Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Aerovironment Looks To Expand Usage Of Raven

Monrovia-based Aerovironment, which develops unmanned aircraft systems for the defense industry, said this morning that the firm has recently conducted a 30-hour demonstration of the firm's Raven aircraft for the Pentagon. Aerovironment said the demonstration cames following an inquiry from the Pentagon on the potential of using its products for low-cost, tactically relevant persistent surveillance. The company said the demonstration was conducted with the U.S. Army Product Manager for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS), using three aircraft and two ground control stations. Aerovironment did not say if it would be bidding the system to the Army, but did say that the system would offer a lower-cost alternative to existing systems in use.

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