AeroVironment gains another FMS contract for Puma 3 AE
An undisclosed FMS customer is expected to receive Puma 3 AE in April 2021.
The Puma 3 All Environment (AE) tactical UAS will be supplied in April 2021 to an unnamed ‘US ally’ in Europe under an FMS contract, manufacturer AeroVironment disclosed on 11 March.
The $5.92 million deal was awarded in December 2020 but could only be publicised now. It is not the first export sale for Puma 3 AE; at the Singapore Air Show in February 2020, for example, AeroVironment announced it had received an $8.6 million FMS contract to provide systems to an undisclosed country.
Puma 3 AE provides intelligence and targeting data from the land or sea through real time imagery. Shephard Defence Insight notes that the UAS is equipped with the Mantis i45 AE Gimbal by AeroVironment that contains two 15mp EO cameras with 50x zoom, IR capabilities and high-power illumination.
The UAS is 1.4m long with a 2.8m wingspan, MTOW of 6.8kg and mission endurance of 2.5h. It can be manually or autonomously navigated to provide real-time situational awareness and actionable intelligence.
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