• Defence Notes

  Analysis: War over Japanese rocks could drag in US

  12th February 2017

  The Trump administration's first defence secretary, retired general James Mattis, confirmed on 3 February in Tokyo that Article Five of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Aero India 2017: Heron TP-XP heading to Bengaluru

  12th February 2017

  An export version of the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Heron TP UAV will be introduced at Aero India in Bengaluru, India, which runs from 14-18 …

• Training

  Taiwan’s new AJT to take off in 2020

  12th February 2017

  Taiwan kicked off its air force's advanced jet trainer (AJT) programme on 7 February. A memorandum of cooperation was signed between the Republic of China …

• Defence Helicopter

  Rogerson Kratos' upgraded UH-60A completes first flight

  10th February 2017

  Rogerson Kratos' first UH-60A Black Hawk to undergo a modernised cockpit upgrade has completed its first test flight, the company announced on 7 February.The integrated …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  RE2 continues manipulator arm development

  10th February 2017

  RE2 Robotics has received a phase 2 research award to develop an inflatable underwater dual manipulator system for the US Navy's Office of Naval Research, …

• Land Warfare

  Australian air defence proposals emerge

  10th February 2017

  Australia is seeking to further improve its mobile Short Range Air Defence capability. Sources have told Shephard that this could develop into a request for …

• Land Warfare

  Ammo consolidation in Russia

  10th February 2017

  A wealthy Russian businessman with close links to president Vladimir Putin has acquired a 46% stake in Tula Cartridge Works.Igor Rotenberg signed a deal with …

• Military Logistics

  USNS Yuma completes acceptance trials

  9th February 2017

  Acceptance trials for the US Navy's future expeditionary fast transport USNS Yuma (T-EPF 8) are now complete following underway evaluation of the vessel in the …

• Military Logistics

  C-130J with Block 8.1 upgrade in testing

  9th February 2017

  The first C-130J Super Hercules with a Block 8.1 upgrade has undergone flight testing at Little Rock Air Force Base, the US Air Force announced …

• Naval Warfare

  USCG orders AFCS control panels

  9th February 2017

  Rockwell Collins has been selected to supply the US Coast Guard with Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) control panels for its short range recovery helicopters.The …

• Training

  Textron to continue Afghan Trainer CLS work

  9th February 2017

  Textron Systems Support Solutions will continue providing Afghan Trainer Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) under a contract from the US Air Force announced on 7 February.The …

• Land Warfare

  Analysis: Ammo revolution

  9th February 2017

  A revolution is occurring in armaments that is as great as the move from smoothbore to rifled weapons. It portends a leap in lethality and …

• Training

  Leonardo T-100 going it alone

  8th February 2017

  Leonardo has announced it will be offering its T-100 integrated training system for the US Air Force $16 billion T-X competition.Only a fortnight ago it …

• Defence Notes

  AFRL, AOT agree to tech transfer

  7th February 2017

  The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Directed Energy Directorate has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Advanced Optical Technologies (AOT) that …

• Naval Warfare

  US receives USS Rafael Peralta

  7th February 2017

  The US Navy has taken delivery of the future guided-missile destroyer USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), it announced on 6 February.Rafael Peralta is the first …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• 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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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 ...

• MPVs - 4x4

  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 ...

• Loitering munitions

  Phoenix Ghost (Ukraine Aid) [US]

  Background Presidential Drawdown Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, on 21 April 2022, President Biden announced an $800 million Presidential Drawdown security ...

• 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 - 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. ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  XQ-58A Valkyrie [USMC]

  Programme Background Contract Award On 30 December 2022, the US DoD announced that it had awarded Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems a $15.52 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to ...

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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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

  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 - 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 ...

• Directed energy weapons

  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 ...

• Data links, Land: Radio and SATCOM, UAS: communication systems

  QNT-200

  The Collins QNT-200 is a dual-channel software-defined radio (SDR) designed for size, weight and power-constrained platforms. Using IP-based mesh networks, it offers high-bandwidth mobile networking ...