Per Olsen, the National Armament Director at DALO signs a contract with with AeroVironment senior vice president Roy Minson for 36 UAVs (Photo: Paul McLeary)

PARIS — On the heels of its June 11 announcement of the sale of twelve Puma AE and Wasp UAV systems to the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration on behalf of the Swedish Army, AeroVironment announced June 12 that it had signed a $9.6 million deal with Denmark’s Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organization (DALO) for 12 4-channel Puma UAVs, which consists of 36 UAVs in total, along with ground systems.

In a signing ceremony at the AeroVironment booth at Eurosatory, Bent Christensen, chief of fire support and sensors at DALO, said that the Pumas will replace the Raven B systems that Denmark has operated since 2008.  

“We are not able to do operations at the company level” in Afghanistan without small UAV support, Christensen said, adding that after a study, his organization found that the Puma “fulfills our requirements in the best way.”

The Danish Army plans to replace the Raven Bs in Afghanistan with the new Pumas, Christensen said. Deliveries for the 36 UAVs will begin in November and conclude by the end of the year.

The Puma weighs 13 pounds, can land in water, and is equipped with a stabilized electro-optical and infrared camera as well as IR Illuminator
 all in one modular payload. The 4.2-pound Raven B carries both an electro-optical and infrared camera on a gimbaled payload and can deliver real-time color or infrared imagery to the ground control and remote viewing stations. The Raven B has a flight time of 90 minutes, while the latest Puma can stay airborne for up to two hours.

Per Olsen, the National Armament Director at DALO made an appearance with AeroVironment senior vice president Roy Minson at the company’s booth for a signing ceremony.