AeroVironment acquires Pulse Aerospace

AeroVironment announced on 11 June that it has acquired Pulse Aerospace, a developer and supplier of small VTOL UAS.

Pulse Aerospace had recently been awarded a multi-year contract from an unnamed defence customer for its Vapor unmanned VTOL systems, spares and services valued at $13 million. It is also the provider of HeliSynth technology, which supplies flight control, payload and endurance capabilities to both commercial and defence markets.

‘The talented Pulse Aerospace team has created a solution set that is unique and will expand our family of unmanned systems by addressing increasing demand from our customers for small VTOL solutions,’ said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment’s president and chief executive officer.

‘This transaction brings together two highly complementary companies in terms of products, markets and culture, and will better position AeroVironment to grow our share of the small UAS market. The team at Pulse Aerospace shares our focus on disruptive innovation and we welcome them to AeroVironment. Together, we will deliver even more capability to our customers in the United States and more than 45 allied countries around the world,’ Nawabi added.

As part of the acquisition, Pulse Aerospace’s facility in Kanses will become the AeroVironment Innovation Centre – Midwest, focused on small VTOL unmanned aircraft and mission planning solutions.