AeroVironment to acquire California drone maker ESAero in $200M deal

WASHINGTON — Defense firm AeroVironment (AV) announced today that it will acquire Empirical Systems Aerospace (ESAero), a California-based UAS engineering company, in a roughly $200 million deal.

ESAero will continue to operate out of their California facilities, but now as a subsidiary of AV under their Precision Strike and Defense Systems group and Loitering Munition Systems business unit, AV said.

“ESAero brings an impressive agility in moving from design to manufacturing, which will accelerate AV’s ability to bridge the gap between conceptual design and manufacturing execution,” said AV CEO Wahid Nawabi. “ESAero’s capabilities are vital to addressing the urgent demands of a fast-growing defense tech market, where emerging needs are driving next-generation innovation and product development. ”

In its release, AV highlighted ESAero’s California facilities and said it would focus on “improving their manufacturing capabilities” and establish them as a “center of excellence for advanced prototyping and manufacturing.” ESAero’s leadership and workforce is expected to be integrated into AV’s operations.

AeroVironment, based in Virginia, produces uncrewed systems and loitering munitions — including the Switchblade, which the US provided to Ukraine — as well as tactical missile systems and related services across all domains. This is AV’s second acquisition in the last 12 months, after the company purchased BlueHalo for $4.1 billion last May.

“Joining AV represents a unique opportunity to amplify the reach and impact of our innovative work and achieve greater success,” said Andrew Gibson, CEO and co-founder of ESAero. “By combining ESAero’s engineering and manufacturing capabilities with AV’s unmatched expertise in autonomous systems, we are positioned to advance disruptive aerospace technologies and deliver real, timely value for our customers.”