• Air Warfare

  Bangladesh Army seeks family of UAVs

  7th June 2023

  The Bangladesh Army is seeking some commonality in a family of new UAVs that will serve for the next 15 years.

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  US Army awards Rheinmetall and GDLS nearly $1.6 billion for next phase of OMFV programme

  29th June 2023

  The detailed design and prototype build and testing phases will involve the delivery of up to 11 prototype vehicles.

• Air Warfare

  Australia, UK, US join forces on E-7 Wedgetail development

  17th July 2023

  The agreement signed by Australia, the UK and the US signifies a commitment to cooperation on E-7 Airborne Early Warning and Control capability development, testing, interoperability, operations, and training.

• Training

  Oman-led naval exercise with France, UK, US concludes

  12th May 2023

  Exercise Khunjar Hadd focused on mine countermeasures, explosive ordnance disposal, maritime interdiction, and other combined naval operations.

• Training

  India trains fighter pilots in buddy-buddy refuelling as aerial tanker shortage hits home

  2nd May 2023

  Poor serviceability rates of India's Ilyushin Il-78 tanker aircraft mean fighter pilots are training using buddy-buddy refuelling between fast jets.

• Defence Helicopter

  Updated: UK New Medium Helicopter bidders ready to move as soon as MoD confirms timeline

  23rd June 2023

  The lack of clearly defined acquisition targets for the UK New Medium Helicopter programme continues to pose challenges to the timeline of introducing the new rotorcraft into service by 2025.

• Training

  Leonardo takes another step towards sixth-generation training

  14th March 2023

  Leonardo will develop immersive training solutions that leverage Varjo's headsets for multiple use cases across the pilot training curriculum.

• Naval Warfare

  Israel marks milestone for Sa'ar 6 corvette fleet

  25th April 2023

  The Israeli Navy has declared its fleet of newly built Sa'ar 6 corvettes operational, with three having entered service.

• Air Warfare

  Elbit awarded contracts to refit Romanian helicopters, jet trainers

  15th March 2023

  Elbit will supply onboard mission equipment and payloads for Romania's IAR 330 Puma helicopter fleets, as well as new avionics to upgrade the country's IAR 99 trainer jets.

• Land Warfare

  Montenegro extends defence export agreement with Israel

  18th May 2023

  Elbit Systems is to supply 120mm mortar systems and training services to Montenegro under the Balkan republic's third government-to-government defence agreement with Israel.

• Air Warfare

  BAE Systems future-proofs Typhoon with 'Tranche 5' upgrades and GCAP synergies

  7th July 2023

  BAE Systems is working to enhance the Eurofighter Typhoon multirole fighter with advanced chip technology, delivering significant computational power and improved cyber-resilience for future air combat capabilities.

• Defence Notes

  UK’s refreshed Defence Command Paper earns mixed reviews

  20th July 2023

  Having finally published a long-awaited refreshed Defence Command Paper on 18 July, experts have weighed in on the quality of the UK’s defence plans.

• Training

  Podcast: The evolving landscape of military simulation and training technologies

  25th April 2023

  This week on the Shephard Defence Podcast, we explore the evolution of military simulation and training technologies, including advancements in cloud computing, networked training, and the increasing use of simulation in response to changing military demands.

• Training

  IT2EC 2023: Training for multi-domain ops needs a fresh approach to succeed

  25th April 2023

  The complexity of multi-domain operations (MDO) requires a new approach as commanders will no longer be able to rely on their past experience and will need new decision support tools, according to the head of NATO's C2 centre of excellence.

• Special Operations

  SOF Week 2023: US Air Force Special Operations Command interview (video)

  11th May 2023

  The commander of US Air Force Special Operations Command talks to the SOF Week show daily.

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Light attack, Trainer

  Hürkuş-C Advanced Armed Trainer (Turkey)

  The Hurjet-C development programme funding was included in the Hurkus-B procurement contract awarded by  the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence Industries in December 2013.  The Hurjet will ...

• Light attack, Trainer

  IAR-99 Replacement (Romania)

  On 29 August 2017, Leonardo announced that the IAR-99 trainer technology demonstrator (TD) will be fitted with company's Vixen 500E AESA radar. The Vixen 500E AESA ...

• Military helicopters - light/training

  TH-73 Advanced Helicopter Training System - AHTS (TH-57 Replacement)

  Contenders for the competition included the Leonardo single engine TH-119 – a military variant of the AW119Kx – and Bell’s newly upgraded single engine 407GXi. ...

• Military helicopters - scout/light attack

  MD 530F -Kenya

  Crew transition training took place at the MD Helicopters headquarters in Mesa, Arizona, with field service support, armament, and gunnery training scheduled to occur at ...

• Trainer

  Joint Terminal Attack Controller (Project Air 6016)[Australia]

  Programme Background Requirements Project Air 6016 aims to deliver a sovereign training system to ensure the sustainable generation of sufficient and appropriately skilled Joint Terminal Attack ...

• Trainer

  Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS)/T-45 Replacement [USN]

  Programme Background Requirements The US Navy’s (USN) Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS) programme is intended to replace the troubled T-45 Goshhawk trainer. The June 2024 RFI includes ...

