AeroVironment to Develop VTOL Drone for Navy Missions Under DARPA Program

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has selected AeroVironment to support the development of a vertical takeoff and landing uncrewed aircraft system under the Advanced Aircraft Infrastructure-Less Launch and Recovery program.

AeroVironment offers its Wildcat Group 3 VTOL drone, which boasts the SPOTR-Edge machine learning-enabled computer vision to minimize operational burdens and the ability to operate in harsh weather conditions, with speeds of up to 100 knots.

With Wildcat, UAS operations can be launched from various U.S. Navy ships in challenging maritime environments, AeroVironment said.

The ANCILLARY program seeks a lightweight, high-payload, long-endurance VTOL UAS to support the missions of the Navy and the Marine Corps.

According to the company, Wildcat has over 12 hours of operational endurance and a 60 lb payload capacity and is designed with collision avoidance and autonomous technologies to operate as part of a UAS fleet for airspace deconfliction and search missions in complex environments.