
AeroVironment [AVAV] has received a $5.3 million contract from Customs and Border Protection to provide the Border Patrol with a hand-launched, fixed-wing unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for test and evaluation purposes along portions of the southern border. AeroVironment says it received the contract in August and will deliver the Puma 3 AE small UAS (sUAS) system by Jan. 2020. The company says the award builds on the Border Patrol’s ongoing use of Puma AE UAS systems. “Fixed-wing sUAS such as…