The US State Department has made a determination approving a potential $66 million foreign military sale to Singapore of XM395 Accelerated Precision Mortar Initiative (APMI) …

• Defence Notes

  MBDA upholds European defence collaboration

  16th March 2017

  Against a backdrop of Brexit and political uncertainty across Europe, MBDA will to continue down the road of European defence industry collaboration as its looks …

• Digital Battlespace

  Harris’ RF-300H radio earns NSA certification

  15th March 2017

  Harris Corporation has received National Security Agency (NSA) Type-1 certification for its Falcon III RF-300H wideband HF manpack radio system, the company announced on 13 …

• Land Warfare

  AUSA Global: HIMARS vehicle back in production

  15th March 2017

  Lockheed Martin once had a vision that it would now be producing Joint Light Tactical Vehicles at its Camden, Arkansas facility. While that vision might …

• Defence Helicopter

  AUSA Global: New divestiture thinking for US Army

  14th March 2017

  The US Army is looking at new concepts for the divestiture of obsolete military equipment.This means re-defining how they manage processes at the US Army's …

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 ...