• Uncrewed Vehicles

  RAF RPAS pilots awarded their wings

  2nd April 2013

  The Ministry of Defence MoD has announced that the Royal Air Force (RAF) has certified its first Remotely Piloted Air System (RPAS) pilots in a …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Tesla Offshore selects Bluefin-21 AUV

  28th March 2013

  Bluefin Robotics will supply a Bluefin-21 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to Tesla Offshore under a new purchase agreement announced on 27 March. The AUV will …

• Defence Notes

  LIMA 2013: Companies pitch for Malaysian maritime patrol priority

  27th March 2013

  Critical gaps in maritime patrol capabilities that were highlighted by the Malaysian Ministry of Defence, has sparked interest from European manufacturers looking to fill this …

• Digital Battlespace

  Estonia accepts air defence radar

  26th March 2013

  The Estonian Air Force has accepted into service its first ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) Ground Master 403 long-range air defence radar. The radar, inaugurated on 26 March, …

• Digital Battlespace

  Satellite 2013: US seeks smarter approach to SATCOM

  22nd March 2013

  The US will not introduce a next-generation MILSATOM constellation until beyond 2025, instead increasing capacity through existing network and terminal advances and commercial augmentation. Current …

• Defence Helicopter

  Hughes achieves distortion free SATCOM on rotary platforms

  19th March 2013

  Hughes Network Systems has successfully demonstrated the loss-free transmission of high-throughput data and video over SATCOM links from a variety of rotary platforms, the company …

• Digital Battlespace

  Northrop Grumman announces new CIP capability

  15th March 2013

  Northrop Grumman’s Common Imagery Processor (CIP) has demonstrated the ability to process Global Hawk Block 40 data on the Distributed Common Ground System – Imagery …

• Naval Warfare

  Colombian Navy orders Cassidian Optronics periscope

  15th March 2013

  Cassidian Optronics has announced that it has received an order from the Colombian Navy for its SERO 250 search periscope for the 209 class submarines. …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Economic boom predicted for US civil UAV market

  12th March 2013

  A paper on the economic impact of UAV integration into national US airspace has identified ‘enormous’ benefits if this is achieved on schedule and on …

• Defence Helicopter

  US Navy orders six more MQ-8C Fire Scout UAVs

  12th March 2013

  Northrop Grumman will supply six additional next-generation Fire Scout unmanned helicopters to the US Navy under a $71 million contract announced on 12 March. The …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Wyle awarded NAVAIR UAV services contract

  11th March 2013

  Wyle has announced that it has been selected to provide reliability improvement, testing, technology insertion and life-cycle analysis for US Navy Naval Air Systems Command …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Global Hawk exchanges radar data with Joint STARS

  7th March 2013

  The US Air Force’s (USAF’s) E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft has successfully exchanged radar data with the Northrop Grumman RQ-4B …

• Defence Helicopter

  Heli-Expo 2013: L-3 secures large aviation products order

  7th March 2013

  Sikorsky has selected a range of L-3 Aviation Products’ (AP’s) systems for its H-60 and S-70i helicopters.  Announced by L-3 at Heli-Expo in Las Vegas, …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  BAE Systems’ work on MAST programme extended

  6th March 2013

  BAE Systems has announced that it will lead the Army Research Laboratory’s (ARL) Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) Collaborative Technology Alliance for an additional …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  AR4 Light Ray UAV demonstrated for Colombian armed forces

  4th March 2013

  Tekever has announced that it has completed a week of trials of its AR4 Light Ray unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for the Colombian armed forces. …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• 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 ...

• ISR/special mission

  C-208B ISR [Tunisia]

  Programme Background Requirement The acquisition of the C-208B Grand Caravan EX aircraft is part of Tunisia’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its ISR capabilities in response ...

• ISR/special mission

  King Air 350ER -Canada

  Programme Background Canadian Special Forces was looking to procure ISR aircraft to support their missions both overseas and domestically.  There were few Canadian suppliers to sell ...

• ISR/special mission

  King Air 350ER ISR - Kuwait

  Feb 2018: The US State Department has approved an estimated $259m potential foreign military sale of King Air 350ER intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - HALE

  Long-Endurance UAV [US AFRICOM]

  Programme Background Ageing MQ-9A Reapers In November 2022, Shephard reported that GA-ASI would continue supporting contractor SMX with its MQ-9A after winning a $2.3 billion task ...

• ISR/special mission

  Shadow R1 [UK]

  Programme Background The RAF is moving forward with an ambitious plan to transform its intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) force to enable greater ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - rotary-wing

  ISR Civilian-Made UAVs [Taiwan]

  Background Civilian-made, Military-specification As reported by Shephard, to accelerate the acquisition process and urgently create a larger UAV inventory, Taipei is enlisting the help of the ...

