AeroVironment

AeroVironment

AeroVironment is a publicly traded defense contractor specialising in small uncrewed aircraft systems, loitering munitions, and counter-UAS. Its Switchblade loitering munitions gained wide attention after large-scale deliveries to Ukraine beginning in 2022, and its Raven and Puma platforms have accumulated millions of flight hours in US and coalition service. It trades on Nasdaq as AVAV and its fiscal year ends 30 April.

Key Products

• Switchblade 300 - a man-portable loitering munition for precision engagement of personnel and light vehicles
• Switchblade 600 - a larger loitering munition capable of defeating armoured vehicles
• RQ-11B Raven - a hand-launched small UAS, for two decades the US Army’s primary squad-level ISR platform
• Puma 3 AE - a waterproof fixed-wing small UAS used for maritime and coastal surveillance
• P550 - an eVTOL uncrewed aircraft selected for the US Army’s Long Range Reconnaissance programme
• Red Dragon - a tactical quadcopter on the Blue UAS Cleared List

Business and Financial Position

AeroVironment closed its acquisition of BlueHalo on 1 May 2025, the largest in company history, adding space, directed energy, and counter-UAS capability and roughly tripling the business.

Fiscal 2026, reported on 29 June 2026, was the strongest year in company history: record revenue of $1,976.8 million, up 141 percent year over year, with record fourth-quarter revenue of $641.6 million, up 133 percent. Bookings reached $2.7 billion for a book-to-bill ratio of 1.4. Funded backlog stood at $1.2 billion as of 30 April 2026, against $726.6 million a year earlier, with unfunded backlog of $1,457.7 million.

The acquisition compressed margins as well as expanding revenue. Gross margin fell to 21 percent from 43 percent, driven by amortisation and other non-cash purchase-accounting charges and by a higher proportion of service revenue.

Recent Developments

Through mid-2026 AeroVironment won a $500 million US Army contract for layered counter-drone systems and a $117.3 million Army production contract for 82 P550 aircraft, its first full-rate production award on that programme. In August 2026 the company announced an award under the Lethal Unmanned Systems IDIQ, a $100 million investment consolidating five Southern California sites into a single campus, and AV Eagle, a joint venture with Eyeonix SA to establish production in Greece.

Why It Matters

AeroVironment is now one of the few Western suppliers positioned across attack drones, ISR, and counter-UAS simultaneously, which matters as procurement budgets expand on both sides of that exchange. Switchblade remains among the most combat-validated loitering munition systems in service, and the Raven’s two-decade record gives the company unusually deep institutional relationships in US Army infantry and special operations. The open question is integration: revenue tripled through acquisition rather than organic growth, and the margin compression shows the cost of that.