AeroVironment (AV) to Develop its Wildcat Autonomous VTOL-X UAS for DARPA's Ancillary Program

 Autonomous VTOL X-Plane Advances to Next Design Phase

Northrop Grumman will leverage its expertise in autonomous vertical lift aircraft to advance the design and system technology for DARPA's ANCILLARY autonomous VTOL un-crewed aircraft systemBy Joseph Macey / 30 May 2024

Defense Advancement

9 hours ago

Autonomous VTOL X-Plane Advances to Next Design Phase - Defense Advancement

Intelligence Community News

5 hours ago

AeroVironment selected for DARPA's ANCILLARY program - Intelligence Community News

AV to Develop its Wildcat Autonomous Vtol UAS for Darpa's Ancillary Program

 May 30, 2024

AeroVironment (AV) was down selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for continued development of its X-Plane design for the agency’s AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY (ANCILLARY) program. AV’s offering – Wildcat – is a Group 3 vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) developed specifically to execute ship-based operations in challenging maritime environments.

“We have prioritized controllability to ensure Wildcat meets the ‘anytime, anywhere’ goal of DARPA’s ANCILLARY program,” said AV’s Vice President of MacCready Works Chris Fisher. “Wildcat leans on autonomy to reduce operational burdens while enabling safe, infrastructure-less launch and recovery in challenging conditions from a range of Navy ships.”  

Wildcat leverages AV’s SPOTR-Edge machine learning-enabled computer vision to enhance mission effectiveness. 

This capability builds on operational learnings AV has gained as a leader in the Group 1 to 3 UAS space with millions of operational flight hours on its Raven®, Puma™ AE, and JUMP® 20 uncrewed systems.

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ANCILLARY calls for the development of a low-weight, large-payload, long-endurance VTOL UAS for missions executed by the U.S. Navy and Marines. AV’s Wildcat pushes beyond current Group 3 UAS offerings and provides expanded mission capabilities to address and overcome evolving threat landscapes.

• Designed specifically for the ANCILLARY program, Wildcat meets DARPA’s objectives for a 450 nautical mile (nmi) mission radius and over 12 hours of endurance on station with 60 lbs of payload. 
• Additionally, Wildcat exceeds program objectives for sea state recovery and cruise speed, with the ability to operate in high sea states and winds, and dash over 100 knots to quickly cover long distances over sea or land.  

Wildcat’s large modular payload capacity will enhance mission responsiveness and flexibility, and its tail-sitter design requires fractional infrastructure and footprint compared to other offerings. 

• It is designed to operate as part of a larger fleet of Wildcat UAS that leverage collision-avoidance and autonomy to deconflict airspace and collaborate to perform search missions in degraded or denied airspace.  

“Our solutions are specifically crafted for the operator and Wildcat is no exception. AV has a strong history of seamlessly integrating our systems into a soldier’s daily operations and we look forward to further developing this design in partnership with DARPA and the Office of Naval Research for the ANCILLARY program,” continued Fisher.

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 AeroVironment, Inc.
View original News release 

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More news releases from AeroVironment, Inc.

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16 February 2024

The UK and Latvia will jointly lead a capability coalition, which will see thousands of drones supplied to Ukraine

 Feb 16, 2024

UK to Supply Thousands of Drones As Co-leader 

of Major International Capability Coalition for Ukraine

The UK and Latvia will jointly lead a capability coalition, which will see thousands of drones supplied to Ukraine, including first-person view (FPV) drones, which have proven highly effective on the battlefield.

Ukraine will receive thousands more drones as Defence Secretary Grant Shapps announces today that the UK will co-lead a major drone capability coalition with Latvia for Ukraine.

As part of the coalition, the UK will scale up and streamline the West’s provision of “first person view” (FPV) drones to Ukraine.

 

Ukrinform

UK to supply thousands of drones to Ukraine

FPV drones have proven highly effective on the battlefield since Russia’s full-scale invasion, providing their operators with situational awareness to target enemy positions, armored vehicles, and ships with explosive ordnance.
By creating a competition to produce these drones at scale and at an affordable price point, the UK will leverage the strength of Western industry. 

This is the first project to be launched from the £200 million drone package announced by the Prime Minister in January this year. 

• It will see the UK order thousands of FPV drones for Ukraine, including from UK manufacturers, providing a boost to the industry and delivering on the Prime Minister’s priority to grow the economy.

26 September 2022

AeroSpace & Defense News: The Business of Drones

The next-generation navigation system features a suite of down-looking sensors that gather imagery data and track features on the ground, as well as an embedded compute module to process and determine the precise location of an aircraft while it is in flight. Designed with the operator in mind, the system automatically transitions to and from GPS-denied navigation mode without any input from the operator.

www.suasnews.com

Puma VNS visual navigation system

By Press

2 minutes

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AeroVironment’s Puma™ VNS is a visual-based navigation system for PumaAE small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS). PumaVNS enables GPS-denied navigation across GPS-contested environments. The system performs Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO) through a suite of integrated sensors and an onboard compute module to determine the precise location of the aircraft during flight.

Designed to adapt to a continuously changing battlefield, PumaVNS will enable increasingly advanced navigation capabilities, features and functionality through future software and hardware updates. Available as an add-on option for new Puma 3 AE system orders and as a retrofit kit for fielded Puma 2 AE and Puma 3 AE aircraft.

KEY FEATURES
» Zero pilot input required for seamless mission continuity through GPS-contested environments
» Two-piece low-SWAP retrofit kit on existing & new Puma™ AE
» Performs Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO) through onboard sensors to estimate true location without GPS
» Enables integration of future autonomy capabilities
» Minimal performance impact to Puma™ aircraft
» Compact—Fits into existing Puma™ case for mission packout

Data sheet

www.asdnews.com

AeroVironment Introduces Puma VNS, a Visual-Based Navigation

3 minutes

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• System determines precise location of the aircraft during flight without relying on GPS
• Will enable increasingly advanced navigational capabilities, features and functionality through future software and hardware updates
• Available as an add-on option for new Puma 2 AE and Puma 3 AE system orders and as a retrofit kit for fielded systems

AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, today introduced Puma™ VNS, a visual-based navigation system for Puma 2 AE and Puma 3 AE small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS) that will enable GPS-denied navigation across increasingly GPS-contested environments.
The system will provide operators with continually advanced navigation capabilities, features and functionality through anticipated software and hardware updates. The system will also enable the integration of future autonomy capabilities.
“Puma VNS gives operators an unprecedented advantage in the battlefield,” said Trace Stevenson, AeroVironment vice president and product line general manager for SUAS. 

“Operators now can execute missions with more confidence in GPS-contested environment with the system’s new navigational capabilities.”

Aircraft Communication System Market - Global Forecast to 2027

by Connectivity (SATCOM, VHF/UHF/L-Band, HF and Data Link), Fit (Line Fit, Retrofit), Platform (Fixed-wing, Rotary-wing, UAVs and eVTOL/eSTOL), Component and Region 

The next-generation navigation system features a suite of down-looking sensors that gather imagery data and track features on the ground, as well as an embedded compute module to process and determine the precise location of an aircraft while it is in flight. Designed with the operator in mind, the system automatically transitions to and from GPS-denied navigation mode without any input from the operator.

Source: AeroVironment, Inc.
Date: Sep 16, 2022
View original News release

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14 February 2024

Contracts Update - Wed Feb 14, 2024

 

Contracts Headlines - Wednesday, 14 February 2024

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