Army Selects AV’s VAPOR® CLE for Medium Range Reconnaissance Program

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 20, 2026--

AeroVironment, Inc. (“AV”) (NASDAQ: AVAV), a global defense technology leader, today announced it was awarded a $14.6 million production contract by the U.S. Army for the VAPOR® Compact Long Endurance (CLE) unmanned aircraft system (UAS), its all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) platform, under the Company-Level Directed Requirement (CoLvl DR) Small Uncrewed Aircraft System (SUAS), Tranche 2.

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The award supports the Army’s Medium Range Reconnaissance (MRR) initiative, one of the Army’s ongoing unmanned systems procurements.

“Being selected for the Company-Level Directed Requirement validates VAPOR CLE’s performance, adaptability, and mission value,” said Jason Hendrix, Vice President and General Manager of SUAS at AV. “This award reflects AV’s commitment to delivering operationally relevant, rapidly deployable solutions that meet the Army’s urgent needs and evolving mission requirements.”

The Army’s CoLvl DR effort delivers commercially available SUAS capabilities to Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) to meet immediate operational needs, emphasizing UAS as a complete system. This approach enables modular, reconfigurable, and attritable payloads for reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition, while enhancing adaptability, operational effectiveness, and soldier-driven experimentation to shape future requirements.

Engineered for demanding missions, the VAPOR CLE all-electric helicopter UAS sets a new standard for endurance, payload capacity, and field adaptability. Designed for operations across austere environments — from Arctic terrain to contested maritime conditions — the platform combines rugged reliability with a compact, deploy-anywhere design. Its modular open architecture and multi-sensor payload bay make it one of the most versatile small VTOL systems available.

Its folding airframe and compact pack-out system enable case-to-flight in as little as two minutes, delivering exceptional portability and speed to launch. Ruggedized for extreme weather and harsh sea states, VAPOR CLE can carry up to 24 pounds of payload or lethal munitions and deliver up to two hours of endurance, outperforming other all-electric quadcopters and competing helicopter UAS platforms in its class.

About AV

AeroVironment (“AV”) (NASDAQ: AVAV) is a defense technology leader delivering integrated capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. The Company develops and deploys autonomous systems, loitering munitions, counter-UAS technologies, space-based platforms, directed energy systems, and cyber and electronic warfare capabilities—built to meet the mission needs of today’s warfighter and tomorrow’s conflicts. At the core of these technologies lies AV_Halo™, a modular, mission-ready suite of AI-powered software tools that empowers warfighters and enables full-battlefield dominance: detect, decide, deliver. With a national manufacturing footprint and a deep innovation pipeline, AV delivers proven systems and future-defining capabilities at speed, scale, and operational relevance. For more information, visit www.avinc.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to, our ability to perform under existing contracts and obtain new ones; regulatory changes; competitor activities; market growth; product development challenges; and general economic conditions. For a more detailed discussion of these risks, please refer to AeroVironment’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events.

AV’s VAPOR® Compact Long Endurance (CLE) unmanned aircraft system—an all-electric VTOL platform – was selected for the Army’s Medium Range Reconnaissance program. (Photo AV)

PRAGUE (AP) — Countries across Central Europe pulled baby food off the shelves Monday after rat poison was discovered in some jars of the HiPP brand over the weekend.

Austria 's health minister told parents, kindergartens and day care centers to use utmost caution when feeding young children HiPP. The company recalled some of its baby food jars because samples there as well as in Slovakia and the Czech Republic tested positive for rat poison.

Authorities believe tampering occurred in 190-gram (6.7-ounce) jars of baby food made with carrots and potatoes for 5-month-old children that were sold at SPAR supermarkets in Austria. The first sample tested positive on Saturday.

On Monday, Austrian authorities said they were searching for a second jar of baby food that may have poison. It may have been sold at a Spar supermarket in the eastern town of Eisenstadt, Austrian news agency APA reported.

“It is deeply disturbing that someone is apparently willing to endanger the health of babies for criminal motives,” Health Minister Korinna Schumann told APA.

In the Czech Republic, two jars of HiPP baby food that tested positive for the poison were found in a store in the city of Brno. The state prosecution in Brno confirmed the find but did not give further details, citing a police investigation.

The Germany-based HiPP said that besides Czechia, contaminated jars were discovered in Slovakia. The company said that “retail partners in both countries have already removed all jars of HiPP baby food from sale as a precaution.”

Slovak police said they were investigating suspicious jars from a store in the city of Dunajska Streda.

Slovenia began preemptively withdrawing all HiPP products from shelves of Spar and other supermarkets, its health inspectorate said.

Austrian authorities also reached out to Hungarian officials, saying a poisoned jar may have been purchased by people living in the border region near Eisenstadt.

Burgenland Police in Austria said the suspicious products likely have a white sticker with a red circle on the bottom of the jar. Other warning signs include a damaged or opened lid and an unusual or spoiled smell. There might not be a popping noise when the jar is first opened.

The Burgenland public prosecutor’s office was investigating the case as “intentional endangerment of the public.”

HiPP last week said the recall “is not due to any product or quality defect on our part. The jars left our HiPP facility in perfect condition.”

HiPP said it was recalling all of its baby food jars sold at Austria's SPAR supermarkets — which include SPAR, EUROSPAR, INTERSPAR and Maximarkt stores — in Austria as a precaution.

Rat poison typically includes bromadiolone, which prevents blood from clotting, according to the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety. Ingesting rat poison could lead to bleeding gums and nosebleeds as well as bruising and blood in the stool.

Symptoms could appear two to five days after ingestion, the agency said.

In Prague, Ester Svetlik Danelova, who is currently on maternity leave, told The Associated Press that “the situation is worrying,” for her family.

“I have three kids, and we definitely use this (baby food) throughout their lives,” she said, adding that “on the bright side, it means I cook more at home now.”

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Grieshaber reported from Berlin. Associated Press journalist Stanislav Hodina contributed from Prague.

A view of HIPP baby food on a shelf, in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, Sunday, April 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Stanislav Hodina)