The US Army has awarded AeroVironment two contracts totaling more than $134 million — one for its Red Dragon one-way attack drone and a second for its P550 long-range reconnaissance platform — as the Pentagon accelerates lethal and surveillance UAS procurement under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Drone Dominance initiative.
The Red Dragon contract, valued at more than $17 million and awarded March 12, covers unmanned aerial systems, battery chargers, ground control stations, launchers, critical part kits, training materials, and field service representative support. The P550 deal is valued at $117 million, with work estimated to complete by July 23.
What Is the Red Dragon?
Red Dragon is AeroVironment’s long-range one-way attack drone, unveiled less than a year ago. It has a range exceeding 400 kilometers — nearly four times the range of the company’s Switchblade 600 loitering munition — and carries a payload of up to 10 kilograms. AeroVironment describes it as fully autonomous capable, able to execute mission objectives without continuous operator input or satellite navigation, and designed specifically to operate in GPS-denied and communications-degraded environments.
The platform runs a software-defined architecture and integrates AeroVironment’s SPOTR-Edge perception system for target detection and classification. Data can be transmitted to decision makers via the company’s DDIL radio system. How much autonomy the DoD will permit in actual lethal operations remains an open question — US defense officials have consistently maintained that a human must remain “on the loop” for lethal decision-making.
What Is the P550?
The P550 is a Group 2 electric VTOL reconnaissance platform with a multi-sensor payload capacity of up to 15 pounds and a link range exceeding 40 kilometers. It supports hot-swapping of payloads and batteries and integrates with third-party datalinks and mission planning software. The Army awarded AeroVironment an initial P550 contract last year under the Long-Range Reconnaissance program, which also includes Edge Autonomy as a second vendor. Friday’s $117 million award is a follow-on procurement for that program, designed to give maneuver battalions organic reconnaissance and target acquisition capability at ranges previously requiring dedicated aviation assets.
The Drone Dominance Context
Both awards sit inside a broader Pentagon push to expand lethal and autonomous UAS capacity rapidly. Hegseth’s Drone Dominance directive has accelerated procurement timelines and pushed the services toward one-way attack and long-range reconnaissance categories that were moving slowly before 2025. The Red Dragon contract comes roughly two weeks after US Central Command disclosed the first combat use of another long-range one-way attack drone — the LUCAS system built by SpektreWorks, with a reported range of 500 miles — during Operation Epic Fury against Iran.
Neither contract announcement specified the number of Red Dragon or P550 systems the Army will receive. AeroVironment’s Red Dragon is now a contracted program of record, which positions it for follow-on orders as the Army builds out its one-way attack inventory alongside the Switchblade family.
