Arlington drone company closes deal on AI robotics co.

Arlington County-based AeroVironment, a defense contractor that manufactures unmanned aircraft, has completed its $120 million acquisition of Melbourne, Florida-based Tomahawk Robotics, the company announced Sept. 18.

Tomahawk develops AI-enabled robotic control and integrated communications systems, including its flagship system, Kinesis, a tactical system used by the U.S. military and others. AeroVironment signed an agreement to purchase Tomahawk in August, and the deal is to be paid in a combination of cash and stock.

The deal will enable AeroVironment to pair its unmanned systems with Tomahawk’s technology to allow warfighters to operate various interconnected robotic solutions on the battlefield and share information between multiple domains and platforms with one common controller.

“Now that the acquisition is finalized, we’re able to further integrate both companies’ technologies and accelerate our implementation of AI and autonomy into AeroVironment’s platforms, enabling us to offer the best solutions for our customers’ operational needs,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment’s chairman, president and CEO.

Tomahawk will become part of the small unmanned aircraft system business unit within AeroVironment’s unmanned systems segment. AeroVironment plans to support all Tomahawk customers and its products will remain platform-, market- and industry-agnostic, the company said in a news release.

Ashley Riser, a spokesperson for AeroVironment, said the company plans to retain all of Tomahawk’s current workforce, which will remain in Florida. Riser declined to say how many employees either company currently employs, but according to AeroVironment’s corporate fact sheet, it employed 1,259 full-time people as of April. AeroVironment moved its headquarters from California to Virginia in 2021 after acquiring Manassas-based Progeny Systems Corp.’s Intelligent Systems Group for $30 million.