Business
* Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger confirmed plans to deliver mobile drone defense systems to Ukraine before the end of 2025. In an exclusive interview with Germany’s ZDF-Magazin WISO, Papperger said the deal—valued in the “three-digit million” euro range—will be signed on Wednesday at the Defence and Security Equipment
AAROK, Turgis Gaillard's Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) drone prototype, successfully completed its first flight from Blois-Le Breuil airfield. This new milestone demonstrates the progress of the program, essential for meeting the needs of the French and allied armed forces. AAROK "The level of maturity demonstrated is
Testing
* General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. and AeroVironment collaborated on the air launch of a Switchblade 600 loitering munition (LM) from a GA-ASI Block 5 MQ-9A unmanned aircraft system (UAS). The flight testing took place from July 22-24 at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Grounds Test Range. It marked the
Business
A ‘First of its kind’ industrial partnership allows the UK and Ukraine to share detailed designs for cutting-edge air defence drones and other equipment. The UK will manufacture and jointly develop cutting-edge military equipment with Ukrainian industry through a groundbreaking new technology sharing agreement which will support British jobs and
Software
* AeroVironment, Inc. has announced AV_Halo, a hardware-agnostic software platform that unifies the company's suite of mission-ready software tools — to include multi-domain command and control (C2), AI-enhanced intelligence analysis, synthetic training, and autonomous targeting — into a single open-standards software ecosystem capable of integrating with any other battle management
Weapons Systems / Lasers
* SMARTSHOOTER, a designer, developer, and manufacturer of innovative fire control systems, is introducing a new configuration of its combat-proven SMASH 3000: adaptation onto a Heavy Machine Gun (HMG). The new solution will be presented for the first time at the DSEI 2025 exhibition in London. This milestone follows SMARTSHOOTER’s
Spain’s first SIRTAP unmanned aerial system prototype is now complete and slated to begin ground testing, in an ambitious schedule lasting a good portion of 2026, before the first delivery by 2027. Airbus Defence and Space, which manufactures the system, released a short video on Sep. 4, 2025, showing
Video
Republic began with the F-84 as a straight-wing monoplane on tricycle undercarriage with a jet engine in response to a General Operational Requirement in the final year of WW2. While a straight-wing model was eventually produced for frontline service in the Korean War, it was outclassed by the MiG-15'
Poland shot down drones in its airspace on Wednesday with the backing of military aircraft from its NATO allies, the first time a member of the Western military alliance is known to have fired shots during Russia's war in Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told parliament it
VTOL
* Schiebel announced that it has been selected by MDA Space Ltd., a leading provider of advanced technology and services to the rapidly expanding global space industry, as part of the company’s contract award to equip the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN)’s Halifax- class ships with up to six CAMCOPTER
E W
Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems have announced a strategic partnership to develop a range of uncrewed autonomous air systems. The collaboration will see their advanced research and development divisions – Lockheed Martin Skunk Works and BAE Systems’ FalconWorks – work together on a common design that will be rapidly deployable and modular
Ukraine’s largest drone manufacturer, Ukrspecsystems, has announced a £200 million investment programme in East Anglia, including a new 11,000m² factory at Mildenhall and a test and training site at Elmsett, Suffolk. The project is expected to create up to 500 jobs and apprenticeships across the region, with onboarding