• Loitering munitions, Military UAS - mini, Military UAS - rotary-wing

  Scorpio 500 [US]

  Background Contract Award In December 2024, XTEND was awarded a US$8.8 million contract by the US Department of Defense (DoD) for its Scorpio 500. As reported by ...

• Fighter - multirole

  F-16V Block 70 (Bahrain)

  Programme Background In 2018, the US government awarded a $1.12 billion contract to Lockheed Martin to produce 16 F-16 Block 70 aircraft for Bahrain, which ...

• Loitering munitions

  Maritime Launched Effects (MLE) [US]

  Background Origin & Requirment The loitering munition effort dates back to at least 2018 and used to be called the Maritime Precision Engagement (MPE). The US Special ...

• PLFS [France]

  Programme Background The Sabre, then known as the Sherpa FS, was developed as a response to a 2014 requirement for three types of new vehicles ...

• Fighter - naval

  Multi-Role Carrier Borne Fighters (MRCBF) [India]

  Programme Background RFI / Requirments In January 2017, India issued an RFI for the procurement of 57 multirole naval fighters. The RFI for the Indian Navy ...

• Military UAS - tactical

  Mi2 Challenge [USN]

  Programme Background Requirements The USN wants a UAV to be flown in austere environments without dedicated launch or recovery equipment; since it would be launched ...

• Military UAS - rotary-wing, Military UAS - small

  Tethered UAS (UK)

  Programme Background Requirements The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is seeking one UAV system, two drones, which operate from a tethered power supply and have the 'flexibility ...

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

  Artillery UAV [Thailand]

  Programme Background Requirement & Replacement The Royal Thai Army (RTA) was understood to be seeking a new tactical UAV to replace four legacy Israel Aerospace Industries ...

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

  ScanEagle 2 (Philippines)

  Programme Background MSI ProgrammeThe Philippines are receiving the ScanEagle 2's thought to be provided by the US under the Maritime Security Initiative (MSI) programme. This ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Land: air defence simulators

  Live Training System for Air Defence

  Elbit Systems' Live Training System for Air Defence is integrated on various short- and medium-range air defence systems. The Live Training System provides networked and ...

• Land: range systems and targets

  Targets

  Meggitt deployable live-fire range targets can be installed on unimproved terrain with no special equipment required. Products include modular, mobile and stationary field range targets; ...

• Land: tactical engagement simulators

  Live Training Systems-Range Instrumentation

  End-to-end, networked, live training communications systems providing live training range products, communications infrastructure and instrumented participant voice, video and data communications. These include range voice, ...

• Land: tactical engagement simulators

  Field Artillery Training Systems

  The ICE Field Artillery Training Systems for the M109A6 Paladin and M270/M270A1 MLRS provides instrumented real-time data and performance monitoring during training and live-fire missions. ...

• Land: counter-IED simulators

  Large IED Trainer

  The Large IED Trainer can be integrated into a number of training scenarios including convoy roadside bombs, vehicle-borne IEDs, artillery/mortar impact, vehicle search and/or destruction, ...

• Land: counter-IED simulators

  High Impact Pipe Bomb Trainer

  The T50PB High Impact Pipe Bomb Trainer can be detonated using a wireless or wired command detonate module. Either compressed gas or CO2 can be ...

• Land: infantry weapon simulators

  PRISim Suite Live Fire Trainer

  The PRISim Suite Live Fire Trainer provides a training environment for military and law enforcement professionals to practise live firing at interactive video-based or CGI ...

• Land: range systems and targets

  Thermal Shot

  The Thermal Shot live-fire virtual targetry system enables immersive live-fire training throughout Laser Shot’s line of training platforms. Thermal Shot-equipped systems provide training on virtual ...

• Land: tactical engagement simulators

  LCTS

  Designed for tactical combined arms force-on-force live training, the Live Combat Training System (LCTS) combines infantry and armoured vehicle laser suites, independent broadband communications and ...

• BCTC Operations and Management

  The Battle Command Training Center (BCTC) at Fort Lewis, Washington, is the US Army’s centre of excellence for Army Battle Command Systems training for Stryker ...

• Land: range systems and targets

  Range and Training Facilities

  Cubic designs and delivers training complexes incorporating indoor and outdoor shooting ranges and specialist facilities. Outdoor ranges include conventional gallery and open ranges as well ...

• Land: tactical engagement simulators

  Live Training Solutions

  Thales offers live training solutions for land and combined forces around the world. Thales Combat Training Centres are available for open and urban battlefields, and ...

• Land: air defence simulators

  ADTS

  The Air Defense Training System (ADTS) is an LVC training package based on integrated technologies of IAI MLM. The ADTS allows pilots and air defence ...

• Air: helicopter flight simulators

  CAE 700MR

  The CAE 700MR FTD is a full mission simulator platform for military helicopter-specific flight and mission training. It is a fixed-base system based on CAE's ...

• Land: range systems and targets

  Crosshair

  Powered by the Thermal Shot live-fire detection system, the Crosshair downrange virtual targetry system places life-sized, immersive scenario-based human targets at actual distances on outdoor ...