U.S.A.F. Orders Puma 3 AE Drones from AeroVironment

American firm AeroVironment received two firm-fixed-price orders totaling nearly $16 million from the United States Air Force to deliver Puma 3 AE unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and spares packages and Raven UAS spares packages.

The hand-launched Puma 3 AE has a wingspan of 9.2 feet, weighs 15 pounds and can operate for up to 2.5 hours. The aircraft also has a range of 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) with a standard antenna, and up to 37.2 miles (60 kilometers) with AeroVironment’s Long-Range Tracking Antenna (LRTA). It also features reduced system packaging with a flyable configuration and GCS in one case.

AeroVironment’s Raven system is a hand-launched system with a wingspan of 4.5 feet (1.4 meters) and weighing just 4.2 pounds (1.9 kilograms). The Raven’s Mantis i23 EO/IR gimbaled payload delivers real-time video or infrared imagery to ground control and remote viewing stations

Both the UAS systems can be operated with AeroVironment’s next-generation ground control solution for command and control called Crysalis.