• Defence Notes

  Monitoring the next domain: US launches space awareness satellites

  18th January 2023

  The US Space Force’s (USSF's) Long Duration Propulsive ESPA (LPDE) programme has achieved new success with the launch of its third spacecraft, the LPDE-3A.

• Land Warfare

  Advanced Panther tanks could be supplied to Ukraine

  9th February 2023

  The KF51 Panther was unveiled last year at Eurosatory in Paris and sports a 130mm main gun.

• Land Warfare

  Australia boosts firepower by signing up for HIMARS and NSM

  8th January 2023

  Deals have been inked for rocket launchers and anti-ship missiles, as Australia enhances its range and lethality.

• Land Warfare

  Ukraine left waiting for German consent to Leopard tank deliveries

  20th January 2023

  The newly appointed German Minister of Defence was unable to provide details on whether the country would approve the donation of Polish Leopard 2A4s to Kyiv or when this decision would be taken.

• Defence Notes

  India opens key strategic bridge to enable army transport in border region with China.

  10th January 2023

  Military tensions with China are forcing Delhi to invest more heavily in infrastructure near the two countries' shared border.

• Air Warfare

  Updated: Austria doubles down on Leonardo helicopter procurement

  20th January 2023

  Austria has formally finalised procurement of an additional 18 AW169 helicopters for multirole and training purposes from Italy.

• Air Warfare

  Pakistan receives Chinese JF-17 Block III fighter jets, reports say

  10th March 2023

  The Pakistan Air Force's 16 Squadron has reportedly received the first batch of JF-17 Block III light multirole fighter aircraft, with a total of 50 ordered.

• Air Warfare

  US pulls some V-22 Ospreys from service with clutch-related issues

  7th February 2023

  The US Marine Corps was aware of the technical issue with the V-22 tiltrotor but decided against grounding the aircraft and instructed pilots to deal with the incidents in-flight instead as injuries were not suffered.

• Air Warfare

  Poland procures FA-50 fighters from South Korea

  20th September 2022

  Poland signs on the dotted line for South Korea's largest ever aircraft export deal.

• Training

  W5 Solutions contracted to support Swedish tank and vehicle sims

  3rd February 2023

  W5 Solutions will ensure reliability and availability of Swedish tank and vehicle egress simulators.

• Training

  Poland signs support deal for M-346 jet trainer

  17th February 2023

  Leonardo and WZL1 will increase the Polish M-346 advanced trainer jet fleet's availability to meet combat pilot training requirements.

• Defence Notes

  Why China's surveillance balloon is more intriguing than alarming

  3rd February 2023

  While capturing headlines, the intelligence-collection capabilities of the Chinese balloon currently floating over the US are likely limited.

• Naval Warfare

  US lacks clear plan to meet amphibious ship requirements, Marine Corps chief says

  30th March 2023

  Speaking to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee during a hearing on the Fiscal Year 2024 budget request for the USN and USMC, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen David Berger said there was 'no plan' for the US to meet its statutory minimum requirements for amphibious warships.

• Training

  Malaysia confirms KAI's trainer/light attack win for KA-50

  1st March 2023

  The Malaysian MoD has officially confirmed selection of the KAI FA-50 as the winner of the country's Fighter Lead In Trainer-Light Combat Aircraft competition, although the delivery schedule has now been pushed back by two years.

• Naval Warfare

  Euronaval 2022: BAE Systems details Herne XLAUV concept

  21st October 2022

  BAE Systems has combined its expertise in underwater systems and autonomy to develop the Herne XLAUV.

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Transport/tanker aircraft

  A330 MRTT (1-9) [NATO]

  Following operations in Libya and extensive analyses by the European Defence Agency (EDA), it was agreed at the NATO Summit in 2012 that the EDA ...

• Transport/tanker aircraft

  A330 MRTT Follow-On (NATO)

  Following operations in Libya and extensive analyses by the European Defence Agency (EDA), it was agreed at the NATO Summit in 2012 that the EDA ...

• Military helicopters - maritime

  MH-60R Seahawks [Norway]

  Programme Background NH90 NFH cancellation  The Norwegian government announced the termination of the NH90 NFH helicopter contract for 14 NH90s with NHIndustries in June 2022. Seahawk Acquisition ...

• Tanks

  M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 [Romania]

  Programme Background Requirement The Romanian Army's MBT fleet is composed of T-55 variants that are due to be retired in the mid-2020s. Although Romania's TR-85 ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  EU Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies Project (ENGRT) - (Greece)

  Programme Background EU Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies Project (ENGRT) EU Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies Project (ENGRT) was announced in early 2022 and the project contract was awarded ...

