• Defence Helicopter

  Paris Air Show: Swedish Air Force holds back on helicopter modernisation

  17th June 2019

  Unlike plans to refresh fighter jet capabilities with a forthcoming Gripen E fleet, the Swedish Air Force is in no hurry to change the look …

• Training

  Kratos awarded BQM-177A target contract

  10th June 2019

  Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has received a $25 million contract for Lot 3 of Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) of the BQM-177A Subsonic Aerial …

• Training

  Joint Australian, US and Japan exercise ends

  10th June 2019

  This year’s Exercise Southern Jackaroo, a two-week field exercise carried out by soldiers of the Australian Defence Force, US Marine Rotational Force-Darwin and Japanese Self …

• Military Logistics

  Modern avionics for USAF C-130Hs

  11th June 2019

  L3 Technologies announced on 6 June that it has been awarded a contract valued at $499 million for the USAF C-10H Avionics Modernisation Program Increment …

• Defence Helicopter

  Insight: What next for the FARA five?

  24th April 2019

  The US Army’s decision to select five industry design proposals for its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) competition can be read as a first clear …

• Defence Notes

  Podcast: The air power exercise over the Arctic and the future of the military satellite business

  31st May 2019

  Welcome to Episode 19 of The Weekly Defence Podcast. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and more. Sign up to an early email alert of future podcasts here.

• Land Warfare

  Canada's soldier suite delivery nears completion

  19th June 2019

  Final delivery of equipment sets under Canada’s Integrated Soldier Systems Suite (ISS-S) programme will be completed by the end of the year as the system …

• Naval Warfare

  NZ navy’s hydrographic vessel arrives home

  17th May 2019

  The Royal New Zealand Navy’s (RNZN) new hydrographic and diving support vessel, HMNZS Manawanui, arrived in Wellington on 13 May after its 11,570nm delivery voyage …

• Defence Helicopter

  Black Hawk goes optionally piloted

  7th June 2019

  Sikorsky has embarked on a flight test programme to operate the Black Hawk helicopter in optionally unmanned mode. Sikorsky is taking an optionally piloted vehicle …

• Military Logistics

  NZ replaces Hercules with....

  11th June 2019

  The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) has selected Lockheed Martin’s C-130J-30 Super Hercules as the preferred option to replace its incumbent fleet of C-130H tactical …

• Land Warfare

  Summer award date for US hypersonics launcher contract

  6th June 2019

  A contract will be awarded ‘later this summer’ for a transporter erect launcher (TEL) from which the US Army will conduct its first ever erect …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Boeing invests in Robotic Skies

  6th June 2019

  Boeing has invested in Robotic Skies, a services provider that connects manufacturers and operators of commercial UAS with a global network of more than 170 …

• Defence Helicopter

  USMC weighs up FVL options

  29th May 2019

  The USMC is keeping a close eye on FVL developments as it holds out, for the time being, on a specific acquisition process for a …

• Digital Battlespace

  Bandwidth challenges existing data link order

  6th June 2019

  For almost four decades NATO’s Link 16 tactical data link has proved its worth as a vital communications conduit for air operations, but thoughts are …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Who will lead on tackling drone misuse?

  11th June 2019

  The criminal act of endangering an aircraft is outlawed across the UK with penalties for offenders ranging from monetary fines to prison sentences of up to …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• UAS: communication systems

  UAS: communication systems | Future Vertical Lift Maritime Strike (FVL-MS) [USA]

  The Future Vertical Lift Maritime Strike (FVL-MS) programme seeks to develop and acquire a family of systems, including crewed and uncrewed aircraft, to replace rotary life aircraft ...

• UAS: flight control systems

  UAS: flight control systems | Future Vertical Lift Maritime Strike (FVL-MS) [USA]

  The Future Vertical Lift Maritime Strike (FVL-MS) programme seeks to develop and acquire a family of systems, including crewed and uncrewed aircraft, to replace rotary life aircraft ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  Future Vertical Lift Maritime Strike (FVL-MS) [USA]

  Programme Background Requirement The FVL-MS programme seeks to develop and acquire a family of systems, including crewed and uncrewed aircraft, to replace rotary life aircraft utilised ...

• UAS: communication systems

  UAS: communication systems | Project Proteus [UK]

  Project Proteus is an RN and Leonardo effort to design and develop an uncrewed helicopter demonstrator that could provide an innovative alternative to existing crewed ...

• UAS: flight control systems

  UAS: flight control systems | Project Proteus [UK]

  Project Proteus is an RN and Leonardo effort to design and develop an uncrewed helicopter demonstrator that could provide an innovative alternative to existing crewed ...

• Tiltrotors

  V-22 Osprey [Japan]

  Programme Background Procurement Contracts The Japanese government is the first export customer of the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey, having ordered 17 helicopters from the US across ...

• Military UAS - MALE, Military UAS - rotary-wing

  MQ-8C Fire Scout (USA)

  Programme Background Timeline According to the Naval Air Systems Command, having first ordered the MQ-8B in 2009, the UAV has become a pillar of the ...

