• Defence Helicopter

  Airbus receives stimulus order from French government

  16th April 2021

  DGA orders eight H225Ms and a second VSR700 prototype from Airbus Helicopters.

• Defence Helicopter

  UK still to settle on new medium helicopter procurement strategy

  12th May 2021

  The UK MoD has still to put forward requirements for its new medium helicopter acquisition, which could see offers eventually arrive from the likes of Airbus, Bell, Leonardo and Lockheed Martin.

• Military Logistics

  A400M demonstrates air-to-air helicopter refuelling capability

  21st April 2021

  Airbus now aims to complete full certification for helicopter air-to-air refuelling with its A400M by late 2021.

• Naval Warfare

  Eastern Shipbuilding Group awards Northrop Grumman integration contract for USCG OPCs

  10th June 2021

  Eastern Shipbuilding Group has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract as systems integrator for the US Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter programme.

• Land Warfare

  Argentina relies on elderly M113s while it mulls wheeled APC choices

  18th June 2021

  Three options remain on the table as Argentina looks to procure wheeled 6x6 armoured personnel carriers.

• Land Warfare

  India revives near-dead FICV with new tender

  25th June 2021

  The FICV has re-emerged as a major programme for the Indian Army, after lying pretty much dormant for the past 4-5 years.

• Defence Helicopter

  AH-1Z flight tests Link 16 hardware and software

  8th June 2021

  Bell Textron and Northrop Grumman integrate new data link into Viper.

• Training

  Visual upgrade for A330 MRTT boosts realism

  27th April 2021

  As deliveries of the Airbus A330 MRTT continue, the company has recently completed a visual system upgrade to its AAR simulator in conjunction with ST Engineering Antycip.

• Naval Warfare

  South Korea inducts second LPH for amphibious lift

  29th June 2021

  The South Korean navy's ability to deploy marines and helicopters has taken a major step forwards with the commissioning of a second Dokdo-class LPH.

• Digital Battlespace

  L3Harris Wescam to perform IRES FLIR upgrade

  24th May 2021

  USSOCOM is mitigating obsolescence and enhancing forward-looking IR on its helicopters.

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  German Heron TP preparations continue in Israel

  7th May 2021

  German UAS operators will soon start to train with a specially adapted version of the Israeli-made Heron TP.

• Air Warfare

  Air Warfare magazine: tankers, RAF modernisation and more

  9th June 2021

  Read the latest edition of Air Warfare for free in our app or on your desktop.

• Air Warfare

  OEMs start to lose hope for Indian NUH bid

  5th May 2021

  HAL continues to push its ALH strongly for the Indian Navy's NUH requirement, but is it up to scratch compared to foreign designs?

• Air Warfare

  India to lease naval helicopters in the interim

  29th April 2021

  With roadblocks in its Naval Utility Helicopter programme, India's Navy sees leasing as a potential stop-gap solution.

• Defence Helicopter

  Australian Army receives first leased AW139

  18th May 2021

  The Australian Army is leasing Leonardo helicopters in order to cover a capability shortfall from the MRH90 fleet.

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  H225M - France

  Programme Background In April 2021, the French government signed a deal for the purchase of eight H225M Airbus helicopters to replace its ageing fleet of SA330 ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  H145M [Ireland]

  Programme Background On 30 December 2024 Ireland announced a contract with Airbus for four new H145M helicopters to replace the Air Corps existing fleet of ...

• 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 - multirole

  H145 Helicopter [Honduras]

  Programme Background  The Honduran Government has purchased a total of four H145 Helicopters manufactured by Airbus to develop the armed forces preparedness against natural disasters ...

• Military helicopters - maritime

  Maritime Operations Helicopters

  The three maritime operations helicopters will be used for logistics and personnel transport, alongside transportation of PASKAL naval special forces in operations in the area. ...

• Military helicopters - light/training

  SW4 Puszczyk Replacement [Poland]

  Programme Background  In 2002, Poland order 47 SW4 training helicopters from Italian manufacturer Leonardo; as of Spring 2025, the Ministry of Defence is looking to ...

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  Bell 412EPI-Indonesia

  Programme Background PTDI is assembling Bell helicopters in its factory in Bandung.  The first Bell 412EPI was delivered to Indonesian Army on 29 December 2020 ...

