AeroVironment, Inc. has received an order valued at $11,198,967 under an existing contract with the U.S. Army. The order comprises 63 new digital Raven small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), services supporting the Army's evaluation of the small UAS Family of Systems concept and additional engineering services.

This order follows two recent orders under the existing U.S. Army contract that had previously been announced by the Department of Defense. On March 30, 2010, AV received a $6,781,162 firm fixed-price order for 51 digital Raven systems, initial spares packages and contractor logistics support for the U.S. Marine Corps.

On April 12, 2010, AV received an additional $12,294,916 firm fixed-price order for 216 retrofit kits to upgrade existing analog Raven systems with AV's digital data link.

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, Special Operations Command and other U.S. military services.

The items and services provided under these awards on this multi-year contract are fully funded and are scheduled to be delivered within the next 12 months.

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 and Spain.