AV in the News: UAS
Look here to find articles and citings in the press about AV, our people, our products and topics that relate to us. If you find something elsewhere that we have not posted, then let us know by sending us an email at info@avinc.com.No Pilot, No Problem
August 16, 2010
AEROSPACE: Unmanned aerial vehicles soaring to new heights.
Before the Wasp gets used in the battlefields of Afghanistan, the small, lightweight aircraft gets a workout above the fruit fields of Ventura County.
Piloted from the ground by a controller similar to one used for video games, the Wasp floats gently and silently on the air, banking this way and that by the battery-powered propeller before coming in for a landing on the dirt of a pumpkin patch.
Though small in size – the Wasp ways all of 1 pound – the pilotless aircraft and others designed and manufactured by Aerovironment in Simi Valley mean big business.
Aviation Week: Hydrogen-Fueled UAV Begins Flight Tests
August 16, 2010
Following an initial hour-long, battery-powered flight, AeroVironment’s Global Observer unmanned aircraft is beginning a test program planned to culminate in a week-long flight in the stratosphere using liquid-hydrogen fuel. The flight debuts an innovative approach to persistent surveillance and marks a dramatic departure for a company that dominates the market for small, hand-launched UAVs.
U.S. Army Demonstrates Small UAS Family of Systems
August 04, 2010
The Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS) Product Office (PdO) has begun a 1-year demonstration and evaluation period in Afghanistan for a Family of Small Air Vehicles.
The Family of Systems (FoS) demonstration is the first excursion for the SUAS PdO into an expanded inventory of small unmanned aircraft. The 1/101 Brigade Combat Team (BCT) is the first unit to receive the FoS equipment and will receive 15 systems. These systems will consist of the Wasp air vehicle to support platoon reconnaissance, the current Raven air vehicle, focused on company-level operations, and a Puma-All Environment (AE) air vehicle supporting battalion-level operations—all controlled by a common ground station.
New Mission Planning and Operator Training Capability for Raven UAS
August 02, 2010
A Virtual Lift for UAS Training
There are hundreds of initiatives utilizing UAS. Some of the most significant include the use of munitions on aircraft that have historically been for imagery purposes only and manned-unmanned platform (MUM) teaming. A big trend for UAS training is the growing reliance on virtual simulation for operator training.
TechNewsDaily: Airborne Robotic Mites Patrol War Zones
June 16, 2010
When launched into the air, it looks like a kid’s radio-controlled model airplane. Looks are deceiving. The RQ-11B Raven is launched by a soldier, not a kid. And it’s not a toy.
The Raven, a three-foot long, four-pound unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a four-foot wingspan, is doing yeoman service for coalition warfighters in Iraq and Afghanistan, conducting reconnaissance, surveillance, target identification and battle damage assessment missions.
“People’s lives have been saved because of them,” said Steven Gitlin, VP of marketing strategy and communications for AeroVironment, the plane’s manufacturer. “They’ve been able to see the threats before the threats see them.”
Ravens Provide ‘Eye in The Sky’ For 2HBCT Units
June 07, 2010
CONTINGENCY OPERATING SITE MAREZ, Iraq - While Israel ushered in the age of the unmanned aerial vehicle during its 1982 war with Lebanon, now, almost 30 years later, these aircraft are continuing to prove their value in the airspace and battlefields of Iraq.
At a cost of approximately $35,000 per plane, it's often more cost effective to send out a remote-controlled aircraft, then a squad of Soldiers for a reconnaissance mission. Most recently, the military recognized more than one million flight hours flown by Army unmanned aircraft systems.
Ventura County Star: AV Awarded $11 Million Contract For Tiny Spy Planes
May 13, 2010
Simi business awarded $11 million contract for tiny spy planes.
Tiny military spy planes made in Simi Valley are bringing in big dollars for one of the city’s largest employers, which has landed $29.2 million in government contracts since March.
AeroVironment Inc. was awarded an $11.2 million contract Monday to supply the Army with 63 of the remote-controlled spy planes. That contract comes on the heels of a $12 million order the Monrovia-based technology firm secured in March from the Army, and a $6 million order from the Marines in April.
AV’s Raven Featured on Fox News
April 15, 2010
Homeland Security Today: The Rising 10 Homeland Security Companies to Watch
April 05, 2010
...The Rising 10 companies are noteworthy because they include companies involved in the diverse activities that make up homeland security. They range from major systems integrators to detection companies to manufacturers of the technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles.
