reconnaissance aircraft developed jointly by aai corporation and israel aircraft industries aai corporation is an aerospace and defense development and manufacturing firm located in hunt valley maryland us . formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of united industrial corporation aai was acquired by textron in 2007 . it currently operates as a unit of textron systems corporation and employs more than 2 000 . aai s products and services include unmanned aircraft and ground control technologies ; training and simulation systems ; automated aerospace test and maintenance equipment ; armament systems ; and logistical engineering supply chain and operational support services . the company s customers include the united states department of defense dod and its prime contractors allied foreign government ministries of defense and other united states federal agencies . contents 1 history 2 products & services 2.1 unmanned systems 2.2 logistics & technical services 2.3 test & training systems 2.4 training systems 2.5 advanced systems 3 list of aai products 3.1 aircraft 3.2 arms 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit aai corporation originated as aircraft armaments inc. in august 1950 founded by six aviation and defense industry professionals . it was renamed aai corporation in the late 1950s . aai s parent company united industrial corporation uic was originally founded as hayes body corporation in the early 1900s . renamed many years later uic was admitted into the new york stock exchange for trading on december 15 1964 . from 1994 to 2004 aai partnered with the czech firm koda in a joint venture to manufacture trolley buses . the joint venture named electric transit inc. supplied 330 trolley buses to san francisco and dayton before being dissolved in 2004 . on 22 june 2006 aerosonde ltd was acquired by aai . 1 textron acquired aai and other subsidiaries of uic with its purchase of the parent company for approximately 1.1 billion in 2007 . aai became part of textron s helicopter subsidiary bell textron in the acquisition . 2 today aai owns or occupies more than 1 100 000 square feet 100 000 m2 of office and manufacturing space across australia the united kingdom and the usa . as of may 2014 aai had been made into three parts unmanned systems support solutions and electronic systems . the company is still registered as an active corporation in the state of maryland under the name aai corporation . 3 products & services edit shadow 200 uav in iraq unmanned systems edit aai is one of a limited number of companies engaged in the design and full rate production of a successfully fielded operational unmanned aircraft system uas for the dod . aai first began development work on the unmanned systems product line in 1985 winning a competitive fly off with its pioneer remotely piloted vehicle . the company s unmanned aircraft systems include the shadow 200 tactical uas which is designated rq 7b by the u.s. army as well as the shadow 400 and 600 systems . as of july 2014 shadow systems had accumulated more than 920 000 flight hours 4 with more than 90 percent of those hours in support of u.s. and allied combat operations in iraq and afghanistan . 5 6 the company s uas capabilities expanded with the 2006 acquisition of australian uas manufacturer aerosonde pty. ltd. this fleet s newest model is the aerosonde mark 4.7 small unmanned aircraft system . in late 2009 aai conducted a shipboard demonstration of the system aboard the m80 stiletto ship . in september 2008 aai announced that it had teamed with aeronautics ltd. to provide the orbiter miniature uas in selected markets . the company s one system ground control station is fielded as part of the shadow tactical uas as well as the one system portable ground control station and one system remote video terminal . on 16 november 2009 aai entered a 40 year exclusive license agreement with carter aviation technologies concerning a possible autonomous slowed rotor compound aircraft with potential for increased speed 250 knots and range 1300 nautical miles delivering 3000 pounds cargo compared to traditional rotorcraft . it is to be based on the carter pav . 7 8 aai is developing an rq 7 shadow also with a carter rotor on top for vertical take off and landing 9 10 to fly in 2012 . 11 aai also intends to use this technology as the basis for their proposal to darpas flying humvee transformer program . 12 13 14 logistics & technical services edit aai provides a variety of engineering logistical maintenance repair and overhaul services for the company s own platforms as well as those of other original equipment manufacturers . its customers include the u.s. army air force navy and marine corps for which the company supports a wide variety of operational systems . the logistics & technical services business unit also provides depot maintenance equipment and services to domestic and international military aviation customers . test & training systems edit aai s test systems are used by every branch of the u.s. military . the joint systems electronic combat systems tester is part of the dod s family of testers and currently supports flight line electronic warfare testing for several u.s. military aircraft . the company s advanced boresight equipment systems are used to align avionics and weapons systems onboard military aircraft and helicopters . aai also produces radar simulators that simulate varied threat signals to test the functionality of radar warning receivers and cockpit displays and controls . aai acquired esl defence limited in 2005 . based in the uk esl designs and manufactures electro optical infrared and ultraviolet test and simulation stimulation products for use on flight lines in aircraft maintenance facilities and at military test and evaluation ranges . aai also provides functional automated test equipment for satellite electronic and other systems . training systems edit aai has capabilities in the design production and sustainment of