AeroVironment Receives $65 Million Order for Digital Puma
AeroVironment, today announced that it received a firm-fixed-price contract delivery order valued at $65,532,394 for new digital Puma All Environment (AE) UAS and initial spares packages. The items were procured through the existing United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) All Environment Capable Variant (AECV) indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract. Deliveries are scheduled to be completed over the next several months.
'Puma systems have demonstrated their effectiveness and are receiving high marks from customers for their image quality and overall capabilities,' said Tom Herring, AeroVironment senior vice president and general manager of its Unmanned Aircraft Systems business segment. “Like Raven and Wasp, Puma is helping to expand the role of small unmanned aircraft systems, and in the process is protecting our forces and helping them do their jobs more effectively.”
USSOCOM selected the Puma UAS in 2008 for its AECV programme after a full and open competition, the fourth US Department of Defense competition for programmes of record involving small UAS and the fourth such competition won by AeroVironment. Each Puma system consists of three air vehicles and two ground control systems. The air vehicle carries an integrated electro-optical and an infrared gimbaled video payload, is designed for enhanced durability in land and maritime environments and can operate effectively in foul weather and over rugged terrain. Its quiet operation, stabilized imagery and precision landing capability make Puma systems easy to operate and recover. The Puma air vehicle weighs 13 pounds, is battery powered and has a flight endurance of two hours.
Source: AeroVironment
More from Uncrewed Vehicles
-
Baykar’s Akıncı UCAV completes live firing trials over the Black Sea
The Turkish company’s advanced unmanned combat aerial vehicle demonstrated its capabilities during successful live firing trials.
-
Iranian UAV threat leaves Israel’s defence industry searching for answers
Iran has continued to invest heavily in its drone-building capacity, supplying Russia and Iranian proxies throughout the Middle East, leading defence experts in Israel to call for more defensive solutions be developed to deter the threat from UAVs.
-
Emgepron and Tidewise team up to develop first ‘made-in-Brazil’ USV
Brazil's Emgepron and Tidewise have partnered to construct the Suppressor unmanned surface vessel by 2025 amid potential interest from the Brazilian Navy.
-
Autonomous navigation drives UUVs proliferation in the Indo-Pacific
The US Department of Defence has teamed up with Anduril Industries to develop advanced AI-driven long-range uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs), countering China’s escalating UUV advancements.