AeroVironment pitches Army drone for quick battlefield changes

The California-based firm AeroVironment has developed an autonomous, all-electric uncrewed aircraft that users can rapidly convert from a reconnaissance unit to a strike drone — on the battlefield and without tools in a matter of minutes.

AeroVironment, which specializes in small and medium drones, uncrewed ground vehicles and loitering munitions like the Switchblade, created the P550 drone as a candidate for the Army’s Long Range Reconnaissance program.

One of the company’s top priorities — and a key lesson it took from customers who used its other drones — was to make the P550 easily adaptable and allow integration of multiple capabilities, product line manager Cris Cornell said in an interview ahead of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference.

“The battlefield changes so quickly, things need to be adaptable very quickly,” Cornell said.

The P550 is designed with modular open systems architecture principles to allow users to quickly hot swap payloads such as batteries, sensors and other equipment in the field in less than five minutes, he added. Hot swapping refers to a component being added or replaced without shutting the system down.

The P550 will be able to conduct strike missions, Cornell said, but won’t be a one-way loitering munition like the Switchblade. Instead, he described it as a “miniature bomber” that could drop weapons, such as mortars, on enemy targets.

AeroVironment has already integrated the Shryke precision munition, made by L3Harris Technologies and Corvid Technologies, onto the P550, Cornell said, and is talking with other companies on pairing additional munitions with the platform.

CACI’s Pit Viper electronic warfare module is another outside capability that AeroVironment has integrated into the P550, Cornell said.

AeroVironment also partnered with Parry Labs to integrate digital engineering, software and mission system hardware into the P550 to make it easily adaptable.

Users would slide new payloads, including weapons, into the P550 “almost like sliding a drawer,” Cornell said, which would then latch into place. To remove most payloads, he said, the user simply pushes a release button and pulls the unit out.

For safety reasons, removing unfired weapons would be a more detailed process, Cornell said, requiring the use of a tool to ensure weapons don’t slip off.

The P550 can carry up to 15 pounds of payload, according to AeroVironment. Its all-electric propulsion system allows it to fly for up to five hours and up to 60 kilometers.

AeroVironment largely used a fresh design for the P550, but incorporated elements from previous drones like autopilots, sensors and navigation systems.

Ukraine’s experience during the last two-plus years of war with Russia has demonstrated how vital drones are to modern war, Cornell said, and how rapidly troops need to be able to adapt those drones.

“Robotics are being used on the battlefield in ways that none of us thought possible even a few years ago,” Cornell said.

AeroVironment hopes the Army will choose the P550 for its Long Range Reconnaissance program, but Cornell said other services, U.S. civilian organizations and nations have also expressed interest. He declined to say which countries are eying the P550. AeroVironment has briefed Ukraine’s government on the P550, Cornell said, and will continue to assist the nation in its fight against Russia.

Ukraine has used AeroVironment’s two models of Switchblade drone — the smaller Switchblade 300 and the larger Switchblade 600 — to great effect, and raised the company’s profile considerably.

The Pentagon in August awarded AeroVironment a $990 million contract to make Switchblades for infantry units to target tanks, personnel carriers and other enemy targets. And the Army plans to field more than 1,000 Switchblades as part of the Pentagon’s Replicator program.

Cornell would not say how much the P550 costs.

AeroVironment plans to build the P550 in Simi Valley, California, Cornell said, and would be ready to start delivering the first units in early 2025.