AeroVironment

AeroVironment, Inc.

Arlington, Virginia, United States
Revenue	US$446 million (2022)
Operating income	US$−10 million (2022)
Net income	US$−4.2 million (2022)
Total assets	US$914 million (2022)
Total equity	US$608 million (2022)
Number of employees	1,214 (2022)
Website	avinc.com
Footnotes / references [1]

AeroVironment, Inc. is an American

• Gossamer Condor – The first successful human-powered airplane. The Gossamer Condor is on display at the US National Air and Space Museum (NASM), since it won the first Kremer Prize in 1977.
• Gossamer Albatross – In 1979, this human-powered plane flew 23 miles (37 km) across the English Channel and claimed the largest prize in aviation history. Another of these planes is displayed at the National Air and Space Museum.
• Gossamer Penguin – A solar-powered variant of the Gossamer Albatross.
• Solar Challenger – This plane flew 163 miles (262 km) from Paris, France, to England on solar power.
• High Altitude Solar (HALSOL)-This solar-powered unmanned aircraft was sponsored by the
  CIA in the 1980s as the first unmanned solar-powered aircraft prototyped for national security missions. It was declassified and transferred to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) in 1993, where it was modified as a high altitude, long endurance (HALE) UAV technology demonstrator capable of becoming weaponized to destroy boost-phase theater ballistic missiles (Boost Phase Intercept).The goal was to develop the world's first "fly forever" HALE UAV that could be configured for national security missions. The program was cancelled in 1995, due to budget reductions in the Clinton Administration
  at which time the aircraft, called Pathfinder, was transferred to NASA. Pathfinder flew flight test missions at NASAs Dryden Flight Research Center before the transfer.
• Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) Program, demonstrated that an airplane could stay aloft for extended periods fueled by solar power. After initial successes, the Pathfinder was rebuilt into the larger Pathfinder Plus, which is on display at NASM.^[2]
• NASA Centurion – The Centurion was an expansion of the Pathfinder concept, designed to achieve the ERAST Program goal of sustained flight at 100,000 feet (30,000 m) altitude.^[2]
• NASA Helios Prototype – Derived from the Centurion, this solar cell and fuel cell powered UAV set a world record for flight at 96,863 feet (29,524 m). It was intended to be the prototype for the production Helios aircraft, envisioned as an "atmospheric satellite". The ERAST program was terminated in 2003, and as of 2008, Helios has not entered production.^[2] In actuality, it has been reborn in the form of the Global Observer UAS, currently in development under a Joint Concept Technology Demonstration led by United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM]).^[3]
  The key technology shift was switching from solar power to liquid hydrogen power.
• powered by hydrogen. It appears to have 4 motors with twin-bladed props, a 175-foot (53 m) wingspan, 65,000-foot (20,000 m) maximum altitude, airspeed greater than 120 mph (190 km/h), and 5 to 7 day maximum flight duration.^[5]
• Sunraycer – This solar-powered car won the first world's first solar car race in Australia in 1987. The next fastest car finished two days later. This car is at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
• GM Impact – This was an electric car
  , developed as a prototype for a mass-production consumer car.
• RQ-11 Raven
  – a small military UAV. It is hand launched with a wingspan of 4.5 feet (1.4 m) and a weight of 4.2 pounds (1.9 kg), providing color and infrared video to its handheld ground control and remote viewing stations. Over 9,000 Ravens had been delivered or were on order as of June 2008.
• Wasp III – a miniature, hand-launched UAV that provides aerial observation at line-of-sight ranges up to 3.1 miles (5.0 km). In 2007, the Wasp was selected by the US Air Force as the choice for their BATMAV Program.^[6]
  As of 2008, over 1,000 Wasp aircraft had been delivered.
• GPS navigation. It was designed to demonstrate advanced propulsion technologies. It flew in June 2007 for five hours,^[7] powered by an onboard "fuel cell battery hybrid energy storage system". A flight in November 2007 lasted more than seven hours.^[8]
  On July 2, 2008, USSOCOM selected the Puma AE variant as its All Environment Capable Variant (AECV) solution.
• Nano Hummingbird – Announced in 2011, a hummingbird
  look-alike drone equipped with a camera, it could fly at speeds of up to 11 miles (18 km) per hour. It could climb and descend vertically, fly sideways, forward and backward, as well as rotate clockwise and counter-clockwise by remote control for about eight minutes.
• vertical take-off and landing
  (VTOL)-fixed wing hybrid UAV, which offered VTOL takeoff capability and decreased energy usage.
• Switchblade – A miniature, electrically powered, armed unmanned drone kamikaze weapon, for field use. Now deployed in two configurations, the 300 for attacking personnel and the 600 for attacking armor.^[9]
• FQM-151 Pointer
• RQ-14 Dragon Eye
• Puma LE (Long Endurance)
• VAPOR Helicopter
• Snipe – a
  quadrotor design small enough to be deployed by an individual to collect surveillance. It weighs 5 oz (0.14 kg), can reach speeds of 20 mph (32 km/h) with a range of more than 0.6 mi (0.97 km). It has flight times of 15 minutes, can withstand winds of 15 mph (24 km/h), and is equipped with EO/IR. It is low light-capable and includes long-wave infrared sensors to take photos or video in day or night conditions. In May 2017, the first 20 Snipes were delivered to an undisclosed U.S. military customer.^[10]
• Quantix – drone, 40 km range, 45 min flight time, 2.3 kg weight, controlled via encrypted radio, automated, programmed autonomous flights possible, multifunctional camera [11]

Programs

As of 2007 AeroVironment held a five-year, $4.7 million IDIQ (indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity) contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to develop UAV propulsion technologies. The contract also provided for specific tasks such as integration of solar cells into aircraft wings, electric motor efficiency improvement, and hydrogen storage systems.^[7]

In 2023, Israel submitted a request to the US Department of Defense for 200 Switchblade 600 attack drones. As of 7 November, it is unclear whether the request has been approved.^[12]

HAPSMobile

AeroVironment owns Skytower, Inc., which was formed in 2000 to develop the technologies and government approvals to use high altitude UAVs as "atmospheric satellites", or high altitude communications relay platforms.^[13]

In July 2002 the NASA/AeroVironment UAV Pathfinder Plus carried commercial communications relay equipment developed by Skytower to test using the aircraft as an "atmospheric satellite". Skytower, in partnership with NASA and the

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to AeroVironment.

• Official website
• "Patents owned by AeroVironment".
  US Patent & Trademark Office
  . Retrieved 5 December 2005.