The U.S. Army has awarded a contract worth up to $248 million to five companies for small unmanned air vehicles (UAV). The contract is essentially an extension of a similar 2005 contract for Group One UAVs, which are small, generally highly portable and hand-launched.

AeroVironment, Elbit, Altavian, Innovative Automation Technologies (IAT) and Lockheed Martin have been selected to fulfill the contract, which means they are eligible to bid against each other to fulfill individual requirements. Each contractor has several systems potentially covered under the contract. AeroVironment, the main supplier of Group One UAVs to the U.S. military, says the company can bid both the RQ-11 Raven and larger RQ-20 Puma.

Group One UAVs have been in high demand by forces deploying operationally to Afghanistan, as well as other places.

On the right see the RQ-11 Raven is a 4.2-pound, backpackable, hand-launched UAV that provides day and night, real-time video imagery for “over the hill” and “around the corner” reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition. Each Raven system typically consists of 3 aircraft, 2 ground control stations, system spares, and related services.

Though the contract is issued by the U.S. Army, previous contracts saw requirements issued by Special Operations Command and the Marine Corps for their own aircraft, a system likely to continue. Thus far no requirements have been issued against the contract, and none are expected for several months yet.