• Defence Notes

  Russian lasers: dazzling developments or unsubtle distraction?

  6th June 2022

  Are Russian laser weapons truly battle-ready, or is the latest proclamation from Moscow merely an attempt to distract attention from the failure of more commonly used equipment in Ukraine?

• Digital Battlespace

  White Sands counter-drone demo blends laser kill capability with NASAMS

  1st April 2022

  The High Energy Laser Weapon System knocked down nine drones in concert with the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System during a recent C-UAS demonstration at White Sands.

• Air Warfare

  NZ issues RfP for surveillance and reconnaissance UAVs

  1st June 2022

  New Zealand has been relatively slow on the uptake of UAVs, but this is about to change as it now looks for three categories of unmanned aircraft.

• Air Warfare

  Sweden orders new Gripen launch system

  26th April 2022

  Saab has announced it received an order for a new Gripen launch system during the first quarter of 2022.

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  XTEND develops second-generation ISR quadcopter

  4th May 2022

  Israeli company XTEND has created a second-generation Xtender sUAS, and it has also sealed two partnerships to improve perimeter security and AI capabilities.

• Defence Notes

  Something’s got to give (Opinion)

  6th July 2022

  UK defence policy lacks coherence as the gap between rhetoric and reality remains as wide as ever, while the government remains focused on self-preservation instead of giving clear direction.

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Tekever unveils AR3 for maritime surveillance

  27th April 2022

  New small VTOL UAV from Tekever features the GAMASAR synthetic aperture radar.

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Ukraine strikes with Switchblade

  9th May 2022

  Drone video footage released on 6 May showed an attack on a Russian machine gun position.

• Land Warfare

  Will Australia cut the number of IFVs in Land 400 Phase 3?

  22nd June 2022

  It is unclear which way the decision on Land 400 Phase will go in Australia, whether an arachnid or a wildcat. Now there is even speculation that numbers might be cut from the programme.

• Naval Warfare

  Indo-Pacific 2022: Kongsberg shows StrikeMaster concept

  11th May 2022

  Kongsberg has become heavily involved in Australian missile programmes in recent years.

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Northwest UAV reveals its NW-44 engines featured in Skylark 3 Hybrid demonstration

  25th April 2022

  Elbit Systems demonstrated their new hybrid Skylark 3 featuring Northwest UAV’s NW-44 Multi-Fuel Engine.

• Land Warfare

  FN Herstal demonstrates new C-UAS solutions

  29th March 2022

  The deFNder Family of Remote Weapon Stations from FN Herstal was tested for countering UAVs during the NATO Non-Lethal Technology Exercise (NNTEX-C) in Sardinia, Italy.

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  IAI and 2Excel put Maritime Heron to the test in UK

  10th May 2022

  The Maritime Heron MALE UAS has proved itself capable of operating under UK regulations.

• Air Warfare

  Turbojet loitering munition seeks to close capability gap

  25th May 2022

  Jackal is a turbojet loitering munition that provides a 100km range and 15min loiter time. It features an open architecture that provides the capability to support multiple-warhead types as well as EW and ISR packages.

• Defence Notes

  South Korea approves missile programme funding, launches space rocket

  18th April 2022

  South Korea's missile and space sectors are going great guns, with the country's first solid-fuelled space vehicle launch occurring at the end of March.

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - rotary-wing, Military UAS - tactical

  ISTAR UAS project [Canada]

  Programme Background Objective The Royal Canadian Navy's (RCN) main significant UAV project is the RCN Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance Unmanned Aircraft System (RCN ...

• ISR/special mission

  MC-27J - Algeria

  Programme Background Algeria has a long standing ISR aircraft requirement to support its Beech 1900 fleet comprised of six aircraft. The new ISR fleet is ...

• 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 UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - mini

  Mini Reconnaissance Drones [Lithuania]

  Programme Background Planned Purchases On 14 September 2022, the Lithuanian MoD announced in a short statement on Twitter, now X, that it had begun organising ...

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

  General-Purpose UAS [Australia]

  Programme Background Banned As reported by Shephard in August 2023, in the past, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) used commercial UAS from companies such as DJI for ...

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

  Small Reconnaissance Drones [Lithuania]

  Programme Background Planned Purchases On 14 September 2022, the Lithuanian MoD announced in a short statement on Twitter, now X, that it had begun organising ...

• Fighter - multirole

  F-16V (9-16) [Bulgaria]

  Programme Background In April 2022, the US State Department approved a potential FMS worth $1.673 million to procure eight F-16Vs to Bulgaria. The aircraft are ...

• AEW&C

  Airbus A330 AWACS (India)

  Programme Background India is planning to increase its AEW&C; capabilities with indigenous radar systems. IAF has requested to procure six Airbus 330 airliner to host ...

