[Ryan Robertson]
2024 WAS BUSY FOR AEROVIRONMENT. THE VIRGINIA-BASED DEFENSE CONTRACTOR IS AN INDUSTRY LEADER IN DESIGNING AND PRODUCING UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES. IN MAY, ITS SWITCHBLADE 600 LOITERING MUNITION SYSTEM WAS SELECTED FOR TRANCHE 1 OF THE DOD’S REPLICATOR INITIATIVE. AND BY JUNE THOSE SYSTEMS WERE ALREADY IN THE FIELD AND IN THE HANDS OF AMERICAN TROOPS. 

FAST FORWARD TO OCTOBER AND WEAPONS AND WARFARE WAS THERE WHEN AEROVIRONMENT INTRODUCED ITS LATEST U-A-S AT AUSA’S ANNUAL MEETING, THE P-550. AND IT’S OUR WEAPON OF THE WEEK. 

TOUTED AS  A NEW BENCHMARK FOR ADAPTABILITY IN COMBAT AND OPERATIONAL PREPAREDNESS, THE P-550 EMPLOYS A MODULAR OPEN SYSTEMS APPROACH AND AI-DRIVEN AUTONOMY. IN INDUSTRY JARGON–IT WAS DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO ENABLE TROOPS ON THE GROUND TO SWIFTLY ADDRESS CHANGING MISSION NEEDS THROUGH QUICK DEPLOYMENT, SCALABILITY, AND ENHANCED SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.

IN OTHER WORDS… IT’S SORT OF LIKE A SWISS ARMY KNIFE IN THE SKY.

[Wahid Nawabi, Chairman, President & CEO, AeroVironment]

“To our knowledge, I can say this very confidently is pound for pound, the best performing solution that’s in the market. When you look at all the sets of requirements and missions that the US Army would like to achieve for the battalion force, that’s ISR missions, lethality missions, electronic warfare missions, comms relay missions, endurance, vertical, takeoff and landing capability, swappability, modularity, most of requirements. The list goes on and on and on. If we put all those things together, what you see is the best in class solution in the entire face of this planet today that we know of, and we’ve done our homework, is the p5 50 system.”

 {RYAN CONT VO}  

AEROVIRONMENT’S CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT & CEO, WAHID NAWABI SAYS THE P-550 IS THE RESULT OF TWO YEARS WORTH OF WORK AIMED AT DELIVERING THE ARMY A PLATFORM BASED ON THE NEEDS OF ITS FORCE STRUCTURE AND MISSION REQUIREMENTS.

[Wahid Nawabi, Chairman, President & CEO, AeroVironment]

“All of those things changes as you talk about the different types of force structures or echelons within the military and the army, they have a specific requirement. It’s a program called LRR, Long Range Reconnaissance. LRR was specifically developed as a set of requirements and objectives for the battalion force. And P550 is directly designed for those set of requirements for the LRR initiative in a program. ”

[RYAN] 

ONE PARTICULAR POINT OF EMPHASIS IN THE P-550’S DESIGN WAS MAKING IT MOSA COMPLIANT. MOSA, OR MODULAR OPEN SYSTEMS APPROACH, IS A TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS STRATEGY FOR DESIGNING AFFORDABLE AND ADAPTABLE SYSTEMS. 

[Trace Stevenson, Sr. VP & GM Uncrewed Systems, AeroVironment]

“Which really enables this platform to be agnostic to payloads, to be agnostic to radios, to be agnostic to ground control stations. We’re partnered with Parry Labs that helps with their model based systems engineering approach, and really this Mosa approach that allows us to really incorporate all these different technologies into the platform to keep it relevant, not only today tomorrow, but I see for decades to come.”

[RYAN]

TRACE STEVENSON IS AEROVIRONMENT’S SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER FOR UNCREWED SYSTEMS; HE TELLS US, UNLIKE A SWISS ARMY KNIFE, THE P-550 CAN PERFORM MULTIPLE TASKS SIMULTAINOUSLY.  

 [Trace Stevenson, Sr. VP & GM Uncrewed Systems, AeroVironment]

“So baseline ISR, obviously, which is what we’ve been doing with Pumas and ravens for decades. But then adding communications relay, adding electronic warfare, adding signals intelligence and and also being able to do many of those missions into one payload at one time.”

[RYAN]

TO GET A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THE 550 BRINGS TO THE TABLE, WE ASKED CHRIS CORNELL, AEROVIRONMENT’S SENIOR PRODUCT LINE MANAGER, TO GIVE US A LOOK UNDER THE HOOD.

[Chris, Cornell, Sr. Product Line Manager]

“So the the nose of the airplane is our is where our payload bay is, and everything on P550 is toolless connection. So no tool is required. Snap together. You know, the entire airplane can go together in minutes. And you know, one of the payload is a prime example of it, right? It’s, you know, pop out and slide on and off. These are all hot swappable. So you know, if an operator wanted us to change from, you know, a basic ISR, and then now they need to go to the munition, they pull this off airplane that can still be on, slide it back on, and you’re off and ready to go. ”

[RYAN]  

SPEAKING OF MUNITIONS, STEVENSON SAYS THE P-550 HAS THAT COVERED TOO

[Trace Stevenson, Sr. VP & GM Uncrewed Systems, AeroVironment]

“With the modular, open approach, we’ll be able to incorporate multiple different kinetic type payloads combined with ISR. Ultimately, our goal is also to be able to carry a laser designator on there with a kinetic effect, so that you can laser target and take on a target all within one mission, versus having to call in a switchblade or some other asset to perform a fires mission.”

[RYAN] 

IT ALL ADDS UP TO AN IMPRESSIVE PLATFORM, AND IF YOU WANT SOME FINAL NUMBERS, AEROVIRONMENT SAYS THE P-550 CAN BE RAPIDLY DEPLOYED IN TEN MINUTES OR LESS WITH A FLIGHT TIME OF FIVE HOURS.