• Military UAS - small

  Black Hornet 3 PRS (UK)

  Programme Background The British Army operated approximately 160 first-generation Black Hornet PD-100 nano UAS between 2013 and 2017, when the decision was made to retire ...

• Military helicopters - light/training

  SW-4

  The SW-4 is aimed at the basic and advanced pilot training, troop transport and ISR missions. Its Polish designation is Puszczyk. The SW-4s are based ...

• Light attack, Trainer

  A-29 Super Tucano Afghanistan

  Media reports suggest that with the hourly cost of $1000, the A-29 is a successful platform for counter-insurgency missions. Its operational capability from unprepared airstrips, ...

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

  ISR Drones (First Batch) (Ukraine Aid) [Netherlands]

  Programme Background First Batch On 20 March 2024, Kajsa Ollongren, Minister of Defence of the Netherlands, announced that, following a 19 March Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) meeting, ...

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

  Drone Action Plan (Ukraine Aid) [Netherlands]

  Programme Background APOS On 6 October 2024, the Dutch Minister of Defense, Ruben Brekelmans, visited Kharkiv and Kyiv. During his visit to Ukraine, he announced a new ...

• Maritime patrol

  Multi-Mission Aircraft (Canada - Option)

  Programme Background Canadian Air Force is operating 15 C-3P (Canadian designation CP-140) special mission aircraft in service. They were acquired between 1980-91 and expected to ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing

  Ukrainian Drones (Ukraine Aid) [Netherlands]

  Programme Background Military Package On 5 March 2025, the Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced the Netherlands would reserve €3.5 billion ($3.8 billion) to continue ...

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

  V-Bat [Netherlands]

  Background Contract Award On 9 July 2025, Shield AI announced that the Netherlands MoD had acquired eight V-Bat, specifically the V-Bat 400, aircraft to enhance the maritime intelligence, surveillance ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

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

  SkyRanger

  The SkyRanger is a VTOL UAS developed for land and maritime military and civil applications, including ISR. Its folding design enables it to be carried in ...

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

  Silent Falcon

  The Silent Falcon is a solar-electric sUAS with long-endurance capabilities for extended-range missions. The UAS can be used for commercial and military applications. The entire ...

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

  ULTRA

  The Unmanned Long-endurance Tactical Reconnaissance Aircraft (ULTRA) is a fixed-wing drone from DZYNE Technologies.  It is described as a long-endurance, GPS-harded intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platform with full ...

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

  Jackal

  The Jackal is a small UAV manufactured by FLY BVLOS, Flyby Technology and Maxwell Innovations. The system features a plug-and-play system, meaning new equipment and technologies can be ...

• DT18 Airframe

  The DT18 is a civilian UAV with approval for BVLOS operations by the French Civil Aviation Authority. Its applications include linear infrastructure monitoring, precision agriculture ...

• Freya

  An easy-to-use system which requires minimal training, Freya can be operated in difficult situations and weather conditions, including strong winds and mountainous areas. A tracker ...

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

  Indago

  Indago is a small quadrotor UAV with VTOL. It is equipped with a large-screen handset and is marketed as 'whisper-quiet' with a noise level of ...

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

  Delta

  The Delta is a UAV with a VTOL capability before rotating and operating as a conventional fixed-wing aircraft when airborne.  Manufactured by Fly BVLOS, Nigeria was expected ...

• Land: battle management systems

  AIMS-ISR

  AIMS-ISR is a software package used to process the video footage and data gathered from the cameras and other sensors fitted to airborne, ground-based and ...

• Air: mission management systems

  Ageon ISR

  Ageon ISR is a multi-INT C2/PED solution supporting cross-domain collection, ingestion, processing, exploitation and dissemination from tactical units to the global enterprise and cloud. Ageon ...

• UAS: communication systems

  muLTElink

  Produced by uAvionix, the muLTElink is a multiple-link airborne radio system designed for uncrewed platforms in particular. It combines C-Band, LTE, ISM and Viasat L-Band communications, ...

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

  DrN-15 (series)

  The DrN-15 is a hexacopter mini-UAV from ST Engineering. The platform is highly customizable and can carry various payloads depending on a user's requirements.  All DrN ...

• Air: UAS radar

  EchoFlight

  The Echoflight radar by Echodyne is a Lightweight Metamaterials ESA (MESA®), a Detect-and-Avoid (DAA) 4D radar designed for mid-sized UAVs flying below the visual line of sight (BVLOS) ...

• AR100C

  The AR100C is a quadcopter UAV designed for surveillance and reconnaissance missions at low-altitude BVLOS during day and night operations. The system is an improved ...

• Indago 2

  Lockheed Martin's Indago 2 UAS is designed to be programmed and integrated into existing systems and work processes for a range of applications. The folding, ...