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The U.S. Army has awarded AeroVironment, Inc. (AV), a $117.3 million contract for its P550 electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) in support of the service’s Long Range Reconnaissance program.
The contract was awarded under a Basic Ordering Agreement following a competitive Call for Solutions conducted through the U.S. Army’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Marketplace initiative. The digital marketplace is intended to accelerate procurement of vetted drone technologies.
Under the award, AV will provide 82 P550 UAS for the Army’s Battalion Reconnaissance effort. The procurement marks the initial full-rate purchase of the P550.
The P550 is an autonomous Group 2 eVTOL UAS built around a modular open systems approach. Its architecture supports integration of third-party payloads, datalinks and mission-planning software, allowing the aircraft to be adapted to changing mission requirements.
The aircraft can carry multiple sensors with a combined payload capacity of up to 15 pounds, including enhanced-lethality options, and provides up to five hours of all-battery endurance. AV lists intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, precision strike, electronic warfare and communications relay among the missions supported by the platform across air, ground and maritime operations.
For operations in contested environments, the P550 incorporates integrated targeting and precision-strike capabilities intended to enhance situational awareness and force protection. Its AI-driven autonomy is designed to support operations while reducing operator workload across complex missions.
The system can also be reconfigured in the field in less than five minutes. Operators can hot-swap payloads and batteries without tools to adapt the aircraft for different mission requirements.
Wahid Nawabi, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer at AV, commented, “In today’s battlespace, adaptability is no longer an advantage, it’s a requirement. The P550 gives maneuver forces the ability to rapidly reconfigure, extend their reach, and deliver effects across domains, all while operating in contested environments where speed and autonomy are decisive.”
Trace Stevenson, President of Autonomous Systems at AV, added, “What operators consistently tell us is that they need systems that can adapt at the speed of the mission, not hours or days later. AV’s P550 delivers that advantage, enabling units to reconfigure in minutes. It reduces the burden on operators while expanding what a single platform can achieve.”