• Military helicopters - maritime

  Kondor Naval Helicopters (Poland)

  Programme Background In 2018, the Polish MoD announced its requirement to purchase up to eight naval helicopters to replace in-service SH-2G Super Seasprite helicopters. Polish ...

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  Spain HT-29 Caiman (NH90 TTH) - Army First Batch

  HT-29 Caiman GSPAs (NH90 TTH) will be assembled at Airbus Helicopters’ facility in Albacete and will replace AS332 Super Puma fleet in service. Even though ...

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  AW101 [Poland]

  According to the media reports, Airbus couldn't provide a competitive offer for the programme due to the offset requirements.  The deliveries were to be completed ...

• Military helicopters - attack

  AH-X [Japan]

  There is no mention of the AH-X in the 2019-2023 Medium Term Defence Plan, so it is possible that the requirement has quietly been postponed. ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  H135 (UK)

  Programme BackgroundAirbus Helicopters UK announced on 2 February 2022 that it has won an order to provide five additional H135 twin-engine helicopters for the MoD. The ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  Ka-226T-India-Air Force

  An official contract announcement is expected during the Aero India 2021 exhibition in Bangalore, although negotiations have dragged on for more than five years and ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  H145M (Contracted) [Germany]

  Programme Background Previous Usage The German Armed Forces ordered 15 H145M helicopters, with the initial two delivered in December 2015, for the Kommando Spezialkräfte. These ...

• Military helicopters - maritime

  Naval Utility Helicopters (India)

  Programme Background The program will witness the formation of a joint venture between Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and another local or foreign manufacturer. In June ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Military helicopters - light/training

  H145

  The light, twin-engine EC145 began as an initiative to increase the cabin size of the BK 117 C1 aircraft, involving Kawasaki of Japan and Airbus ...

• Military helicopters - light/training, Military helicopters - multirole

  H135M

  The H135M (formerly known as the EC635 and also designated as H135) is a light utility variant of the EC135 twin-engine, multipurpose 3t helicopter. In ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  H145M

  The H145M (formerly known as the EC645 T2) is the military version of the H145 medium-sized (3.7t) helicopter (covered in a separate entry). It is ...

• Model 301 Fire Attack

  The Model 301 is a belly tank/refill hose system for Airbus Helicopters AS365-series helicopters.

• Model 316 Fire Attack

  The Model 316 is a belly tank/refill hose system for Airbus Helicopters H225 and AS332 L-series helicopters.

• Military helicopters - multirole

  H175M

  The Airbus H175M is the military variant of the H175, a seven-tonne class aircraft powered by twin PT6C 67E engines. The civilian variants produced by Airbus ...

• Air: mission management systems

  Helionix

  The Helionix digital avionics suite was developed from the need for a more powerful avionics system with greater functions and computing capacity, alongside a user-friendly interface. ...

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  H225M

  The medium-weight, 11t-class H225M (formerly known as the EC725) is the latest military Super Puma/Cougar family member.  Technical features include a modular design of mechanical ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  H215M

  The H215M (formerly the AS532 ALe) is the most recent addition to the Cougar family.  It is a medium-weight (9t-class), twin-engine helicopter, combining the AS532's ...

• AC67 Airbus Helicopters H135 interior

  Bucher has developed the AC67 medical interior for the Airbus Helicopters H135 in cooperation with ADAC Luftrettung.The lightweight, modular design features a floor with integrated ...

• Helicopter engines

  Arriel 2+/2D

  Unveiled in 2011, the Arriel 2+ is an upgrade of the Arriel 2 and is intended for single- and twin-engine helicopters. It incorporates a new ...

• Helicopter engines

  LTS101

  The LTS101 was first certified in 1975. Since then, over 2,100 engines have been delivered to customers worldwide, logging over 11 million service hours. The ...

• EO/IR systems

  Viviane

  Viviane is an out-of-production gyro-stabilised night and adverse weather observation system with missile sight.  Manufactured by Safran, it was fitted to French Army Gazelles. It contained a ...

• Air: mission management systems

  APM 2000

  The current generation of autopilots is the APM 2000 family, fitted on major worldwide platforms. The APM 2000 is based on an integrated digital computer. ...

• Air: Defensive Systems - Radar Warning Receivers

  EWR-99

  Dassault is not traditionally associated with electronic warfare subsystems, instead being equated with the manufacture of combat aircraft and business jets. Nonetheless, the company did, ...