AeroVironment has secured a $43-million contract to equip the US Department of Defense’s SkyRange hypersonic testing fleet with its advanced PANTHER phased-array telemetry receiver systems. The contract supports the ongoing SkyRange initiative led by Northrop Grumman, which is converting retired RQ-4 Global Hawk drones into “Range Hawk” platforms for tracking and evaluating hypersonic missile tests. AeroVironment’s software-defined PANTHER system will enable simultaneous monitoring and analysis of multiple high-speed projectiles traveling beyond Mach 5 while improving telemetry collection accuracy, autonomous signal capture, and real-time data processing capabilities.
