• Defence Notes

  Analysis: Saudi Arabia - A close customer (part 2 - air)

  14th December 2016

  As we have already seen in Part 1 – Land, the close defence relationship between Saudi Arabia's ruling House of Saud and Western governments is …

• Digital Battlespace

  Additional radars targeted for Kuwait

  14th December 2016

  Kuwait looks likely to expand its military radar coverage following the US State Department approval of a foreign military sale (FMS) to the country for …

• Military Logistics

  RN, RFA to benefit from Duqm JV

  14th December 2016

  The UK’s Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary will be among the first services to benefit from an arrangement between Babcock International Group and Oman …

• Land Warfare

  Unilateral approach to collective defence

  14th December 2016

  Efforts among the countries that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to form a collective capability in defending against missile attack from potential regional …

• Defence Notes

  Saudi and UAE driving GCC defence

  14th December 2016

  The two military heavyweights of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are driving defence procurement in the region with recent increases …

• Defence Notes

  Saudi Arabia to receive first F-15SA

  14th December 2016

  The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) is set to receive this week the first batch of F-15SA aircraft from Boeing Defense. The US congress was …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Navy UAV requirements up in the air

  14th December 2016

  The deployment of an Insitu Blackjack to a UK Royal Navy (RN) ship intended for 2017 has been put on hold due to US Marine Corps requirements. …

• Naval Warfare

  Analysis: Waters rage in South China Sea (Part 2)

  14th December 2016

  In Part 1 of this analysis, Shephard looked in some detail at Chinese and Taiwanese reactions to the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s (PCA) ruling on …

• Defence Helicopter

  Saudi Arabia wants Chinook helicopters

  13th December 2016

  The US State Department has approved a $3.51 billion foreign military sale to Saudi Arabia of CH-47F Chinook helicopters and related equipment, training and support, the …

• Defence Notes

  Qatar and Kuwait closer to fast jet deals

  13th December 2016

  Last month the GCC states of Qatar and Kuwait moved one step closer to completing one of the largest fast-jet programmes in recent years with …

• Military Logistics

  Qatar requests spare C-17 engines

  13th December 2016

  The US State Department has approved a $81 million foreign military sale (FMS) to Qatar for spare C-17 engines, equipment and support, the Defense Security …

• Defence Helicopter

  UAE requests Apaches from US

  13th December 2016

  The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has requested Apache AH-64E helicopters and services from the US government under the foreign military sales programme. The potential $3.5 billion …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Brimstone planned for Protector UAS

  13th December 2016

  Plans are underway for UK’s Protector UAS is to be armed with the Brimstone precision strike missile when it enters service with the Royal Air …

• Military Logistics

  BAE Systems wins AWD support

  13th December 2016

  BAE Systems Australia will support the Royal Australian Navy’s three Hobart class Air Warfare Destroyers (AWDs) as they are delivered and transitioned into service under …

• Defence Helicopter

  Sikorsky opens testing lab for CRH

  12th December 2016

  Sikorsky has inaugurated a new Systems Integration Lab in Stratford, Connecticut, to begin testing key systems for the Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) programme. The 2,500 …

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 ...