AeroVironment

AeroVironment (Nasdaq: AVAV) is one of the longest-established US military drone companies, tracing its origins to engineer Paul MacCready's work in the 1970s and supplying the Pentagon with small tactical UAS since the 1990s. Today it operates across loitering munitions, reconnaissance drones, directed energy, and Counter-UAS payloads. The $4.1 billion BlueHalo acquisition in 2025 added directed-energy and electronic warfare capabilities; the $200 million acquisition of ESAero in March 2026 added 300 engineers and counter-UAS drone capacity.

In March 2026 the Army released $135 million in contracts: $17.58 million for the Red Dragon loitering munition and $117.3 million for the P550 long-range reconnaissance drone. AeroVironment unveiled the LOCUST X3 directed-energy weapon at AUSA Global Force in March 2026, a laser system for drone interception at approximately $5 per kill. In April 2026, four LOCUST X3 units were delivered to the Army's Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office for Enduring High Energy Laser (EHEL) evaluation. The EHEL competition winner selection slipped from Q2 to Q4 FY26.

On 4 May 2026 the US Army selected Switchblade 400 under the Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (LASSO) Other Transaction Authority. The Army is requesting $110 million in LASSO procurement for Fiscal Year 2027 with a planned programme ceiling of approximately $1.2 billion through FY2031. The Switchblade 400 has 65 km range, 35-minute endurance, and 39 lbs all-up weight, deployable by a single soldier in under five minutes with day-night EO/IR sensors and autonomous target recognition. AeroVironment simultaneously holds active Army programmes for Switchblade 300, Switchblade 400, and Switchblade 600, three separate loitering munition tiers running concurrently. The LASSO win, combined with Red Dragon and EHEL, means AeroVironment is now the primary supplier across loitering munitions, reconnaissance, and directed energy for the US Army's organic drone portfolio.

On 29 June 2026, AeroVironment posted record full-year revenue of $1.98 billion, up 141% year-on-year, with fourth-quarter revenue of $641.6 million (+133%) and BlueHalo contributing $282.3 million of that total. The results landed eight days after AeroVironment disclosed an $87.3 million restatement of an earlier quarterly loss, a non-cash goodwill-impairment error in the Space segment tied to the stop-work on the BADGER phased-array antenna programme under SCAR, and flagged a new material weakness in its financial controls. Two Arlington Capital Partners-nominated directors resigned from the board and William J. Lynn III, a former US deputy secretary of defense, joined as an independent director, taking the board from ten members to nine. On 1 July, the US Army awarded AeroVironment a $500 million, three-year layered Counter-UAS contract spanning the Titan counter-drone system, the LOCUST X3 laser, and the Freedom Eagle interceptor. The cluster illustrates the BlueHalo integration cutting both ways: it now drives more than a quarter of quarterly revenue but also produced the accounting error behind the restatement.

On 6 July 2026, Joint Interagency Task Force 401 awarded AeroVironment a three-year, $500 million Domestic Shield IDIQ alongside a same-day $80.5 million Titan Multi-Sensor contract, $580.5 million from one task force in a single day. The pairing mirrors JIATF-401's own $500 million Merops IDIQ to Perennial Autonomy seven weeks earlier, confirming Domestic Shield runs a multi-vendor ceiling-contract model rather than consolidating around one prime. The following day AeroVironment won a $30 million contract to supply the Puma Systems Stack into Germany's LARUS programme via the NATO Support and Procurement Agency, and on 13 July the Italian Ministry of Defence granted its platform an MQ-31A type designation, its first formal foothold in Italy on this beat. At its 8 July Investor Day, AeroVironment set FY2030 targets of $3.5-4.0 billion revenue (15-20% organic CAGR) and 18-20% adjusted EBITDA margins, its first forward guidance since the 29 June restatement, using the JIATF-401 and NATO win streak to reset investor confidence.