News & Articles

• United States Air Force to equip its Security Forces with Puma 3 AE systems; support existing fleet of Raven systems with spares packages
• AeroVironment’s family of tactical UAS allows customers to use the same ground control station and software for multiple UAS for added simplicity and efficiency

ARLINGTON, Va., July 22, 2021 – AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, today announced receipt of two firm-fixed-price orders totaling $15,940,378 from the United States Air Force. The orders, received on April 19, 2021 and May 6, 2021, encompass the procurement of Puma™ 3 AE unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and spares packages, as well as Raven® UAS spares packages. The Puma 3 AE systems and spares were delivered on April 30, 2021. Delivery of the Raven spares is anticipated by November 2021.

“The combat-proven Puma 3 AE and Raven are versatile, rugged and reliable tactical unmanned aircraft systems designed to provide the United States Air Force Security Forces with the enhanced situational awareness and mission effectiveness they require when safeguarding bases,” said Trace Stevenson, AeroVironment vice president and product line general manager for small UAS.

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• First award for satellite communications-enabled beyond line of sight (BLOS) on competitive Mid-Endurance Unmanned Aircraft Systems (MEUAS) IV program
• AeroVironment receives task order to provide ISR services at additional customer location
• AeroVironment JUMP 20 is a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), fixed-wing unmanned aircraft that AeroVironment uses to provide advanced multi-sensor intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) services

ARLINGTON, Va., July 13, 2021 – AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, today announced it was awarded a competitive task order valued at approximately $22 million on May 21, 2021 from the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) for ISR services using JUMP® 20 medium unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) at an undisclosed customer location. The ISR services include the first SATCOM-enabled unmanned aircraft system for beyond line of sight operations as part of the existing Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) MEUAS IV contract. The task order specifies a 12-month period of performance and multiple follow-on option years for ISR services.

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It has been a week of heightened apprehension on the Mars Helicopter team as we prepared a major flight challenge for Ingenuity. We uplinked instructions for the flight, which occurred Monday, July 5 at 2:03 am PT, and waited nervously for results to arrive from Mars later that morning. The mood in the ground control room was jubilant when we learned that Ingenuity was alive and well after completing a journey spanning 2,051 feet (625 meters) of challenging terrain.

Flight 9 was not like the flights that came before it. It broke our records for flight duration and cruise speed, and it nearly quadrupled the distance flown between two airfields. But what really set the flight apart was the terrain that Ingenuity had to negotiate during its 2 minutes and 46 seconds in the air – an area called “Séítah” that would be difficult to traverse with a ground vehicle like the Perseverance rover. This flight was also explicitly designed to have science value by providing the first close view of major science targets that the rover will not reach for quite some time.

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The Séítah region on Mars, filled with rocks and sand dunes, was too treacherous for NASA’s Perseverance rover to drive across. So Ingenuity, the tiny helicopter accompanying the rover, flew over the area on Monday and snapped some photos of a key spot on the other side. In less than three minutes, Ingenuity spared Perseverance the months it would have had to spend driving to take its own photos.

The quick Monday morning jump across Séítah was Ingenuity’s ninth flight on Mars so far, but it marked the first time the chopper lent a helping hand to Perseverance in its hunt for ancient signs of life at the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater. The four-pound helicopter arrived on Mars on February 14th, attached to Perseverance’s underside, and became the first object to take powered flight on another world on April 19th. Its initial set of flights served as increasingly complex practice tests to demonstrate how off-world rotorcraft can buzz around places that wheeled rovers can’t go.

But on Monday, NASA engineers pushed Ingenuity’s limits further than ever. In 166 seconds, Ingenuity flew roughly 11mph for almost a half-mile, or 2,050 feet — a far greater distance than its most recent flight in June, which tallied 525 feet. The copter buzzed around different corners of Séítah and snapped photos of its borders, where junctures between different rock formations — called contacts, in geology lingo — make for some of the most scientifically intriguing targets in Perseverance’s hunt for fossilized microbial life. 

