AeroVironment, the Arlington, Virginia-based defense technology company, disclosed a cluster of developments in March 2026 that included two U.S. Army contract awards, fiscal third-quarter earnings, and the completion of its acquisition of Empirical Systems Aerospace, or ESAero, in San Luis Obispo, California. The announcements were made between Feb. 26 and March 16 and covered loitering munitions, sensor testing, manufacturing expansion, and quarterly results.
Key insights
- AeroVironment said the U.S. Army issued a $186 million delivery order on Feb. 26 for Switchblade 600 Block 2 and Switchblade 300 Block 20 loitering munition systems.
- The Army order was issued under the service’s existing five-year, $990 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for lethal unmanned systems awarded in August 2024.
- On March 5, the company said it received a three-year, $97.4 million Army contract to develop the GENESIS hardware-in-the-loop test environment.
- AeroVironment reported fiscal third-quarter revenue of $408.0 million, up 143% from $167.6 million a year earlier, and bookings of $2.1 billion.
- The company recorded a $151.3 million goodwill impairment tied to a stop-work order on its Space Force SCAR-related BADGER antenna program.
- On March 16, AeroVironment said it completed the acquisition of ESAero in a transaction valued at approximately $200 million.
Army contract activity
AeroVironment said the U.S. Army’s Feb. 26 delivery order was worth $186 million and covered Switchblade 600 Block 2 and Switchblade 300 Block 20 explosively formed penetrator systems. The company said the order marked the Army’s first procurement of its next-generation Switchblade line and the Army’s first Switchblade order containing an EFP payload. AeroVironment also said the delivery order was issued under an existing five-year, $990 million IDIQ contract for lethal unmanned systems that the Army awarded in August 2024.
In the company’s release, AeroVironment described Switchblade 600 Block 2 as an upgraded long-range loitering munition with enhanced endurance, optics, anti-armor performance, communications and mission resilience. It described Switchblade 300 Block 20 as a modular version of its backpackable loitering munition with a new payload capability and other system improvements. Those descriptions came from the company’s statement and were not independently quantified in the release.
Additional Army contract for GENESIS
AeroVironment said it had been awarded a three-year, $97.4 million contract under the U.S. Army’s Aviation and Missile Technology Consortium to develop and deliver GENESIS, short for Generative Environment for the Next Era of Spectral Imaging Stimulators. The company said GENESIS is a next-generation hardware-in-the-loop test environment designed to validate advanced missile defense and electro-optical and infrared sensor systems.
AeroVironment said the work will include prototype test environments at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, and will support the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center, along with government partners. The company described the program as part of broader integrated air and missile defense testing work.
Quarterly results and SCAR program update
AeroVironment reported fiscal third-quarter 2026 revenue of $408.0 million for the period ended Jan. 31, 2026, compared with $167.6 million in the same quarter a year earlier. The company said revenue for the first nine months of fiscal 2026 reached $1.3 billion, and bookings totaled $2.1 billion. It said gross margin for the quarter was $98.8 million, while gross margin as a percentage of revenue declined to 24% from 38% a year earlier.
The company also reported a net loss of $156.6 million, or $3.15 per diluted share, and said the quarter included a $151.3 million goodwill impairment charge in its Space reporting unit. In a March 3 statement, AeroVironment said it was in active negotiations with the U.S. Space Force over a contract amendment for the Satellite Communications Augmentation Resource program and said the contract had been temporarily paused while both sides worked toward a firm-fixed-price arrangement. The company said the stop-work order on the BADGER antenna program triggered the impairment review.
AeroVironment said funded backlog stood at $1.1 billion as of Jan. 31, 2026, up from $726.6 million at the end of the prior fiscal year. In its earnings release, the company also said BlueHalo, which it acquired on May 1, 2025, contributed $85.1 million in product revenue and $91.4 million in service revenue during the quarter.
ESAero acquisition and manufacturing footprint
On March 16, AeroVironment said it acquired ESAero, a producer of unmanned aircraft systems and advanced air mobility platforms. The company said ESAero brings electric and hybrid propulsion expertise, rapid aerospace prototyping, and AS9100-certified UAS manufacturing, with a 32,000-square-foot design and prototyping facility and a 53,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in San Luis Obispo.
According to the company’s filing, the transaction was valued at approximately $200 million, including approximately $160 million in stock and the remainder in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments and holdbacks. AeroVironment said ESAero will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary and report into the company’s Precision Strike and Defense Systems group under the Loitering Munition Systems business unit.
AeroVironment said the acquisition follows its $4.1 billion purchase of BlueHalo in May 2025. The company said the ESAero deal strengthens its leadership in electric and hybrid propulsion systems and expands its manufacturing and prototyping capabilities in California.
Current status
AeroVironment’s latest verified public disclosures center on the two Army contract awards, the fiscal third-quarter results, the SCAR-related contract update, and the completed ESAero acquisition. The company said it continues to operate across autonomous systems, loitering munitions, counter-UAS technologies, space-based platforms, directed energy systems, and cyber and electronic warfare capabilities.
