• Leaders in their respective fields collaborate to deliver next-generation capabilities to warfighters through fully integrated system solutions
• Enhanced integration increases automation, decreases workload, and requires fewer operators to deploy and operate unmanned aircraft and loitering missile systems
• Collaborative projects address the upcoming U.S. Army Next Generation Combat Vehicle and U.S. Marines Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle programs

WASHINGTON — (BUSINESS WIRE) — October 8, 2018 — AUSA – AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a leader in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and tactical missile systems (TMS), today announced a new strategic relationship with General Dynamics Land Systems (GD), the leader in ground combat vehicles, to produce highly integrated and effective tactical UAS and TMS for armored ground combat vehicles.

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AeroVironment and General Dynamics Land Systems Join Forces to Integrate UAS and TMS with Armored Combat Vehicles (Photo: Business Wire)

“By integrating the leading small tactical UAS and loitering missile systems with the leading armored combat vehicles, our team will deliver a new level of battlefield lethality, survivability and combat effectiveness to protect and enable the warfighter,” said Kirk Flittie, vice president and general manager of AeroVironment’s UAS business. “This enhanced integration will ensure precise, mobile lethality with increased automation, decreased workload, and fewer operators required for small drone and loitering missile systems deployment. AeroVironment and General Dynamics Land Systems are ready today to equip our warfighters with more lethality tomorrow.”

“The purpose of this partnership is to deliver a decisive advantage to ground combatants, to see first and strike first, across the tactical landscape,” said Don Kotchman, U.S. vice president and general manager of General Dynamics Land Systems. “We’re confident this integrated capability, expanding the warfighter’s situational awareness, survivability and over-the-next-obstacle lethality, will define the market for years to come. This will be done without adding significant burden to the soldier or vehicle commander’s cognitive or physical workload. The benefits will be had in all environments, including urban, forest, desert or other terrain. This is the right partnership between industry leaders to offer real innovation to our customers.”

AeroVironment and GD’s collaborative projects will address the upcoming U.S. Army Next Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV) and U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV) programs. The NGCV program will dramatically benefit from automated drone scout and precision loitering missile engagement technology tightly coupled into the GD armored vehicle electronic architecture to rapidly geolocate and, if necessary, finish targets. The ARV project has evolved well beyond a straightforward replacement for the Light Armored Vehicle (LAV) into a networked family of manned vehicles, ground robots, and drones, collectively capable of not only reconnaissance but also electronic warfare and long-range precision strikes. The vehicle is designed to launch a drone, scout deep, and then deploy precision fire and electronic warfare. It also will have an open architecture design that is upgraded with new technologies as they become available.

The two companies plan to display a proposed integrated prototype system at General Dynamics Land Systems’ AUSA booth #6027 (Exhibit D upstairs) that includes AeroVironment’s Switchblade^® loitering missile launched from a Griffin III demonstrator, as well as a Shrike 2 vertical takeoff-landing (VTOL) forward flight system that takes off and lands on the Stryker A1 30mm prototype vehicle. The intent of the joint collaborative efforts is to develop a solution that will include the integration of AeroVironment’s Switchblade and Shrike 2 systems from prototype entrants to the USMC’s Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV) program. Both efforts plan to tightly integrate AeroVironment’s systems into the backbone electronic architecture of the GD vehicles.

AUSA Booth Numbers

AeroVironment #3024
General Dynamics Land Systems #6027, Exhibit Hall D (Upstairs)

About AeroVironment, Inc.

AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV) provides customers with more actionable intelligence so they can proceed with certainty. Based in California, AeroVironment is a global leader in unmanned aircraft systems and tactical missile systems, and serves defense, government and commercial customers. For more information visit www.avinc.com.

About General Dynamics Land Systems

General Dynamics Land Systems is part of GD’s Combat Systems. Land Systems is a global leader in designing, manufacturing and integrating world-class ground combat vehicles and capabilities. Our facilities around the world produce wheeled and tracked combat vehicles, including the Stryker family of vehicles and the Abrams main battle tank. The Combat Systems portfolio is supported by a broad range of high-performance weapons systems and munitions. More information about General Dynamics Land Systems is available at www.gdls.com.

More information about General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) is available at www.generaldynamics.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are made on the basis of current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors outside of our control, that may cause our business, strategy or actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our ability to perform under existing contracts and obtain additional contracts; changes in the regulatory environment; the activities of competitors; failure of the markets in which we operate to grow; failure to expand into new markets; failure to develop new products or integrate new technology with current products; and general economic and business conditions in the United States and elsewhere in the world. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not intend, and undertake no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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