Kirkuk Airmen Use Small Aircraft with Huge Capabilities
March 26, 2010
Airmen here use the RQ-11B Raven, a small unmanned aircraft equipped with cameras, sensors and communications tools, to give coalition warfighters an advantage of eyes in the sky.
AV’s UAS Featured on ABC News
February 17, 2010
Raven Takes Flight For North
January 27, 2010
Test Area 3 became the scene of a popular Fox news show Jan. 19 during a visit by retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North.
The highly decorated and once controversial Marine officer is now a political commentator, bestselling author and television host of “War Stories with Oliver North” on the Fox News Channel. During his Redstone Arsenal visit, the Fox cameras were focused on the Raven unmanned aircraft system, and the Soldiers and Program Executive Office for Aviation employees behind its success on the battlefield.
AeroVironment, Inc. Industry Support and Challenges
December 01, 2009
Reprinted with permission: ARMY AVIATION Magazine
U.S. Army Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have driven the growing demand for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets to support combat operations. The rapid increase in the number of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), providing real-time visual information to field commanders, helps to satisfy this demand.
Army to Expand Raven Family of Unmanned Aircraft
November 17, 2009
Soldiers like the Raven unmanned aircraft — the smallest in the Army’s inventory — because they can lug it around in a rucksack and launch it into the air by hand. Ground commanders now want the flexibility to fly the system higher and for longer periods.
Officials at the Army’s unmanned aircraft systems program are proposing a new concept for the Raven. They are looking to expand it into a set of Ravens of three different sizes, says Col. Gregory Gonzalez, project manager of the UAS program. One would be smaller than the current Raven, the other would be larger to give troops more options.
Army To Field Upgraded Raven UAV In December
November 04, 2009
When a commander in the war zone needs a bird’s eye view, it often means grabbing a nearby rucksack and releasing a small unmanned aerial vehicle dubbed the Raven.
Tossed to the skies and controlled from the ground, soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are using the UAV for overhead observation.
Aviation Week Profiles AV’s “Creative Culture”
October 29, 2009
Once best-known for its human- and solar-powered aircraft and more recently renowned for its small unmanned air systems, AeroVironment depends on innovation more than most other technology companies.
Founded by legendary aeronautical engineer Paul MacCready in 1971, AeroVironment became a household name within a decade when his company won successive Kremer prizes for human-powered flight with the Gossamer Condor and Albatross aircraft.
Smiths Detection, AeroVironment and US Army Collaborate on Chemical Agent-Detecting UAV
October 05, 2009
EDGEWOOD, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Smiths Detection today announces the successful creation and demonstration of an unmanned aircraft chemical detection and identification system capable of warning troops against chemical warfare agents. The detection and identification system, able to fit in the interchangeable nose cone of a Raven® UAV, is a result of the collaborative efforts between Smiths Detection, AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) (Nasdaq: AVAV), the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center and other U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) laboratories.
AV Featured on ABC News, Ahead of the Curve
September 29, 2009
AV’s Raven Helps Protect Danish Soldiers In Afghanistan
September 25, 2009
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The Scandinavian countries are in an arms deal frenzy: While Sweden is in negotiations to sell fighter jets to Brazil, Denmark is looking to buy a host of weapons systems to boost its troops in Afghanistan.
Test Flights: New Unmanned Aircraft Tested At Dugway
September 24, 2009
DUGWAY – The U.S. Army's unmanned aircraft effort officially stepped out of its infancy Wednesday with the opening of a new center that will pool resources and brainpower. The Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office Rapid Integration and Acceptance Center's mission is to develop more, better, faster deployments of the remotely controlled surveillance and communication relay vehicles. Both Army brass and ground troops say the aircraft are the best thing next to their gun and helmet to have on the battlefield.
View Dugway UAS Video Footage
AV Featured on Engineering TV
August 10, 2009
AV’s Nano Air Vehicle Featured on G4TV
August 05, 2009
Real Flying Saucers, Supersonic Fighters, and Battle Birds
Sometimes the things we see in action movies are real. No, really! Check out these actual military forces like a flying saucer prototype, the supersonic F35C Lightning II stealth fighter and a nano air vehicle modeled after a hummingbird. Don't get any crazy ideas about becoming a movie action hero.
UAV Ravens Keep An Eye In Iraqi Skies
July 23, 2009
KIRKUK — Launching an unmanned aircraft by throwing it in the air really hard might not sound too technologically advanced, but with surveillance equipment and auto navigational systems on board, these easily-deployable UAVs can be the difference between life and death on the battlefields of Iraq.
This aircraft, known as a "Raven," is operated by two Soldiers here with the 1st Cavalry Division, who use it as an "eye in the sky" around the base.
