AeroVironment has announced that it received an order valued at $46,226,984 under an existing contract with the U.S. Army. The order comprises 123 new digital Raven small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and initial spares packages as well as 186 digital retrofit kits for the U.S. Marine Corps. The order also includes 339 digital retrofit kits for the U.S. Army.

The Raven system and retrofit order represents the remainder of the funds appropriated for RQ-11B Raven system procurement in the 2010 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, which was signed into law in December 2009.

The orders were released under the existing U.S. Army joint small UAS program of record for AV's Raven. This program has included contract additions from the Army, Marine Corps and Special Operations Command.

The items and services provided under these awards on this multi-year contract are fully funded. Work is scheduled to be performed within a period of twelve months.

"Raven systems have proven their value and reliability to military services across the U.S. Department of Defense," said Tom Herring, AV senior vice president and general manager unmanned aircraft systems.

"These backpackable, hand-launched unmanned systems provide situational awareness directly to our warfighters, increasing mission effectiveness and safety. We remain focused on supporting our customers with reliable solutions and developing ever more capable solutions."

The Raven unmanned aircraft is a 4.2-pound, backpackable, hand-launched sensor platform that provides day and night, real-time video imagery for "over the hill" and "around the corner" reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition in support of tactical units.

U.S. armed forces use Raven systems extensively for missions such as base security, route reconnaissance, mission planning and force protection.

Each Raven system typically consists of three aircraft, two ground control stations and spares.

In addition to the Raven system, AV's small UAS include Puma and Wasp, which are also hand-launched and controlled by AV's hand-held ground control station. Each aircraft in AV's family of small UAS is interoperable and tailored to address a variety of operational user needs. AV's UAS logistics operation supports systems deployed worldwide to ensure a consistently high level of operational readiness.

AV has delivered thousands of small unmanned aircraft to date. International purchasers of Raven systems include Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain and Norway.