AeroVironment acquires Pulse Aerospace

AeroVironment Inc. (Monrovia, Calif., U.S.) has acquired Pulse Aerospace LLC (Lawrence, Kan., U.S.), a developer and supplier of small vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), for $25.7 million.

In connection with the transaction, Pulse Aerospace’s Lawrence, Kansas facility will become AeroVironment Innovation Center — Midwest, with a focus on small VTOL unmanned aircraft and mission planning solutions. AeroVironment expects the transaction to be accretive to its earnings by the third full year of operations.

Pulse’s HeliSynth technology is said to bring flight control, payload and endurance capabilities to market at attractive price points for both defense and commercial end markets. Pulse recently received a multi-year contract award with a maximum value of more than $13 million from an undisclosed defense customer for its Vapor unmanned VTOL systems, spares and services.

“The talented Pulse Aerospace team has created a solution set that is unique and will expand our family of unmanned systems by addressing increasing demand from our customers for small VTOL solutions,” says Wahid Nawabi, president and CEO of AeroVironment. “We are excited to join together to realize the full benefits of this transaction as we employ key, future-defining technologies such as robotics, sensors, software analytics and connectivity.”

“AeroVironment’s global market presence dramatically increases the reach of Pulse’s VTOL UAS technology,” says Aaron Lessig, CEO of Pulse Aerospace LLC. “Pulse’s offering expands AeroVironment’s mission capabilities with increased payload capacity, which broadens customer use cases. We look forward to growing AeroVironment’s share of the global unmanned systems market together.”

AeroVironment Inc. also recently announced the development of its first robotics and UAS engineering center in New England, as well as the assembly of its first HAWK30 composites-intensive, solar-powered unmanned aircraft.