• Military UAS - small

  Heavy Lift Capability (UASHLC) [UK]

  Programme Background Requirement & Objective The RN identified a requirement to acquire an RPAS to transport cargo and supplies between ships and personnel. When mature, it ...

• Military helicopters - maritime

  MH-60R Seahawk (Saudi Arabia)

  The sale is aimed at improving Saudi Arabia’s capability to meet current and future threats from enemy weapon systems, provide the capability to identify, engage ...

• Air: Radio and SATCOM

  Air: Radio and SATCOM | Future Naval Fighter China

  China is planning to deploy stealth naval fighter aircraft with vertical take-off landing capabilities to operate from Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)'s future Type 075A class ...

• Data links

  Data links | Future Naval Fighter China

  China is planning to deploy stealth naval fighter aircraft with vertical take-off landing capabilities to operate from Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)'s future Type 075A class ...

• Air: Helmet-mounted displays

  Air: Helmet-mounted displays | Future Naval Fighter China

  China is planning to deploy stealth naval fighter aircraft with vertical take-off landing capabilities to operate from Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)'s future Type 075A class ...

• Air: Head-up displays

  Air: Head-up displays | Future Naval Fighter China

  China is planning to deploy stealth naval fighter aircraft with vertical take-off landing capabilities to operate from Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)'s future Type 075A class ...

• Transponders and IFF

  Transponders and IFF | Future Naval Fighter China

  China is planning to deploy stealth naval fighter aircraft with vertical take-off landing capabilities to operate from Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)'s future Type 075A class ...

• Military UAS - MALE, Military UAS - rotary-wing

  Project Proteus [UK]

  Programme Background Requirements The RN requires an uncrewed helicopter to test the viability of larger uncrewed aircraft for the RN, possibly providing an alternative to crewed ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - MALE, Military UAS - rotary-wing

  Korean Future Vertical Lift (KFVL)

  Unveiled at KADEX 2024, the Korean Future Vertical Lift (KFVL) is a family of uncrewed helicopters from Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). Despite being in the ...

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

  Aerosonde Mk 4.8 HQ FTUAS

  From the Texton family of Aerosonde UAS, the Aerosonde Mk 4.8 Hybrid Quad (HQ) FTUAS is a tactical drone purpose-built to meet the US Army's Future Vertical Lift ...

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

  HQ-60

  Similarly to other platforms in the L3 Technologies Hybrid Quadrotor (HQ) and Fixed-Wing Rotator family (see separate entries) of VTOL fixed-wing UAVs, the HQ-60 has ...

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

  V-247 Vigilant

  The V-247 Vigilant is a tiltrotor UAV from Bell. Officially introduced in 2016, it features an open modular architecture and can host several payloads. These include ...

• Baby Shark 260

  The Foxtech Baby Shark 260 is a fixed-wing VTOL UAV for commercial and civil operations, which has four spar-mounted rotors to provide vertical lift, a pusher ...

• Air: Displays

  F-15 Replacement Vertical Situation Display

  BAE Systems Replacement Vertical Situation Display (RVSD) replaces the legacy VSD units on F-15E aircraft. The AMLCD display offers a larger display size and is compatible ...

• Air: Helmet-mounted displays

  X-Sight

  Elbit X-Sight is a developmental helmet-mounted display system designed for helicopters. According to the manufacturer, it will offer a high field of view and colour binocular ...

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

  H6 Poseidon

  Manufactured by Swarmly, the H6 Poseidon is a fixed-wing VTOL-capable UAV. The second largest member of the Poseidon family, the vertical lift is provided through ...

• Military UAS - rotary-wing

  Proteus

  Proteus is a technology demonstrator that Leonardo is developing in collaboration with the UK MoD's Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S;) Future Capabilities Group and the ...

• Military helicopters - multirole

  Bell 360 Invictus

  The Bell 360 Invictus is the company's prototype for the US Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) programme.  The helicopter features retractable weapon bays, two ...

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

  Veloce-15

  The ST Engineering Veloce-15 (V-15) is a hybrid fixed-wing UAV with four rotors for vertical lift and a tail-mounted two-bladed pusher propeller for horizontal propulsion.  ...

• Military UGVs

  Avenger

  In January 2017, Med-Eng announced the launch of a new bomb disposal and tactical robot, called the Avenger, at the SHOT Show in Las Vegas. ...

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

  Ultra

  The Ultra UAV, or HCMC, is a fixed-wing twin-engined cargo-carrying platform manufactured by Windracers. The platform is mainly aimed at the commercial market and has conducted trials ...

• EO/IR systems

  VLP-16

  Velodyne's VLP-16 Puck is a small and compact lidar that is power and performance optimised for usage across a variety of applications. This ranges from ...

• Nimbus 1800

  Foxtech's Nimbus 1800 is a tri-copter, lightweight, fixed-wing VTOL UAV designed for civilian and commercial mapping and inspection roles. It has a 2.8kg weight without ...