AUSA 2019: AeroVironment unveils Puma LE unmanned aerial vehicle

AeroVironment unveiled its new Puma LE unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on 14 October at the 2019 Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference, touting the aircraft as Group 2 capabilities in a Group 1 package.

Wahid Nawabi, company president and CEO, said on 14 October that the Puma LE provides greater endurance and payload capacities than typical Group 1 aircraft, which are considered the smallest on the UAV spectrum. AeroVironment, he said, is also targeting a Group 1 aircraft price point while still providing similar launch and landing footprints, portability, simplicity, and support logistics of Group 1 UAVs.

The Puma LE, unveiled on 14 October at the annual AUSA conference, contains a secondary payload bay with dedicated power and ethernet that enables integration of multimission payloads. (IHS Markit/Pat Host)

The Puma LE prototype, Nawabi said, has already flown multiple times, including the week of 7 October, and is on display at AUSA. He said the platform has also had select customer demonstrations.

Michael Jorgens, Puma LE product line manager, said on 14 October that the aircraft weighs 10.2 kg and can be launched by hand or bungee. The Puma LE is capable of performing two 5.5 hour missions enabled by a five-minute battery swap at the end of the first mission. Jorgens said a single 5.5 hour Puma LE mission is more than double the typical Group 1 time on station.