AeroVironment Acquires VTOL UAS Developer Pulse Aerospace, LLC for $25.7 Million to Strengthen Family of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems

• Pulse’s complementary Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) product family strengthens AeroVironment’s leading family of fixed-wing small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS)

• Acquisition expands total addressable market by increasing mission capabilities of AeroVironment family of systems

• Pulse Aerospace receives multi-year contract award with a maximum value of more than $13 million from undisclosed defense customer for Vapor VTOL unmanned systems, spares and services

• Acquisition expected to be accretive to AeroVironment earnings by the third full year of operations

SIMI VALLEY, Calif., June 11, 2019 – AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global leader in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for both defense and commercial applications, today announced it has acquired Pulse Aerospace, LLC, a developer and supplier of small VTOL UAS, for $25.7 million in cash, including milestone-based earn-out payments of $5 million.  AeroVironment financed the transaction entirely from available cash on hand.

Pulse Aerospace is a leading developer of small VTOL UAS technology in the United States. Pulse’s HeliSynth™ technology brings 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.

AeroVironment expects the transaction to be accretive to its earnings by the third full year of operations. 

“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,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment’s president and chief executive officer. “This transaction brings together two highly complementary companies in terms of products, markets and culture, and will better position AeroVironment to grow our share of the small UAS market.  The team at Pulse Aerospace shares our focus on disruptive innovation and we welcome them to AeroVironment.  Together, we will deliver even more capability to our customers in the United States and more than 45 allied countries around the world.”

“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.  Additionally, we look forward to gaining access to the strong technical talent pool in the Lawrence, Kansas area to help achieve our long-term growth objectives,” Nawabi added.

“AeroVironment’s global market presence dramatically increases the reach of Pulse’s VTOL UAS technology,” said Aaron Lessig, Pulse Aerospace, LLC’s chief executive officer. “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.”

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. 

DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (“DroneShield” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has shipped the first order of RfPatrolTM, a body worn drone detector, to a Western military customer. The initial small quantity of the units will be used for an expedited evaluation by the customer, with a view for subsequent larger purchases and rollout of the product. This shipment comes only approximately a month after the Company announced the launch of RfPatrolTM.

Image: DroneShield’s RfPatrolTM product

DroneShield’s CEO Oleg Vornik commented, “DroneShield continues to lead the counterdrone market globally with rapid development, rollout and first customer purchase of the RfPatrol product line. Key differentiators between DroneShield and its competition include products which are evaluated and actually deployed downrange (in the field), and our ability to provide a range of dismounted warfighter and fixed site/mobile detection and defeat products. This customer shipment continues to reinforce these differentiating features and our leadership in the space, as the counterdrone market continues to rapidly grow. We also continue to work on shortening the sales cycle, as demonstrated by this shipment only approximately a month after the launch of the product.”

DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (“DroneShield” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the release of body-worn drone detection product, RfPatrolTM. Weighing under 1kg, the product is expected to be of significant interest to a range of DroneShield’s customer base globally, across military, law enforcement, security and VIP markets. Importantly, as RfPatrolTM is a completely passive (non-emitting) product, it substantially broadens the range of customers to whom the product is lawfully available. The product was developed in response to substantial customer interest.

Image: RfPatrolTM

DroneShield is also pleased to announce an immediate customer purchase order for a small quantity of RfPatrol units by the Department of Defence of a Western country. While the revenue from the order is not material, the order is  for evaluation towards a potential larger purchase order.

DroneShield’s CEO Oleg Vornik commented, “We are excited to launch RfPatrol. Due to its miniaturised/body-worn nature, substantially larger customer universe due to its non-emitting nature, and a relatively lower price point compared to fixed site products, we expect it to have substantial appeal. In addition to being able to be used as a stand-alone, it is a perfect companion to our DroneGunTM product”.

Product summary is available here.

Cary, NC – February 19, 2019 – For the past three years, MyDefence has been hard at work with development of a new type of anti-drone system that can effectively solve the problem of protecting large scale areas against the threat of drones. The system is named KNOX and is a customizable end-to-end anti-drone solution with purpose-built RF sensors, drone radars, and integrated EO/IR for visual tracking. KNOX is now available for commercial use at airports, prisons, critical infrastructure as well as for military use for base security.

The KNOX anti-drone solution fortifies an area against unauthorized drone flights, providing both passive detection and active defeat solutions to neutralize any small drones in the secured airspace. The name KNOX is inspired from the infamous Fort Knox – one of the most secure locations on earth.

To accomplish the most effective detect-and-defeat solution, KNOX utilizes different sensor technologies, which each serves a purpose in detecting, locating, tracking and defeating a drone threat in the vicinity of the secured area.

The anti-drone system includes RF sensors to detect and ultimately defeat drone threats. For military customers, we supply reactive smart jamming effectors – a next generation jamming technology with the least possible impact on other radio communication. Other sensor technology includes purpose-built drone radars that track the location of drones as well as integrated EO/IR for visual tracking in real-time. The combination of sensor technologies complements each other to provide the best possible protection against unauthorized drones.

“We have always engineered our anti-drone solutions around the tactical requirements of the end-user, and I am proud to announce the release of our newest solution, KNOX, which provides the necessary scalability to accommodate protection of very large sites, modularity to integrate third-party sensors and flexibility to integrate the solution into existing security infrastructure,” says Luke Layman, CEO of MyDefence North America.

KNOX is designed for any scale of installation sites, from prison facilities to large international airports spanning miles across. The anti-drone solution can be utilized to protect critical infrastructure and military bases that require scalable anti-drone solutions, which will fortify and harden the perimeter against unauthorized drones in the airspace.

“Allowing customers the ability to integrate third-party sensors and not being dependent on one type of C2 user interface provides a future-proof system, which can continuously be upgraded as the threat evolves and new mitigation solutions are introduced,” says Layman.

The underlying modularity of the software suite handling inputs from the sensors allows for the anti-drone system to be integrated into a customer’s existing security setup, without the need for a stand-alone system. The seamless integration into a customer’s existing security setup results in less required operational training and for a more open platform that can accommodate current and future requirements of the customers.

www.mydefence.dk

DroneShield has today released an ASX announcement with regards to the assigning of a NATO Stock Number for the DroneGun Tactical™. The announcement is as follows:

DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (“DroneShield” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that its DroneGun Tactical™ product has been assigned a NATO Stock Number (NSN). The DroneGun Tactical™ NSN is 5865661650137.

An NSN is a 13-digit numeric code, identifying all the “standardised material items of supply” as they have been recognised by all NATO countries including United States Department of Defense, and allows for any of the 29 NATO militaries to purchase DroneGun Tactical™ on a “military catalogue” basis, significantly simplifying the procurement process.

The assignment of an NSN is also relevant to non-NATO customers in that it is considered to signify that the product has achieved a certain level of acceptance by the world’s most discerning defence customers, the members of NATO and NATO’s allies.

In 2018, DroneShield obtained an NSN for DroneGun MKII™, the prior generation of the Company’s DroneGun™ product. That receipt of the NSN was followed, within several months, by the Company’s first substantial order for that product (for use by a Middle Eastern Ministry of Defence, in the amount of $3.2 million). The Company expects that the receipt of the NSN for DroneGun Tactical™ will assist its sales efforts in both NATO and non-NATO countries.