Army purchases Puma small UAS for units in Afghanistan

The Army has awarded a $20.4 million contract to AeroVironment to furnish its RQ-20A Puma small unmanned aircraft systems for use as a surveillance platform in Afghanistan, company officials said April 20. The company will deliver the unmanned aircraft in May.

The Puma will provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities for security, route clearance operations and overall battle space awareness to U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the officials said.

The Puma is designed to give small tactical units ISR capabilities over a broad area, the officials said.