AeroVironment, Inc. (“AV”) (NASDAQ: AVAV), a leading provider of advanced research and development solutions for national security missions, today announced it has been awarded a three-year, $97.4 million contract under the U.S. Army’s Aviation and Missile Technology Consortium (AMTC) to develop and deliver the Generative Environment for the Next Era of Spectral Imaging Stimulators (GENESIS)—a next-generation Hardware-in-the-Loop (HWIL) test environment for validating advanced missile defense and electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor systems.

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AV was awarded a $97.4 million U.S. Army contract to develop GENESIS, a next-generation Hardware-in-the-Loop testing environment advancing spectral imaging, sensor validation, and missile defense system development.

AV will design and integrate prototype test environments—including flight motion table and cryogenic space chamber facilities—at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, to accelerate the next generation of Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD). The unified environment will enable joint planning, modeling, and validation across space, air, and missile defense domains in support of the Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center (DEVCOM AvMC), and its government partners.

“True innovation in defense starts long before technology reaches the battlefield—it starts in how we test, refine, and prove it,” said Mary Clum, President of Space, Cyber and Directed Energy at AV. “By creating realistic, repeatable, and scalable testing ecosystems, we’re helping the Army accelerate innovation, strengthen deterrence, and ensure our warfighters maintain a decisive advantage in every domain.”

GENESIS represents a generational leap in Hardware-in-the-Loop (HWIL) capability, integrating advanced multi-spectral projection, ultra–high frame-rate imaging, precision optics, and intelligent facility control systems to recreate complex, real-world environments with unmatched fidelity. By combining real hardware with simulated environments, HWIL and Scene Generation enable realistic, dynamic testing of sensors, guidance, and control systems, allowing DEVCOM AvMC to validate and field technologies faster and with greater confidence, while refining performance, reducing risk, and strengthening the industrial base for future military applications.

“GENESIS shows what’s possible when industry and government align around a shared vision of innovation,” said Johnathan Jones, Senior Vice President for Cyber and Mission Solutions at AV. “We’re pushing the boundaries of sensor testing—advancing realism and precision to help the U.S. military accelerate development, reduce risk, and deliver mission-ready technologies that preserve our nation’s decisive advantage and give warfighters the most capable, reliable systems possible.”

About AV

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 AV’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.

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