Look here to find articles and citings in the press about AV, our people, our products and topics that relate to us. If you find something elsewhere that we have not posted, then let us know by sending us an email atinfo@avinc.com.
AeroVironment will upgrade the 0.5kg (1lb) Wasp unmanned aircraft system to perform "hover/perch and stare" missions under a $4.6 million contract newly awarded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The agency's stealthy, persistent, perch and stare (SP2S) programme seeks to introduce "an entirely new generation of perch-and-stare micro air vehicles capable of flying to difficult targets, landing on and securing to a perch position", according to a DARPA fact sheet.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been ideal proving grounds for U.S. forces to perform dirty and dangerous missions. The conflicts are unusual because there is no single, discernible enemy. Instead, there are factions of insurgents, terrorists and religious fighters embedded in the cities, mountains and rugged terrain throughout those regions. The need for better intelligence gathering is more pressing than ever. Without firing a single bullet, the U.S. military and its NATO allies have a new tool in their arsenal to snuff out the enemy: unmanned aircraft systems.
Cutting consumptions of fossil fuels would not only clean the air and help meet climate change goals but also cut energy costs by lowering demand, improve American Energy independence and address the nation's trade imbalance. A company with a factory in Simi Valley, AeroVironment, Inc., has been particulary successful with energy-related innovations.
The SOCOM contract is the first program of record for the Puma UAS the sixth hand-launched AeroVironment vehicle to make its debut. It will also become the fourth AeroVironment system to enter operational service with the US military, following the Dragon Eye, Raven and Wasp designs.
The hand-launched Puma AE's most significant innovation is that it can land on both land and water, surviving near-vertical "deep stall" final approaches. In addition to the obvious special forces scenarios like river infiltrations, the ability to land on water and in very tight areas on land means that Puma can also be used from boats and ships, without vessel modifications for landing systems or vehicle storage.
Seeking to reduce energy costs and to protect the environment, companies are exploring 'green" manufacturing practices and sustainable/renewable packaging applications.
The smallest aircraft in the National Guard's aviation fleet, the RQ-11 Raven, displayed huge potential as one of the National Guard's newest damage assessment and reconnaissance tools during the 2008 Vigilant Guard emergency preparedness exercise.
Wind turbines - 20 of them - stretch regally across the parapet of the roof of the three-story Logan Office Center in a demonstration project expected to provide about 2 percent of the building's monthly energy use, about the equivalent of power required for 10 to 12 single-family homes.
The hundreds of drones cruising over Iraq and Afghanistan have changed war forever. The UAV is the "smart bomb" of the Iraq War, the latest turn in the unending offense-defense spiral that characterizes the history of warfare. Army units searching and fighting house-to-house are using hundreds of drones, some of them as small as a model airplane (the Raven), to track enemy movements.
