AeroVironment Awarded Contract for Development of Global Observer Stratospheric Unmanned Aircraft System

[Larry Dighera]

Now here's a solar/electric powered UAV that shouldn't affect air
traffic too much:

http://www.avinc.com/pr_detail.asp?ID=63
AeroVironment Awarded Contract for Development of Global Observer
Stratospheric Unmanned Aircraft System
9/26/2007

MONROVIA, Calif., Sept. 26, 2007 – AeroVironment, Inc. (AV)
(NASDAQ:AVAV), a leader in unmanned aircraft systems and efficient
electric energy systems, today announced that it has received a
contract from the United States Special Operations Command
(USSOCOM) for the development and military utility assessment of
its Global Observer unmanned aircraft system (UAS). This contract
initiates a Joint Capabilities Technology Demonstration, or JCTD.
The JCTD is sponsored by multiple U.S. government organizations.
The contract calls for the development of up to three Global
Observer aircraft over the next three years to demonstrate the
ability to operate in the stratosphere for up to 7 days without
landing. The basic contract, which will be funded under a
cost-plus fixed-fee arrangement, provides for the development and
delivery of the initial Global Observer aircraft, and is valued at
approximately $57 million. The contract also includes options for
the development and delivery of up to two additional Global
Observer aircraft, resulting in a potential contract value of $108
million. ...

It's good to see AeroVironment's continued success despite the recent
loss of its founder.

[cmcken1]

I wouldn't jump the gun on success. They have not proven the propulsion systems work yet and, it should be noted that they have been working on this for years and still have a ways to go to prove that the motors even work which still to this day, they have not done.

AV is plagued by a non experienced management typical of most So Cal companies. They are overbudget on most of their programs, late on most deliverables and not meeting performance requirements at current for almost all of their programs.

They ran out of money last year and now, with congress looking into the wish lists of Mr Bush, this program has had it's funding cut at the beginning of 2008 since it is not part of the war budget.

AV also has no experience with mfg planes of this scale either. What they do know how to manufacture is small scale models such as hand held UAVs and have proven to be a success. They are really doing well with those small RC planes but were struggling with the airframe molds never mind the design of the airframe and propulsion systems during 2007. They just can't get it to work as intended and really don't have the experience needed in my opinion to build it correctly.

It should also be noted that AV has lost all but one of it's top PhD engineers in 2007. The company has changed from both a management and internal perspective. Not only did they lose the leader of the dream, (Dr Paul McCready) but they lost almost all of the super bright people that helped to bring AV to where they are. Since they lost all those people, they have remained stagnant and have not come up with anything new in a while. While other companies are moving ahead, AV remains stagnated still churning out the same old products from years ago.

They lost their Sr. Motor Engineer, a Sr EE battery guru who was doing all the battery designs, and, they also lost their Principal Scientist for Energy Technology among a few other top Engineers & PhDs from the Simi Valley site that were working on Global Observer.

I don't think they have the intelligence over there anymore or the resources or the financial backing not to mention a solid management team needed to make Global Observer a reality.

[cmcken1]

Over a year later, way past the initial delivery date of 2008, AV has not produced a single GO craft never mind flight testing it. By the time they do get around to their first flight demonstration, I fear it will be too little too late.

At current, more experienced companies with greater funding resources such as Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, General Atomics and lots of others are already working towards making UAVs and have done so already.

Since AV is so slow at getting anything done, I would not be at all surprised if they lose the program to someone else. I was informed that most of the IP was agreed to be turned over to the customer as part of the contract. That means that the customer owns the design rights and could have someone else make it if they didn't want to work with AV. So, even though AV may build a prototype, who knows whether or not the customer will have production built by someone else that has more experience.

It won't be long until other companies make the same thing for less money and quicker and more reliable than AV due to having more experience than Aerovironment does in producing large scale crafts like GO.

Remember, the first HELIOS that they made crashed into the Pacific due to a motor failure. That motor was built by AV. They don't apply or believe in reliability testing for any of their products. They don't incorporate EVT, DVT etc etc for any of their products. They feel it's a waste of money in fact, the only testing done is to prove design requirements and performance but, not for reliability. I know this for a fact.

[cmcken1]

Over a year later, way past the initial delivery date of 2008, AV has not produced a single GO craft never mind flight testing it. By the time they do get around to their first flight demonstration, I fear it will be too little too late.

At current, more experienced companies with greater funding resources such as Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, General Atomics and lots of others are already working towards making UAVs and have done so already.

Since AV is so slow at getting anything done, I would not be at all surprised if they lose the program to someone else. I was informed that most of the IP was agreed to be turned over to the customer as part of the contract. That means that the customer owns the design rights and could have someone else make it if they didn't want to work with AV. So, even though AV may build a prototype, who knows whether or not the customer will have production built by someone else that has more experience.

It won't be long until other companies make the same thing for less money and quicker and more reliable than AV due to having more experience than Aerovironment does in producing large scale crafts like GO.

Remember, the first HELIOS that they made crashed into the Pacific due to a motor failure. That motor was built by AV. They don't apply or believe in reliability testing for any of their products. They don't incorporate EVT, DVT etc etc for any of their products. They feel it's a waste of money in fact, the only testing done is to prove design requirements and performance but, not for reliability. I know this for a fact.

Looks like they may have lost the contract finally. Boeing was just awarded 250M for their UAV long endurance system from US SOCOM. I will bet that they lost the gig due to being way too slow to get out of the gate nevermind making the product work. I will see if I can find out some inside information on this.

[cmcken1]

Looks like AV may have lost GO to Boeing. Boeing won a 250M dollar contract from USSOCOM for their systems. I wonder what impact this will have on AV now with GO.