AeroVironment (AV), the leader in defense technology, has secured a contract with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to accelerate the deployment of next-generation autonomous precision munitions.
As part of its strategic expansion into a new sector of the multi-billion-dollar defense market, AV has been awarded an Other Transaction Authority (OT) award by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) as part of Project Artemis, an initiative launched to rapidly test and operationally evaluate long-range, one-way uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) for the Department of Defense (DoD). This strategic effort, sponsored by the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (A&S), is driven by urgent congressional direction to accelerate the deployment of innovative precision-strike platforms in contested environments.
This award aligns with Secretary Pete Hegseth’s directive in a memorandum issued on February 18, 2025, which exempts uncrewed systems from broad defense budget cuts and underscores the Pentagon’s commitment to advancing autonomous capabilities as a critical component of modern military operations.
AV’s fully autonomous, GPS-denied, precision-strike, one-way attack UAS is engineered for mass production and designed to operate in disrupted, disconnected, intermittent, and low-bandwidth environments, ensuring unmatched resilience against advanced electronic warfare (EW) threats. With a software-defined architecture, scalable manufacturing capabilities, and advanced GNSS-independent navigation, AV’s platform rapidly delivers a next-generation solution for modern conflict. AV’s AVACORE™ autonomy software and SPOTR-Edge™ computer vision are critical components enabling these capabilities quickly and at scale.
“Project Artemis represents a major step in transforming how the DoD identifies, tests, and deploys asymmetric capabilities to the warfighter at speed and scale,” said Jeff Rodrian, AV’s senior vice president and general manager of MacCready Works. “AV’s next-generation software-defined autonomous one-way attack UAS is already in the hands of early adopters and is now part of the Blue UAS ecosystem. Through this DIU contract, we look forward to quickly expanding its deployment to meet the urgent needs of today’s battlespace.”
As part of this initiative, AV will participate in aggressive testing and integration efforts, to demonstrate prototype success by the end of May 2025. These evaluations will provide critical data to inform procurement decisions for the Services and Combatant Commands, delivering options years ahead of traditional acquisition timelines.
The demand for long-range, autonomous precision strike systems has never been greater. AV is committed to delivering cutting-edge solutions that ensure U.S. and allied forces maintain an operational advantage in contested environments.
