AAI Receives Second Annual Frost & Sullivan North American Unmanned Systems Technology Innovation of the Year Award

AAI Corporation, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, has won the 2008 North American Unmanned Systems Technology Innovation of the Year Award from research firm Frost & Sullivan. It is the second consecutive year that AAI has captured this honor.

Frost & Sullivan cited AAI’s advances in unmanned aircraft interoperability technologies and the teaming of unmanned aircraft with manned vehicles as essential to meeting both U.S. Department of Defense objectives and requirements from warfighters on the battlefield.

For example, AAI’s Shadow(R) 200 tactical unmanned aircraft was successfully teamed with the Apache Longbow helicopter in 2007, using the company’s One System(R) Remote Video Terminal to disseminate valuable intelligence gathered from the aircraft to pilots in the helicopter’s cockpit. Further, AAI’s One System Ground Control Station (OSGCS) has been designed to address the vital need of America’s military for interoperability among unmanned platforms. The OSGCS can control multiple unmanned aircraft and transmit data to command centers and fielded units.

“AAI not only designs these unmanned aircraft systems, we send our skilled field service representatives to live and work alongside America’s warfighters,” explains AAI Vice President of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Steve Reid. “They provide us valuable feedback from the field that we develop into new features and capabilities. The voice of the customer is our catalyst for innovation, and we are honored by Frost & Sullivan’s recognition.”

Frost & Sullivan’s annual Best Practices Awards recognize companies that excel in innovation, strategic product development, customer service, and other measures of achievement in technology.

“AAI is at the forefront of developing unmanned aircraft and ground control stations that are eliminating UAS interoperability challenges in the battlefield and advancing the capabilities of these vital platforms. With technologies such as the OSGCS and the Shadow unmanned aircraft, AAI is supplying today’s warfighters with the innovative technologies they need to make time-critical decisions,” says Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Lindsay Voss.