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April 19th saw what some have christened “a second Wright Brothers moment”—namely, the successful first powered controlled flight by an aircraft on another world. Reaching Mars on the underside of the Perseverance rover, the tiny, autonomous Mars Ingenuity Helicopter (5.4" x 7.7" x 6.4") spun its 4-foot rotors and hovered 10 feet off the ground for 30 seconds. By its third flight, a few days later, Ingenuity would rise 16 feet (5 meters) up, and fly 164 feet (50 meters) at a top speed of 6.6 ft/sec (2 m/sec). Back in 1903, the Wright Brothers logged 120 feet to complete the first controlled heavier-than-air powered flight. Now, squaring that circle, Ingenuity carries a piece of fab-ric from the Wright Flyer’s wing, and its flight site is called Wright Brothers Field.

Six weeks and six flights into its mission as we write, Ingenuity has demonstrated the ability to fly on a planet more than 170 million miles from earth in an atmosphere 1% as thick as ours. The near-miniature ve-hicle has proved to be an intrepid explorer even as it’s survived a computer anomaly on its most recent mission. Talk about punching above your weight.

• Provides a standardized user experience (UX) across multiple air vehicles, communication platforms and end-user devices for streamlined operation and deployment
• Improves battlefield communication and collaboration by enabling users to easily share real-time information and coordinate mission-critical decisions
• Builds upon AeroVironment’s legacy ground control system (GCS) and adapts to today’s network-centric battlefield environment

ARLINGTON, Va. July 7, 2021 – AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, today introduced Crysalis™, the company’s next-generation ground control solution. Crysalis is an integrated hardware and software-based ground control system (GCS) that provides command and control of compatible AeroVironment unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and their payloads, through an intuitive user experience (UX).

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According to information released by the British Navy on June 24, 2021, Puma drone has been used by the British Navy to support HMS Albion amphibious transport dock and Royal Marines of 45 Commando as part of the Littoral Response Group (North) deployment to the North and Baltic Seas, including during their participation in the large-scale Baltops exercises alongside militaries from 17 other nations.

The RQ-20 Puma is a small, electrically powered, American, hand-launched unmanned aircraft system produced by the American company AeroVironment based in California. The Puma AE can operate under extreme weather conditions including temperatures ranging from −20 to 120 °F (−29 to 49 °C), wind speeds up to 25 knots (29 mph; 46 km/h), and an inch of rain per hour.

The Puma is just over 1.35 m long, with a wingspan of 2.75 m. It can fly at a maximum altitude of 500ft and has a maximum speed of 83km/h and range of 15km. The flight endurance of the UAS is two hours.

The payload of the Puma includes an electro-optical (EO), infrared (IR) camera, and IR Illuminator. It can be used to conduct reconnaissance and intelligence gathering missions over sea or land. The drone can monitor an area larger than the size of Greater Manchester during its flights, feeding back real-time footage to help sailors and Royal Marines make accurate tactical decisions.

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While there are other companies in the world that make drones and ground robots, none of those companies just focus on those technologies. That’s according to Wahid Nawabi, chief executive of AeroVironment Inc., the Simi Valley robotics company that made history this spring as the inventor of Ingenuity, the first aircraft to fly on another planet, in this case Mars. At AeroVironment, the focus is only on robots – originally drones, and increasingly ground robots and even underwater robots, said Nawabi, who joined the company in 2011 and took the top job five years ago. AeroVironment recently announced it would relocate its headquarters from Simi Valley to Arlington, Va. effective June 15.

Unmanned aircraft firm AeroVironment, Inc. this week announced the relocation of its corporate headquarters from Simi Valley to Arlington, Virginia.

But officials with the defense contractor – in the spotlight recently for its role in the creation of NASA's Mars Ingenuity helicopter – said it will keep its former headquarters at 900 Innovators Way open for business. It will also continue operations at its three other Simi Valley facilities and one in Moorpark.

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SIMI VALLEY, Calif., June 15, 2021 – AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, today announced the relocation of its corporate headquarters from Simi Valley, Calif. to Arlington, Va., effective June 15, 2021.

“The greater Washington D.C. area is where many of our key customers are located, and expanding our presence in the region will further our access to decision makers, influencers and talent,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment president and chief executive officer. “Our recent acquisition of Progeny Systems ISG and our new Artificial Intelligence Innovation Center expand our footprint near the Beltway and build on our momentum as we continue to grow our portfolio and global scope. We look forward to growing our Washington, D.C. presence and continuing to serve our customers with solutions that help them Proceed with Certainty.” 

AeroVironment will maintain its presence and existing operations in Simi Valley, Calif. and other existing sites across the United States and in Germany.

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