page_title: AeroVironment
section_title: Vehicles developed
hierarchical_section_title: AeroVironment / Vehicles developed
caption_attribution_description: English: AeroVironment Chairman Paul MacCready shows a cross section of the AeroVironment/NASA Helios Prototype wing spar.
context_page_description: AeroVironment, Inc. is an American defense contractor headquartered in Simi Valley, California, that is primarily involved in unmanned aerial vehicles. Paul B. MacCready, Jr., a designer of human-powered aircraft, founded the company in 1971. The company is probably most well known for developing a series of lightweight human-powered and then solar-powered vehicles. AeroVironment is the Pentagon's top supplier of small drones — including the Raven, Wasp and Puma models.
context_section_description: Among the vehicles the company built are:
  Gossamer Condor - The first successful human-powered airplane. The Gossamer Condor is on display at the National Air and Space Museum, since it won the first Kremer Prize in 1977.
  Gossamer Albatross - In 1979 this human-powered plane flew 23 miles (37 km) across the English Channel and claimed the largest prize in aviation history. Another of these planes is displayed at the National Air and Space Museum.
  Gossamer Penguin - A solar-powered variant of the Gossamer Albatross.
  Solar Challenger - This plane flew 163 miles (262 km) from Paris France to England on solar power.
  High Altitude Solar (HALSOL)-This solar-powered unmanned aircraft was sponsored by the CIA in the 1980s as the first unmanned solar-powered aircraft in history prototyped for national security missions.  It was declassified and transferred to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) in 1993 where it was modified as a high altitude, long endurance (HALE) UAV technology demonstrator capable of becoming weaponized to destroy theater ballistic missiles in the boost phase of flight (called Boost Phase Intercept).  Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was the executing agent for the BMDO program.  Dr. Nick Colella and Dr. Lowell Wood led the LLNL efforts for the BMDO program manager, LtCol (USAF) Dale Tietz.  Ray Morgan led the program in AeroVironment alongside Dr. Paul MacCready and Tim Conver. This was a fast-paced demo program supported at the highest levels of government.  The ultimate goal was to develop the world's first "fly forever" HALE UAV that could be configured for a variety of national security missions.  The program was cancelled in 1995 due to budget reductions in the Clinton Administration at which time the aircraft, called Pathfinder, was transferred to NASA for a new program.  Pathfinder flew several flight test missions at NASAs Dryden Flight Research Center before the property transfer occurred.  BMDO and LLNL also started initial development of new, ultra-lightweight hypersonic interceptor rockets that could be deployed from Pathfinder and its derivatives.  The interceptor, called Astrid, flew several successful missions during this time period at Vandenberg AFB, CA.
  NASA Pathfinder and Pathfinder Plus - This unmanned plane, built by AeroVironment as a part of the NASA ERAST Program, demonstrated that an airplane could stay aloft for an extended period of time fueled purely by solar power. After initial successes, the Pathfinder was rebuilt into the larger Pathfinder Plus, which is also on display at the National Air and Space Museum.  Dale Tietz from the Pentagon's BMDO program transferred the Pathfinder aircraft to NASA for the ERAST Program, where AeroVironment managed its development as a non-weaponized variant.
  NASA Centurion - The Centurion was an expansion of the Pathfinder concept, designed to achieve the ERAST Program goal of sustained flight at 100,000 feet (30,000 m) altitude.
   NASA Helios Prototype - Derived from the Centurion, this solar cell and fuel cell powered UAV set a world record for flight at 96,863 feet (29,524 m). It was intended to be the prototype for the production Helios aircraft, envisioned as an "atmospheric satellite". The ERAST program was terminated in 2003, and as of 2008 Helios has not entered production. In actuality, it has been reborn in the form of the Global Observer UAS, currently in development under a Joint Concept Technology Demonstration led by USSOCOM.  The key technology shift was switching from solar power to liquid hydrogen power.
  AeroVironment Global Observer - The Los Angeles Times reported first flight of Global Observer happening at the Mojave Desert in the first week of January, 2011.  Global Observer is powered from hydrogen, appears to have 4 motors with twin-bladed props, has a 175-foot (53 m) wingspan, 65,000-foot (20,000 m) maximum altitude, airspeed greater than 120 mph (190 km/h), and 5 to 7 day maximum flight duration.
  Sunraycer - This solar-powered car won the first world's first solar car race in Australia in 1987. The next
caption: AeroVironment founder and former Chairman Paul MacCready shows a cross section of the AeroVironment/NASA Helios Prototype wing spar.
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