Defense contractor AeroVironment Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) has made its first acquisition since relocating to Arlington from California last year.
The company, a leading supplier of small unmanned aerial vehicles to the U.S. military, said Wednesday it has acquired Planck Aerosystems, a privately held San Diego company that provides navigational technology for drones and other unmanned aircraft systems. Planck’s clients include the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, the British Royal Navy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
In a news release, AeroVironment said that the acquisition will “significantly accelerate” its development of advanced autonomy capabilities. Over the past 10 months, AeroVironment has won nearly $30 million in contracts to provide unmanned aircraft systems to the U.S. military and its allies. It was also awarded a $20.3 million contract to provide its tactical missile systems to the Special Operations Command.
“Planck has a compelling product and technology roadmap with valuable capabilities that we plan to deploy and integrate with AeroVironment’s existing portfolio,” Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment’s chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement. “The Planck team has developed advanced unmanned autonomy and navigation solutions for various defense and commercial customers and by working together, we believe we offer more compelling and differentiated solutions to our customers.”
Planck has been absorbed by AeroVironment’s medium unmanned aircraft business segment based in Petaluma, California, the companies said in an announcement. Planck CEO and co-founder Josh Wells said the merger is an “ideal fit” for 8-year-old Planck.
“AeroVironment’s reach, technical capabilities and portfolio of unmanned systems will enable the Planck team to scale our products to more customers, and to provide better solutions in less time,” Wells, a former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot, said in a statement.
AeroVironment relocated to Crystal City last year from its longtime home in Simi Valley, California. That came after it acquired the intelligent system group of Progeny Systems Corp., a Manassas company, for $30 million. Nawabi said at the time the move to the D.C. region put the company in the same market as its key customers and provided better access to “decision-makers, influencers and talent.”
In April, the company announced it was donating 100 of its Quantix Recon unmanned aircraft systems to Ukraine to aid the country in its defense of Russia’s invasion. It also provided training on using the aircraft, which can fly by enemy forces undetected and gather information about their location. Nawabi said at the time the aircraft would help keep Ukrainian ground forces out of harm’s way.
