Oct 22, 2025 - Technology

AeroVironment nabs $96 million for counter-drone Freedom Eagle missile

Colin Demarest

Rocket launching from a desert platform with bright sun overhead, clear blue sky, and smoke billowing around the launch site. — AeroVironment's Freedom Eagle counter-drone missile. Photo: Courtesy of AeroVironment

The U.S. Army picked AeroVironment to build counter-drone missiles in an initial deal worth $96 million.

Why it matters: "I told the secretary of the Army last week, when I was briefing him, that for the first time in our lifetimes ... there's a new missile manufacturer on the street," Jimmy Jenkins, the executive vice president of AV's precision strike and defense systems group, told Axios.

"If you wanted to build a missile, you had to go to five places, in general," he said. "Now you've got a nimble, young company that can do things at a rate that gives us options as a nation."

The latest: AV bested RTX, the second-largest defense contractor in world by revenue, to make the service's Next-Generation C-UAS Missile.

The company now plans to deliver 80 prototype Freedom Eagle interceptors (FE-1) — capable of blasting Group 2 and Group 3 drones, as well as subsonic cruise missiles — for testing and evaluation over the course of two years.
It also believes FE-1 is applicable across services, including the Navy.

Threat level: The proliferation of cheap, deadly drones has forced a rethink of overhead defenses and their price tags.

Zoom in: A majority of FE-1 manufacturing will happen in Huntsville, Alabama. Work is also expected to take place in Arkansas, Arizona and Florida.

The intrigue: FE-1 began its life at BlueHalo. AV acquired the company this year in a multibillion-dollar deal.

The bottom line: "This is a franchise program," Jenkins said.

"We've got to perform, obviously. We've got to produce and scale," he added. "Those are good problems to have, vice the alternative."

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AeroVironment nabs $96 million for counter-drone Freedom Eagle missile

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