AeroVironment has received a firm fixed-price order for 12 hybrid small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (Forsvarets Materielverk) on behalf of the Swedish Army. The order consists of Puma AE and Wasp air vehicles, ground stations, training, and logistics support.

The order is the result of a competitive evaluation and procurement process. Contract options could increase the procurement to a total of 30 systems.

Demonstrating the family of systems concept, the Swedish deployment will include AeroVironment Puma A and Wasp UAS to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities in support of a wide variety of missions.

AeroVironment's portable, common ground control system operates the unmanned systems, thereby minimizing logistics and equipment.

"AeroVironment's family of small unmanned aircraft systems gives our customers the flexibility to select the right UAS for specific mission assignments or to use two or three different small UAS for different purposes on the same mission," said Roy Minson, AeroVironment senior vice president and general manager of its Unmanned Aircraft Systems business segment.

"Numerous allied armed forces are adopting our small UAS because of their battle-proven force protection and force multiplication benefits to small tactical units."

In addition to Sweden, other international governments that have purchased AeroVironment small UAS include Australia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Italy, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Uganda, and the United Kingdom.