Airbus Group’s helicopters segment this week said it has agreed to acquire Aerovel, a U.S.-based developer and manufacturer of the Flexrotor small tactical unmanned aircraft system (UAS) in a deal that expands the company’s UAS portfolio.
Terms of the pending acquisition, which is expected to close this year, were not disclosed. Aerovel is based in Washington and has about 25 employees.
Aerovel manufactures the Flexrotor, a fixed-wing UAS that takes-off and lands vertically and can conduct intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and target acquisition missions day and night from land and at sea. Flexrotor is positioned at the high-end of Group 2 UAS with a maximum gross take-off weight of 55 pounds, including a maximum payload weight of 17 pounds, a 12 to 14-hour endurance in typical operational configurations with the ability to scale to a 30-plus hour endurance, and a top speed of 87 miles per hour.
Airbus Helicopters, which is based in France and has operations in the U.S., said on Monday that Flexrotor is an addition to its suite of UAS, fitting in the middle rage of its offerings. The pending deal will also add expertise in autonomy.
“This strategic acquisition aligns with our vision to expand our UAS offering and respond to a growing customer demand worldwide for additional capabilities such as manned-unmanned teaming,” Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters, said in a statement. “Aerovel’s expertise in autonomous flight technology will undoubtedly complement our UAS development with the VSR700, as well as the work that we have been doing to develop interoperability.”
The VSR700 is a helicopter-like UAS weighing about 1,500 pounds and designed to operate from destroyers and frigates. In the small tactical line of UAS, Airbus also offers the Aliaca, a fixed-wing catapult-launched Group 2 drone, the fixed-wing DVF 2000, another catapult-launched group 2 aircraft, and the Capa-X, a light fixed-wing UAS with quad-rotors for vertical take-off-and-landing.
Aerovel’s senior management will remain with the company, which was founded by Tad McGeer, the chief technology officer and previously founded Insitu, which is now owned by
Boeing [BA].
“Joining forces with Airbus will allow us to scale innovation, accelerate our mission to advance unmanned aviation, and maintain our unwavering support for the U.S. military and its allies,” Ali Dian, Aerovel’s CEO, said in a statement. “We are proud to become part of an organization with a rich legacy of aerospace excellence and we look forward to leveraging our combined strengths to define the future of autonomous systems.”
The Flexrotor has been used as part of the Navy 5th Fleet Task Force 59 that experiments and operates with autonomous unmanned systems in the Persian Gulf. The drone has operated from a Coast Guard 154-foot fast response cutter in the Persian Gulf as part of Task Force 59.