• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Northrop demos AQS-24B at Unmanned Warrior

  27th October 2016

  Fresh from demonstrating its AQS-24B mine hunting systems at the Unmanned Warrior exercise, manufacturer Northrop Grumman said the capability is just about ready for deployment. …

• Naval Warfare

  Philippines leases patrol aircraft

  27th October 2016

  During President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to Japan from 25-27 October, the Philippines signed an MoU and letter of arrangement with Tokyo to lease five TC-90 …

• Land Warfare

  JGSDF parades newest equipment

  27th October 2016

  The Japan Ground Self-Defence Force (JGSDF) showed off some of its newest equipment at a parade in Tokyo on 23 October, including the Type 11 …

• Land Warfare

  ASU's Ecliptus receives patent

  26th October 2016

  Aviation Specialties Unlimited’s (ASU’s) Ecliptus night vision camera system has been patented, the company announced on 24 October. Ecliptus is a compact and portable night …

• Military Logistics

  USS Nimitz earns flight deck certification

  26th October 2016

  The USS Nimitz (CVN 68) aircraft carrier and lead ship of class for the US Navy, has successfully completed flight deck certification while underway in …

• Defence Helicopter

  US Army to accelerate helicopter engine project (video)

  26th October 2016

  The US Army is considering ways to accelerate its Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP) as the project continues to move forward. While the army was …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  DARPA's ACTUV sails with TALONS

  26th October 2016

  DARPA's Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) has sailed with a prototype sensor mast developed under its Towed Airborne Lift of Naval Systems …

• Digital Battlespace

  L-3 receives UK MoD contract

  26th October 2016

  The UK Ministry of Defence’s (MoD’s) Joint Common Remote Viewing Terminal (JCRVT) will use products from L-3’s Rover family under a $23.2 million contract announced …

• Defence Helicopter

  CH-53K initial testing a success

  25th October 2016

  The CH-53K King Stallion has successfully completed initial operational testing by the US Marine Corps (USMC), with the programme now focused on achieving a Low …

• Naval Warfare

  USCG accepts 20th FRC

  25th October 2016

  The US Coast Guard (USCG) has accepted delivery of its 20th Sentinel-class fast response cutter (FRC), USCGC Lawrence Lawson, it announced on 21 October. This …

• Defence Helicopter

  US Army continues its battle against brownout

  25th October 2016

  The US Army is continuing along its path of providing aircraft with degraded visual environment (DVE) technology through the PEO Aviation's Brownout Rotorcraft Enhancement System …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Silent Falcon flies BLOS for NASA

  25th October 2016

  Silent Falcon UAS Technologies and MicroPilot have conducted a number of demonstration flights of the Silent Falcon UAS as part of NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft System …

• Digital Battlespace

  US Army to expand cyber protection

  25th October 2016

  One of the capabilities being explored at the US Army Warfighting Assessment (AWA) 17.1 would introduce expanded cyber defence capabilities at the brigade combat team …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Defence funding pledge for Mayflower

  25th October 2016

  Lockheed Martin UK, UTC Aerospace Systems and Silicon Sensing all pledged support for the proposed Mayflower 400 unmanned autonomous vessel on 24 October, hours after …

• Defence Notes

  Malaysia slashes 2017 defence budget

  25th October 2016

  The defence budget announced by Malaysia on 21 October has taken a serious slash compared to a year earlier. The amount allocated to the Ministry …

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 ...