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

  UAV Tactical Level [Norway]

  Programme Background Request for Information (RfI) In September 2022, the Norwegian Defence Material Agency (NDMA) launched a request for information in preparation for a possible ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  EU Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies Project (ENGRT) - (Italy)

  Programme Background EU Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies Project (ENGRT) EU Next Generation Rotorcraft Technologies Project (ENGRT) was announced in early 2022 and the project contract was awarded ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  Anka-B - Turkey

  Programme Background The Anka is a MALE UAV used by the Turkish Armed Forces. The system is able to perform day and night in all ...

• Military UAS - HALE

  MQ-4C Triton - Germany (Cancelled)

  Programme Background Germany requested to buy four MQ-4C Triton HALE UAVs from Northrop Grumman. On 5 April 2018, the US State Department announced that it ...

• Tanks

  New MBT [Romania]

  Programme Background Requirement The Romanian Army's MBT fleet is composed of T-55 variants that are due to be retired in the mid-2020s. Although Romania's TR-85 ...

• AEW&C

  Alliance Future Surveillance and Control (1-6) [NATO]

  Programme Background NATO’s E-3A AWACS fleet is set to retire in 2035, after 50 years of service. To plan for the required follow-on capability, NATO's ...

• Corvettes

  European Patrol Corvette (EPC) [France]

  Programme Background Requirements The European Patrol Corvette (EPC) is one of the new PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation on Defence and Security) projects. PESCO was established ...

• Maritime patrol

  MAWS/PATMAR [France]

  Programme Background In 2017, Germany and France announced that they would be working towards developing an MPA to replace their current fleets in service. The ...

• Corvettes

  European Patrol Corvette (EPC) [Italy]

  Programme Background Requirements The 2021-2023 Documento Programmatico Pluriennale (DPP) - a multi-year defence planning document from the Italian MoD - includes a plan to acquire eight "Patrol Ships", ...

• Corvettes

  European Patrol Corvette (EPC) [Spain]

  Programme Background Requirements The European Patrol Corvette (EPC) is one of the new PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation on Defence and Security) projects. PESCO was established ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Uncrewed aerial systems engines

  AE50R

  The AE50R is an aviation gasoline single rotary engine with an output of 40.4kW. The engine is certified according to European Aviation Safety Agency Part ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - tactical

  LOTUS

  The LOTUS, Low Observable Tactical Unnamed System, is a tactical UAV especially designed for border patrol ISR operations.  The development of the project is funded by ...

• Surface-to-air missiles

  Mistral 3

  The Mistral 3 is the latest member of the Mistral family of very short-range surface-to-air missiles. It entered service in 2018 and has been chosen ...

• Helicopter engines

  Arriel 2H

  Safran Helicopter Engines received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) engine type certification for its Arriel 2H engine, installed in the Avicopter AC312E, in April 2018. ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - tactical

  AR5

  First announced in October 2012, the AR5 is a MALE UAS designed for SAR, surveillance and maritime patrol missions. The AR5 can be flown manually or commanded ...

• Land: air defence radar

  APIS

  Indra successfully led the Array Passive ISAR Adaptive Processing (APIS) programme sponsored by the European Defensive Agency. At the core of the initiative is the ...

• Trainer

  Gabriel-TP

  Gabriel-TP is a low-wing, two-seat tandem trainer aircraft aimed at both military and civilian customers. It is certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in ...

• Air: NVGs

  PNL-3M Orlik

  PNL-3M are high-performance, lightweight, passive stereoscopic NVGs for helicopter crew members. Certification by European Aviation Safety Agency also enables civilian use. The device can be ...

• Air: Integrated cockpit systems

  Standard 3

  Jointly developed by ATR and Thales, The Standard 3 avionics suite has been specifically designed for ATR-600 aircraft. It offers the pilot user-friendly interface, along ...

• Counter-UAS systems

  DroneGun

  DroneGun enables controlled management of an adversarial UAS, causing no damage to the UAV or surrounding area. It either forces the drone to perform a ...

• Uncrewed aerial systems engines

  Trident 100TD2

  The Trident 100TD2 is a compression-ignition engine that is capable of operating on various types of heavy fuel. It is claimed to offer up to ...

• Space: radar systems

  ESA Sentinel-1

  Sentinel-1 is a planned constellation of four satellites with two already in orbit and two on order. They carry a payload of a C-band SAR ...

• Helicopter engines

  Aneto-1K

  Developed by Safran for the Leonardo AW189K helicopter, the Aneto-1K is part of a high-power engine family aimed at the super-medium and heavy end of ...

• 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 ...

• Major networking projects

  Ballistic Missile Defence

  In early 2010, NATO acquired the first phase of an initial theatre ballistic missile defence capability to protect alliance forces.