Paul MacCready founds AeroVironment in Pasadena CA; wins Kremer Prize 1977 with Gossamer Condor human-powered flight.

Pointer hand-launched UAV enters US Marine Corps service; first man-portable military reconnaissance UAS, foundation of AV's military business.

RQ-11 Raven enters US Army service; smallest tactical UAS ever fielded — ultimately 13,000+ produced for US + 30 allied militaries, most-produced military UAS in history.

IPO on NASDAQ Jan 2007 at $17/share; raised $122M for international military UAS expansion.

Switchblade 300 loitering munition enters US Army service; tube-launched precision strike — first man-portable kamikaze drone.

Acquires Arcturus UAV for $405M; adds JUMP-20 Group 3 VTOL fixed-wing UAS to portfolio

Switchblade 300/600 deliveries to Ukraine begin in volume via DoD presidential drawdown authority

Switchblade 600 anti-armor variant deployed in Ukraine; first combat use of US-made loitering anti-tank munition

Acquires Tomahawk Robotics for $120M; small UGV controller integration for combined air/ground autonomy

Switchblade 600 Replicator Tranche 1 award; major scale to thousands of units for Indo-Pacific theater

Announces $4.1B all-stock BlueHalo acquisition; adds space, directed energy, counter-UAS, cyber portfolio

BlueHalo acquisition closes Oct 2024; combined revenue ~$2B run-rate, balance sheet supports new factory investments

New Switchblade production facility breaks ground in Salt Lake City; targets 75K+ annual loitering munitions

Wins LUAS-AT (Long-Range Reconnaissance UAS) Marine Corps program; Group 3 surveillance scale-up

Wins follow-on Replicator Tranche 2 award $500M+; Switchblade 600 + JUMP-20 + Phoenix Ghost dominate combined production line.