• Land Warfare

  Australia aims for rapid procurement of loitering munitions

  22nd May 2025

  The purchase will occur in a short timeframe, specifically for deliveries to begin next month, with local manufacture. All this puts Innovaero’s One-Way Loitering (OWL) systems, with OWL B already in service with the Australian Defence Force (ADF), comfortably perched for a likely win.

• Defence Notes

  DroneShield to double its US footprint to meet growing demand for counter-UxS capabilities

  23rd September 2025

  DroneShield disclosed to Shephard its plans to increase its workforce and manufacturing capacities while strengthening partnerships with US suppliers.

• Air Warfare

  Ghost Bat drone makes first deployment in latest milestone

  25th June 2025

  In the past 18 months, Boeing’s MQ-28A Ghost Bat uncrewed aerial system (UAS) has achieved several milestones including teaming with manned aircraft, achieving 100 flight hours and training of first military pilot.

• Land Warfare

  EOS improving Slinger CUAS role as industry pushes forward

  28th October 2025

  EOS Defence Systems officially launched its Slinger anti-drone system in 2023. The system features a remote weapon station, visual sensors and a Northrop Grumman 30mm cannon with specially designed ammunition, combined with EOS’s stabilisation and pointing technology.

• Air Warfare

  Singapore’s Hermes 900 buy to enhance multi-domain ISR capabilities

  20th November 2025

  Drawing on its endurance and substantial payload capacity, the Hermes 900 would provide a boost to Singapore’s ISR capabilities, particularly in the maritime domain.

• Air Warfare

  Sikorsky unveils new Nomad VTOL drone family

  7th October 2025

  The tailsitting vertical take-off and landing drones are designed to be scalable with Group 3 to Group 4 variants, with each one focused on meeting US Army reconnaissance requirements.

• Air Warfare

  L3Harris selected for South Korea’s airborne early warning programme

  1st October 2025

  L3Harris’ offer of its “Phoenix” aircraft won over Saab’s GlobalEye AEW&C aircraft for the second phase of South Korea’s early warning requirement.

• Land Warfare

  “Adversaries have adapted”: how counter-UAS and space control will decide future conflicts

  18th March 2025

  In conversation... EOS's Andreas Schwer talks to Shephard's Ben Watts about how the Australian company is shifting its strategic focus to two technologies it sees as essential for success on the modern battlefield - C-UAS and space control.

• Air Warfare

  US approves possible C-17 Globemaster III sustainment support sale to UK

  27th August 2025

  The potential sustainment contract will help support the Royal Air Force (RAF) fleet, amid renewed interest from countries in the heavy-lift strategic aircraft.

• Land Warfare

  Roke unveils new portable EW system

  9th May 2025

  Roke’s EM-Vis Deceive has been designed to be modular, open-standards based and mission configurable, and can be carried by a single soldier.

• Air Warfare

  Singapore eyes C-295MPA and P-8 for maritime patrol aircraft requirement

  4th March 2025

  The down-selection of both the aircraft comes amid maritime tensions in the region.

• Air Warfare

  Embraer bets on US manufacture C-390 Millennium as incentive to lower US tariffs

  5th August 2025

  While Embraer’s Q2 results were not affected by US tariffs and it managed to avoid US President Donald J Trump's additional 40% tariff rate on Brazil, the 10% tariff rate still remains.

• Air Warfare

  European firms express interest in filling NATO airborne early warning replacement needs

  19th November 2025

  The comments from both Saab and Airbus on their potential to fulfil the airborne early warning and control requirement come after NATO countries shelved plans to procure six E-7 Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft.

• Air Warfare

  Lockheed Martin unveils new scalable counter-UAS system

  27th February 2025

  The scalable system was flown during a company-funded exercise to demonstrate its ability to detect, track and mitigate a mix of small uncrewed aerial systems, including drone swarms.

• Digital Battlespace

  Aselsan brings in dozens of companies and systems under the Steel Dome umbrella

  12th October 2025

  Turkey has joined the family of countries attempting to establish a multilayered air defence system with government approval in August 2024 for the effort landed by Aselsan. Dubbed Steel Dome, the programme joins Israel’s Iron Dome, the US Golden Dome, India’s Mission Sudarshan Chakra and South Korea’s low-altitude missile defence system.

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• 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 - 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 - 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 ...

• 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 ...

• 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 - 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 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 - 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 ...

• Military UAS - mini

  Aeromobila A Pilotaggio Remoto (Mini) [Italy]

  Programme Background Requirement Released on 5 August 2021, the Italian MoD's Multi-Year Defence Programme Document for 2021-2023 announced a programme aimed at acquiring a mini-UAS capable ...

• Military UAS - micro

  Aeromobila A Pilotaggio Remoto (Micro) [Italy]

  Programme Background Requirement Released on 5 August 2021, the Italian MoD's Multi-Year Defence Programme Document for 2021-2023 announced a programme aimed at acquiring a micro-UAS capable ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - mini

  RQ-20 Puma [Belgium]

  Programme  Requirement The Belgian MoD outlined plans to procure more mini and tactical UAS in its Strategic Vision for Defence published in 2016. According to ...

• Military UAS - small

  Bug Nano UAS (UK)

  Programme Background The British Army previously took delivery of 160 first-generation Black Hornet PD-100 nano UAS in 2013 to support operations in Afghanistan. After these ...

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

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

  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 meet ...

• Military UAS - small

  Puma 2 AE [Germany]

  Programme Background The Germany navy had an urgent requirement for three UAS required for reconnaissance and identification in maritime operations. A platform was required that ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - MALE

  Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) [Canada]

  Programme Background Programme Inception The Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) Joint Unmanned Surveillance and Target Acquisition System (JUSTAS) project was established to procure a UAS for ...