maintenance training devices such as the c 17 globemaster the f 22 raptor and most recently the f 35 lightning ii joint strike fighter . aai modified and produced state of the art simulation based maintenance training devices for the f 22 raptor providing students with instruction in ground maintenance aircraft servicing and munitions loading . the armament training device provides hands on skill development pertaining to the removal installation inspection operation and checkout tasks of the gun gun doors left main weapons bay door system and launchers left side weapons bay launcher right wing pylon partial fuel system stores management system and weapons safing system . the trainer uses real aircraft support equipment including munitions and the portable maintenance aid pma . the landing gear training device allows instruction on maintenance tasks on the landing gear systems environmental control systems hydraulics and electrical and electronic warfare systems . the device supports nose and right main landing gear operation and an operational arresting hook . the aft fuselage training device is a mock up of the left side wing horizontal stabilizer vertical stabilizer engine bay forward engine bay door and aft engine bay door as well as numerous light systems and engine bay area components for removal and installation task training . the f 35 lightning ii aircraft system maintenance trainer provides student maintainers comprehensive training on ground operation maintenance fault isolation and testing procedures in a highly realistic simulated environment utilizing an interactive 3 d virtual aircraft environment . this realistic 3 d virtual vehicle environment as well as 2 d panels and displays allow students to navigate throughout the f 35 aircraft during maintenance training and select the virtual support equipment and tools required . a real f 35 portable maintenance aid is connected at each student station allowing the student to monitor the virtual aircraft functions run diagnostics and display technical and task documentation . 15 aai s training systems are utilized by u.s. and allied international military customers . products include naval electronic warfare air defense radar and uas training systems . advanced systems edit aai s advanced systems unit primarily investigates and responds to new and emerging customer needs and markets . the company is currently working on the u.s. army s lightweight small arms technologies project . it has also developed the pdcue gunshot detection system and tdcue acoustic detection systems for the u.s. army and marine corps . list of aai products edit aircraft edit aai rq 2 pioneer aai rq 7 shadow arms edit lsat light machine gun see also edit companies portal references edit aai corp acquires leading australian uav developer aerosonde june 2006 . retrieved 9 july 2012 . textron buys uav makers aai & aerosonde defense industry daily 10 october 2007 . retrieved 9 july 2012 . business information search . maryland department of assessments & taxation . retrieved december 22 2014 . peo aviation public affairs december 17 2014 . aviation community has more milestones on horizon . redstone rocket . chris mccoy august 19 2014 . advancements in unmanned aircraft systems . special operations technology . kmi media group . cast a powerful shadow pdf . textron systems . retrieved october 1 2014 . pr 2009 11 16 on carteraviationtechnologies.com . carter aviation technologies llc . november 2009 . aai and carter aviation technologies enter exclusive licensing agreement for slowed rotor compound technology . aai corporation . 17 november 2009 . warwick graham . aai adds unpowered rotor to shadow uav for vtol aviation week 12 november 2010 . accessed 27 january 2011 . warwick graham . carter flies vtol hybrid aviation week 26 january 2011 . accessed 27 january 2011 . warwick graham . aai flies precursor to advanced shadow uavs aviation week 1 august 2011 . accessed 2 september 2011 . skinner tony . textron pursues flying humvee programme shephard 22 july 2010 . retrieved 26 november 2010 . weinberger sharon . the u.s. military wants a battlefield ready flying car popular mechanics 15 july 2010 . retrieved 26 november 2010 . darpa kicks off transformer tx program darpa 12 october 2010 . retrieved 26 november 2010 . maintenance training instruction . aai . retrieved february 18 2014 . external links edit textron systems aai corporation s parent company aai corporation and aai services corporation wholly owned subsidiary of aai corporation aerosonde pty ltd. wholly owned subsidiary of aai corporation esl defence limited wholly owned subsidiary of aai corporation mcturbine inc. wholly owned subsidiary of aai services corporation symtx inc. wholly owned subsidiary of aai corporation v t e textron aircraft aai corporation aai aerosonde aai rq 2 pioneer aai rq 7 shadow bell helicopter list of bell helicopter models textron airland textron airland scorpion textron aviation list of beechcraft models list of cessna models v t e textron subsidiaries aai corporation aerosonde ltd avco bell helicopter cushman greenlee jacobsen dixie chopper ransomes lycoming engines textron aviation beechcraft cessna textron marine & land systems millenworks tru simulation training joint ventures bell agusta aerospace company electric transit inc. people scott c. donnelly dick millman jack j. pelton products m1117 armored security vehicle landing craft air cushion millenworks light utility vehicle cbu 97 sensor fuzed weapon ship to shore connector stingray light tank see also textron aircraft retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title aai corporation & oldid 741990002 categories aerospace companies of the united statescompanies based in hunt valley marylanddefense companies of the united statesunmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschfran ais nederlands edit links this page was last modified on 30 september 2016 at 23 44 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using