AeroVironment Acquires Artificial Intelligence Specialist, Intelligent Systems Group for $30M

AeroVironment said it acquired Progeny Systems Corporation’s Intelligent Systems Group (ISG) for $30 million earlier this week.

Under the terms of the transaction, AeroVironment acquired ISG for $30 million in cash and an earnout for Progeny Systems Corporation of up to $6 million over three years, based on the achievement of specific performance targets.

The ISG team will merge with AeroVironment’s MacCready Works Advanced Solutions team. The ISG facility in Virginia will now operate as AeroVironment’s new Artificial Intelligence Innovation Center. The ISG team will collaborate with teams across AeroVironment to integrate cutting-edge technologies into the company’s growing offering and solution roadmap. For example, new artificial intelligence and perceptive autonomy capabilities from ISG will enable AeroVironment’s unmanned systems to identify specific objects autonomously while performing their missions and either proceed with or modify those missions, based on the objects they detect.

ISG’s software performs automated analysis of still and video imagery from a broad spectrum of sources, including satellites, unmanned aircraft and fixed cameras, to detect specific objects, perform change detection assessment or discern “pattern of life” activity. With more than $10 million in fiscal year 2020 revenue, ISG is based in Manassas, Virginia and has 40 employees, all of whom are continuing in their current roles.

“The ISG team is a leader in developing some of the most advanced artificial intelligence technologies and capabilities for United States government customers, including the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Special Operations Command and Air Force,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment president and chief executive officer. “Acquiring ISG will enhance the intelligence of our growing, multi-domain robotic systems portfolio, increase customer-funded research and development revenue and deepen our relationships with strategically important customers. Delivering higher-levels of intelligence and autonomy will improve the ability of our solutions to achieve customer mission objectives in permissive and anti-access/area-denied (A2/AD) environments through onboard processing, exploitation and dissemination (PED) without requiring radio communication. These capabilities will further differentiate our solutions and help our customers Proceed with Certainty.”

The company also recently acquired Arcturus UAV, Inc. designer and manufacturer of high-performance unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for approximately $405 million. The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) selected Arcturus UAV as one of six companies qualified for the potential $975 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity MEUAS IV contract in June 2020.