Defense Procurement News

AeroVironment won follow-on work from DARPA to continue development of a micro UAV. See the story here. The goal is to make an aircraft that mimics flying insects. The contract is for a Nano Air Vehicle. AeroVironment had won the Phase I of the project and this will continue into Phase II. The contract has the option for going for several months if progress is made. The idea of a UAV that looks like insects, or small animals, has been mooted for some time as it seems pretty stealthy way of getting intelligence. Of course the trick is making the package small enough but with some capability.

AeroVironment announced that the US Air Force had approved full production of the Wasp III hand-launched UAV. An article is here. The Wasp III was developed by DARPA, and the Air Force manages the procurement contract. Previously the USMC had bought Wasp III aircraft as well.