• Military UAS - rotary-wing, Military UAS - tactical

  Skeldar V-200 (ASW) [Canada]

  Programme Background Contract Award At Euronaval 2022, Shephard reported that UMS Skeldar and Ultra had been awarded a Phase 2 contract on 19 October to provide ...

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

  Company Level Small Uncrewed Aircraft System (SUAS) Directed Requirement (DR) [US Army]

  Programme Background Requirement The US Army approved the Co-Level SUAS DR acquisition in June 2023 to supply Brigade Combat Teams with an "immediate, commercially available capability" to ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing

  Replicator 2 [US]

  Programme Background 1.0 The Replicator programme is a US effort to field thousands of attritable, autonomous systems across multiple domains before the end of 2025 ...

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

  Medium Range Reconnaissance (MRR) / Rucksack Portable UAS (RPUAS) [USA]

  The Rucksack Portable UAS (RPUAS) Programme The RPUAS programme will provide the battalion and below-ground manoeuvre elements within the US Army with an organic, on-demand ...

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  AW101-Norway

  AgustaWestland is also providing initial support and training services, including spares at each of the operating bases and aircrew training. It will then provide performance ...

• Maritime patrol

  Maritime Patrol Aircraft Procurement [Italy]

  Programme Background In an appearance before the Italian parliament’s Foreign and Defence Affairs Committee on 14 July 2022, Italian Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Adm ...

• Military UAS - micro, Military UAS - rotary-wing

  DEF129 (Nano UAS) [Australia]

  Programme Background DEF129 The Australian Ground Service has combined various army procurement efforts under the DEF129 programme to increase the abundance and proliferation of UAVs ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Medium Range Missile Defence Systems: 20-90km range

  Falcon Air Defence System

  Unveiled at IDEX 2019, Falcon is a medium range ground-based air defence system, including C-RAM and C-UAS capabilities. The Falcon consists of Lockheed Martin's Skykeeper ...

• Land: air defence radar, Land: battlefield and ground surveillance radar, Land: indirect fire location radar

  TMMR

  The Tactical Multi-Mission Radar (TMMR) is Leonardo’s C-band AESA radar designed for detecting, classifying, and tracking small, high-maneuvering targets. It’s designed for various applications, including counter-UAS, ...

• Air: AEW/fire control radar

  RBE2

  The AESA RBE2 is the first AESA radar produced in Europe for combat aircraft. The active phased array replaces the passive array in the RBE2 currently ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  C-UAS Solution

  The C-UAS Solution uses goniometry, radar technologies and various sensors to detect and remove UAS from the air. So far, the solution has been proven effective against ...

• Land: RWS

  Pitbull

  General Robotics developed the lightweight Pitbull family of remote weapons station for use on aerial, land and naval crewed or uncrewed platforms. Armed with a single ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  Howler C-UAS

  Developed by Raytheon, the Howler is a counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS), which includes a Ku-band Radio Frequency Sensor (KuRFS), a command-and-control system, and a Coyote ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  Cobham C-UAS

  Unveiled at the AUVSI 2017 trade show in Dallas, Texas, the Cobham C-UAS primarily consists of wideband omnidirectional, directional helix (single- or dual-band), directional flat ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  Skylock C-UAS

  Skylock, an Avnon Group company, has developed a C-UAS system that is intended to bring sensors, jammers and a laser effector into a single deployable ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  Airfence 5.0

  Airfence 5.0 is a C-UAS RF technology released by Sensofusion. It is designed to protect airports, personnel, prisons and private companies from rogue UAS in ...

• Land: air defence radar

  iMOTR

  The Innovative Multiple-Object Tracking Radar (iMOTR) system has been designed to provide military test ranges with more accurate time, space and position information for several ...

• Land: air defence radar, Land: indirect fire location radar

  KRONOS Land

  KRONOS is a mobile multifunctional C-band radar system designed by Leonardo to support air and coastal defence tactical operations.  The system simultaneously performs surveillance, dedicated target ...

• EO/IR systems

  CM262

  Manfuaucted by AVT Australia, the CM262 is a ground-based imaging system combining four sensor configurations into a compact and ruggedised system for C-UAS and ISR ...

• Air: surveillance and maritime patrol radar

  Seaspray 7500E V2

  The Seaspray 7500E V2 is a long-range, maritime-focused multi-mode surveillance radar produced by Leonardo and manufactured in the UK. The system can rapidly interleave radar modes ...

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

  Penguin C VTOL

  The Penguin C VTOL is the VTOL version of the Penguin C MIL Mk2; hence it is sometimes called the Penguin C Mk2 VTOL. Edge ...

• OPVs

  PPA/MultiPurpose Combat Ship (MPCS) EVO

  The PPA/MultiPurpose Combat Ship (MPCS) EVO is an enhanced version of the Thaon di Revel-class PPAs unveiled at Euronaval 2024. The PPA/MPCS EVO retains the core platform ...