AeroVironment, Inc.
AeroVironment, Inc., a global defense technology leader delivering software-enabled disruptive autonomous systems, announced the next phase of its AV_Halo unified mission software platform with the release of AV_Halo CORTEX, a next-generation intelligence fusion and analysis environment, and AV_Halo MENTOR, a warfighter readiness suite that spans immersive virtual and/or augmented reality (VR/AR) weapons training and mission rehearsal.
In September, AV launched AV_Halo, a hardware-agnostic platform that unifies multi-domain command and control (C2), AI-enhanced intelligence, synthetic training, and autonomous targeting into a single open-standards ecosystem. The addition of CORTEX and MENTOR advances that ecosystem, bringing deeper intelligence fusion, enhanced situational awareness, and more sophisticated operator preparedness into the same unified architecture.
“In today’s rapidly evolving operational environment, the advantage goes to those who can understand faster and prepare smarter,” says Wahid Nawabi, AV chairman, president, and chief executive officer. “CORTEX and MENTOR extend AV_Halo’s role as the connective tissue across missions—fusing global information, AI-powered analytics, and immersive training into a single ecosystem that helps warfighters outpace threats, reduce risk, and make better decisions at mission speed.”
The addition of CORTEX and MENTOR marks the next step in AV_Halo’s roadmap, introducing two mission-critical capability sets that advance the platform’s ability to deliver faster understanding, smarter preparation, and decisive advantage across every domain - air, land, sea, space, and cyber.
- AV_Halo MENTOR: Warfighter Readiness Suite with Immersive Training and Mission Preparation Simulation - AV_Halo MENTOR, with its flagship Virtual Systems Trainer (VST) technology, offers operators immersive VR/AR weapons training system to build proficiency across Stinger, Javelin, Igla, and other mission-critical weapons systems. It delivers a full 360-degree virtual environment generated from real-world electro-optical and Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) within a simulation framework supporting multiple missions for individual and team-based training. Integrated with AV’s simulation architecture, the system enables instructors to create custom scenarios, rehearse complex engagements, and conduct detailed after-action reviews that accelerate learning and reinforce readiness. Available as a fixed installation or a portable, rapidly deployable kit, MENTOR allows units to train at the same high standards anywhere, from home stations to forward environments.
- AV_Halo CORTEX: AI-Driven Intelligence Fusion, OSINT Integration & Autonomous Analysis - AV_Halo CORTEX leverages AV’s mission-ready Scraawl technology, an AI-driven intelligence environment that fuses open source intelligence (OSINT), multi-source data, autonomous analysis, and real-time information into one operational picture. It collects and searches millions of global data points, including publicly available information (PAI) via news content, social media posts, shared imagery and video, and an array of sensor feeds. Integrated analytics across text, imagery, video, geospatial layers, and network relationships accelerate insight, while GeoPoint, AV’s proprietary geolocation engine, delivers metadata-independent geolocation using only visual cues. CORTEX also provides PAI-driven drone-threat detection for persistent awareness. With GPT-powered Insight Agents, analysts can query datasets conversationally, producing rapidly sourced intelligence that strengthens mission decisions. These intelligence markers can be shared seamlessly across AV_Halo and other third-party platforms for advanced situational awareness and action queuing.
“CORTEX can detect and characterize emerging drone patterns around critical infrastructure in minutes, a task that once took analysts hours. MENTOR enables air-defense teams to immediately rehearse engagements against those same threats inside a fully immersive environment,” says Scott Bowman, AV Chief Technology Officer & Vice President of Global Engineering. “Together, these products point to the future of mission software—tightly linked, increasingly autonomous intelligence and training that anticipate threats before they emerge.”
Looking ahead, AV will continue expanding AV_Halo with autonomous mission agents, advanced simulation environments, enhanced airspace deconfliction tools, and additional intelligence and C2 services, delivering synchronized autonomy, cross-domain coordination, and mission adaptability across tomorrow’s multi-domain battlespace.
AV_Halo follows the principles of the Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA), a design strategy mandated by the U.S. Department of War (DoW) to improve interoperability, agility, and sustainability in defense systems. As missions evolve, AV_Halo scales effortlessly, offering reliable solutions that adapt to emerging threats and operational demands so that operators can deploy exactly what is needed for any mission while minimizing cost. It seamlessly integrates across allied military and commercial systems, setting a new standard for interoperability in complex, multi-domain environments.