Industry News

U.S. Army Orders 63 Raven Unmanned Aircraft Systems for $11 Mln

AeroVironment, Inc. has received an order valued at about $11 Mln under an existing contract with the U.S. Army. The order comprises 63 new digital Raven® small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), services supporting the Army’s evaluation of the small UAS Family of Systems concept and additional engineering services. This order follows two recent orders:

• On March 30, 2010, AV received a $7 Mln order for 51 digital Raven systems, initial spares packages and contractor logistics support for the U.S. Marine Corps.
• On April 12, 2010, AV received an additional $12 Mln order for 216 retrofit kits to upgrade existing analog Raven systems with AV’s digital data link.

According to Market Research Media report U.S. Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Market Forecast 2010-2015 the U.S. military UAV market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10% between 2010 and 2015, with a small UAS segment leading in growth rate. The report finds that the U.S. military UAV market will generate $ 62 Billion revenues over the period 2010 – 2015.

The Raven unmanned aircraft is a 4.2-pound, backpackable, hand-launched sensor platform that provides day and night, real-time video imagery for “over the hill” and “around the corner” reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition in support of tactical units. U.S. armed forces use Raven systems extensively for missions such as base security, route reconnaissance, mission planning and force protection. Each Raven system typically consists of three aircraft, two ground control stations and spares.

In addition to the Raven system, AV’s small UAS include Puma™ and Wasp™, which are also hand-launched and controlled by AV’s hand-held ground control station. Each aircraft in AV’s family of small UAS is interoperable and tailored to address a variety of operational user needs. AV’s UAS logistics operation supports systems deployed worldwide to ensure a consistently high level of operational readiness. AV has delivered thousands of small unmanned aircraft to date. International purchasers of Raven systems include Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain.

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