- The IDIQ covers services supporting various missions
- AEVEX went public in April
- Registration is now open for the Potomac Officers Club’s 2027 Defense R&D Summit
An unidentified U.S. customer has awarded AEVEX a contract worth nearly $400 million for the company’s unmanned aircraft systems, the largest award the drone maker has disclosed since going public.
Orders placed against the multiyear, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract will also cover support services for varying mission needs, the company said Tuesday.
“This award deepens our role in helping customers field unmanned aircraft systems that can be manufactured at scale and adapted as mission needs evolve,” said Roger Wells, CEO at AEVEX.
“As our Customers advance initiatives aimed at accelerating unmanned aircraft system capability development and more agile acquisition models, this IDIQ positions AEVEX to support those evolving priorities with reliable, scalable solutions built for real-world operational demands,” he added.
Department of War technology officials and industry executives will convene Feb. 4 in Virginia for the Potomac Officers Club’s 2027 Defense R&D Summit, where panels will focus on unmanned systems, directed energy, trusted AI and autonomy. Save your seat now.
What Does AEVEX Build?
AEVEX’s roots are in airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. When Madison Dearborn Partners and CoVant Management bought it in 2020, it had roughly 600 employees delivering sensor modification and sustainment; custom design and engineering; and intelligence processing, exploitation and dissemination platforms to the intelligence community, special operations and the Pentagon.
Drone manufacturing came later. AEVEX bought assets and intellectual property from Virginia-based RapidFlight in September 2025. That acquisition supports what the company calls its drone factory of the future, an additive manufacturing approach designed to enable modular airframes to be 3D-printed at the point of need, including at the tactical edge
AEVEX now develops, produces and supports unmanned aircraft systems designed around affordability, modularity and rapid fielding, operating engineering, integration and production facilities at multiple U.S. sites. Its portfolio also covers AI-enabled mission software and ISR and electronic warfare work for national security customers, with systems built for contested and GPS-denied environments.
What Other Defense Work Does AEVEX Hold?
According to regulatory filings cited by Bloomberg, unmanned systems programs Phoenix Ghost and EUCOM AOR Deep Strike account for more than 9,300 systems delivered or committed and more than $1.2 billion in contract value through the end of this year. Prior-year financial disclosures indicate that a significant share of FY2025 revenue was driven by operational demand in the Ukrainian theater.
In June, the Air Force awarded AEVEX a $50 million contract, including $27 million in initial funding, for the continued production of a long-range precision-strike platform designed for extended-range missions where GPS is unavailable.
The Army picked the company as one of three to demonstrate Launched Effects-Short Range systems in 2025. The demonstration enabled field artillery, infantry and aviation soldiers to test AEVEX’s technology, called Atlas, a tactical unmanned aerial system constructed from lightweight materials to achieve greater strike range.
Wells previously told Bloomberg Television that deployments across the Ukrainian and Iranian theaters “validate the fact that autonomous unmanned systems are going to be a part of modern warfare now and long into the future.” He pointed to more than $50 billion in requested funding in the U.S. FY 2027 defense budget, allocated to capability portfolios directly aligned with AEVEX’s product line.
AEVEX went public in April, raising $320 million in an offering of 16 million shares priced at $20. Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Jefferies led the offering, and Madison Dearborn was expected to retain 79 percent of shareholder voting power afterward.
