AeroVironment Raven UAS for Portuguese army, bought by NATO NSPA.

AeroVironment, Inc. has received a fixed-price contract award valued at $5,962,494 from NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) on August 20, 2018. The contract award encompasses the procurement of Raven unmanned aircraft systems equipped with Mantis i23 sensors and pocket Remote Video Terminals (p/RVT) for the Portuguese Army, with delivery scheduled over a three-year period.

Mantis i45 EO/IR gimbal paylod (Picture source: eroVironment)

"AeroVironment's Raven unmanned aircraft system, equipped with our Mantis i23 gimbaled sensor suite and pocket Remote Video Terminal, packs significant capabilities into a portable, man-packable platform for operations in austere environments around the globe," said Kirk Flittie, vice president and general manager of AeroVironment's Unmanned Aircraft Systems business. "Our small UAS deliver valuable situational awareness directly to frontline warfighters at a fraction of the procurement and lifecycle cost of larger UAS. The Raven system will provide the Portuguese Army with rapid and effective force protection as well as interoperability capabilities with NATO forces, supporting coalition mission integration."

With the Family of Systems (FoS) concept, customers can add other AeroVironment small UAS to augment their capabilities while utilizing the same ground control station and software for added simplicity and efficiency, providing for interoperability across NATO forces. The Portuguese Army’s adoption of the Raven system represents the 18th of 29 NATO member nations to adopt AeroVironment's family of small UAS.