Defence Chiefs Visit Camp Growl at TS09
July 23, 2009
Australia’s Vice Chief of the Defence Force (VCDF) LTGEN David Hurley, the Chief of Army (CA) LTGEN Ken Gillespie, the Chief of Navy (CN) VADM Russell Crane, took the opportunity to see the range of new joint capabilities incorporated during Ex TS09, including the projection of military power through amphibious naval operations aboard a Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD), the "Wasp" - an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and the latest technological advances in urban warfare simulation, in addition to the warm rapport between Australian and U.S. service personnel.
How To Build a Spy Bat - AeroVironment Featured on Forbes.com
June 26, 2009
Researchers are studying creatures that fly through the night in hopes of making tiny flying spies.
As U.S. soldiers march over the mountains of Afghanistan, they lug in backpacks contraptions that look more like model planes than military equipment: flying drones that can buzz over ridges and mountains, looking for Taliban and terrorists. The drones, which the soldiers direct with a controller that looks like a videogame, make their reports by sending back real-time video feeds.
Forbes Magazine Profiles AeroVironment
June 26, 2009
A maker of tiny spy drones used in Iraq and Afghanistan is trying to add lethal firepower and altitude to its profitable business. Aerovironment, a Monrovia, Calif. company, set the world record for altitude in 2001, when it flew a gangly, remote-controlled, solar-powered plane with a 250-foot wingspan to 96,863 feet. The sky is dark up there, and the air is thin, just one-hundredth the density of air at sea level.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Drones Win Their Spurs
June 15, 2009
There have been few winners in Iraq and Afghanistan. Casualty rates have been high among both locals and foreign military forces. Meanwhile, equipment, ethics and strategies have all come a cropper in the difficult physical and political terrain. Unmanned aerial vehicles or drones are a notable exception.
TALES OF THE TAPE: Unmanned Planes Fuel AeroVironment Growth
April 21, 2009
CHICAGO (Dow Jones)-With a corner on the U.S. defense market for very small, unmanned aircraft and new clean energy technology in the pipeline, AeroVironment, Inc.'s (AVAV) chairman and chief executive, Timothy Conver, expects the company to find continued opportunities for revenue growth. Conver said Secretary Robert Gates's strategy at the U.S. Department of Defense, to offer greater support to current armed forces, plays into AeroVironment's strength.
On With the Wind at Historic New Building
April 10, 2009
New York City Mayor Bloomberg yesterday opened a $25 million building in the Brooklyn Navy Yard's industrial park that is the city's first with mounted wind turbines. The Perry Avenue property is the first multistory structure in the nation to be classified as a "green industrial facility" by the US Green Building Council, a Washington-based organization that rates properties for their effect on the environment, according to a statement from Bloomberg's office.
AeroVironment Featured in CNN’s “Edge of Discovery” Series
April 03, 2009
Cameras with Wings
They look like remote-controlled airplanes, but they provide the military with eyes in the sky.
AF Raven B Operators Maintain ‘Eyes-on’ for Ground Forces
March 19, 2009
(Camp Bucca, Iraq, March 19, 2009) - "There it is," said Staff Sgt. Jeff Tomkiewicz, 887th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, as he pointed at a little, buzzing white dot in the sky. As the Raven B operator approached the small strip of sand of Camp Bucca's Burge Field, the tiny Raven B unmanned aircraft system hovered above the ground for a moment then unceremoniously fell to the ground, waiting for Sergeant Tomkiewicz to retrieve it.
So You Think It’s a Toy?
March 17, 2009
KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq - RQ-11 Raven unmanned aerial vehicles may be easily mistaken for an unorthodox version of a model airplane, but Airmen here use the UAV to secure the base and surrounding neighborhoods. Weighing in at less than 5 pounds, the Raven is operated from the ground via a remote control unit that can send the aircraft 10 kilometers away at speeds up to 60 miles per hour.
Semper Fi - the Evolving USMC UAS Fleet
March 02, 2009
In highlighting the contributions that UAS bring to the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) concept, the United States Marine Corps' (USMC) Vision and Strategy 2025 builds on the myriad lessons learned from successful employment of these platforms in ongoing combat operations.
Smithsonian - Under the Radar with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
February 25, 2009
At the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum (NASM), a display of six unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) demonstrates what happens when the little airplanes of my childhood get serious. Take the five-pound, 45-inch wingspan AeroVironment RQ-14A "Dragon Eye." Launched by hand, or with a bungee cord, the tiny scout plane is controlled by GPS coordinates entered into its guidance system with a standard laptop computer.
