Project Anubis MAV

Unmanned Aircraft Systems company AeroVironment, has recently been awarded a $1.2 million Phase-III (typically the final development stage) Air Force contract for the completion of Project Anubis.

While specifications remain scarce, Pentagon budget documents for FY2010 reveal Project Anubis as a “Tactical MAV for Time-Sensitive Fleeting Targets,” with the objective of “[addressing] the need for a micro air vehicle that can engage high-value maneuvering targets”.

AeroVironment Anubis Similiar To Switchblade

Another reference to Anubis says the project objective is now to test at squad-level, “non-line-of-sight munitions with man-in-the loop target IDs, with very low collateral damage”

The project was originally commissioned in FY2008 when AeroVironment received a $1.75 million in funding to “develop a MAV with innovative seeker/tracking algorithms”.

AeroVirnoment is the same company responsible for the Switchblade drone – a miniature, remotely-piloted or autonomous drone that provides a powerful, but expendable miniature flying Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) package on a Beyond Line-of-Sight (BLOS) target.” – and with both drones sporting similar spec’s, it’s still unclear if the Anubis is redesigned from scratch or if it is simply a variant of the Switchblade.

Nevertheless, the budget documents suggest the Anubis could be deployed on a “timescale perhaps as short as 12 months.

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