AeroVironment Inc.

AeroVironment (AV) was founded in 1971 by noted physicist and engineer Dr. Paul MacCready—whom Time magazine called one of the "greatest minds of the 20th century”—AV specializes in practical innovation. AV creates solutions that rewrite customers’ possibilities.

AV’s efficient electric energy systems (EES) helps companies operate more efficiently and reduce their impact on the environment; and our unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) give our military customers practical tools to establish situational awareness, enhancing national security.

Here are a few of the principles that guide AV’s work—today, tomorrow, always:

Thinkering is always productive.

AV believes the secret to true innovation is to go beyond merely solving problems, and to start changing the way people approach the solution. AV‘s employees like to call this process thinkering. Part thinking, part tinkering, it involves anticipating customers’ real-world needs. Moving deliberately. Working with early adopters to develop the technology. And getting it right.

Innovate by solving real-world problems.

AV tends to attract customers—Toyota, the U.S. Army, Ikea, Southwest Airlines, and Nestle, to name a few—who are looking to move beyond limits. Once AV develops a breakthrough technology, AV works with customers to develop the complete solution. AV‘s systems integrate seamlessly into customers’ operations, maximizing their utility and minimizing the cost of change.

Lead the markets you create.

How can AV make customers more successful? How can AV increase their productivity and efficiency? These questions drive everything AV does. In answering them, AV has managed to lead the markets AV creates. AV is the market leader in small unmanned aircraft systems, supporting all existing programs of record for the United States Department of Defense. AV are also leading the charge to enable technologies for electric vehicle development and use. Although AV have a history of making history – the world’s highest flying plane, the prototype for the first modern electric vehicle, and the first U.S. military small UAS Program of Record - AV real focus has always been developing technologies that make our customers successful.