The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has awarded a firm fixed-price contract to AeroVironment for the supply of 12 hybrid small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS) to the Swedish Army.
Under the terms of the deal, AeroVironment will supply its Puma All Environment (AE) and Wasp air vehicles, ground control stations (GCS), along with training and logistics support to provide the army with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities in support of a range of missions.
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Roy Minson, AeroVironment senior vice president and Unmanned Aircraft Systems business segment general manager, said that the company’s SUAS range provided customers with flexibility to select the right UAS for a specific objective, or use two or three different systems for various purposes on the same mission.
"Numerous allied armed forces are adopting our small UAS because of their battle-proven force protection and force multiplication benefits to small tactical units," Minson said.
The selection follows a competitive evaluation and procurement process by the FMV, and the contract includes options that could increase the purchase to a total of 30 systems.
Weighing 13lb, the Puma AE is a third-generation, portable and hand-launched SUAS, designed primarily to execute intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions.
Each Puma system comprises of three air vehicles and two ground control systems and can capture high-resolution imagery of the battlefield using an integrated electro-optical and infrared gimballed video camera and transmits it to a ground control station (GCS) through a line of sight data link.
The Wasp Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) is a small, portable, reliable, and rugged unmanned aerial platform designed to conduct front-line day/night reconnaissance and surveillance missions.
AeroVironment’s small UAS have also been purchased by Australia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Italy, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Uganda and the UK.
Image: A soldier prepares to conduct beach launch of AeroVironment’s Wasp SUAS. Photo: copyright © 2012 AeroVironment, Inc.
