AeroVironment’s Tomahawk awarded $2.67 million contract by Department of Defense for Grip Tab Active controllers

AeroVironment’s Tomahawk product line has been awarded a $2.67 million contract from Advanced Technology International (ATI) that will be managed by the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL). This contract supports the Marine Corps’ Force Design 2030 and other Department of Defense (DoD) initiatives of enhancing lethality and mission success across the warfighting functions.

Under the contract, AeroVironment will deliver prototype Tomahawk Grip Tab Active (Grip TA) controllers and supporting test kits, allowing the DoD to evaluate the technical capabilities for future operations. The controller, combined with the RAID System, provides a large screen and ensures current and future cyber, safety, and fire control requirements are met.

The Tomahawk Grip TA controllers will be part of the larger Kinesis Ecosystem that already includes 20+ robotic systems, various input devices, and numerous AI-enhanced capabilities. This ecosystem uniquely enables multi-domain, many-to-many UxV operation through a single user interface, all while reducing the physical and cognitive burdens placed on the operator.

“AeroVironment is excited to deliver these systems to the DoD,” says Scott Bowman, Tomahawk Robotics product line manager at AeroVironment. “The tablet-based Grip Tab Active Controller will provide a larger viewing area and dedicated safety functions to operate large vehicles and weapon systems, all while maintaining the low-profile, ruggedized design our customers have come to expect from the Tomahawk product line. This controller will improve operator efficiency and unlock new use cases such as fire control and sensor-to-shooter.”

This contract extends the ongoing work between the Tomahawk Robotics product line and the DoD to provide a common controller for the DoD’s tactical robotic systems.