Edge Autonomy

Edge Autonomy is a maker of long-endurance, hand- and catapult-launched unmanned aircraft systems, headquartered in San Luis Obispo, California, United States. It was formed in September 2021 when private-equity firm AE Industrial Partners merged two unmanned-systems makers it had acquired, UAV Factory and Jennings Aeronautics (JAI), with the combined company adopting the Edge Autonomy name in February 2022 and taking JAI's San Luis Obispo site as its new headquarters.

History and products

UAV Factory, whose manufacturing base in Latvia remains part of Edge Autonomy's production footprint, originated the Penguin family of fixed-wing surveillance UAS, while Jennings Aeronautics contributed electro-optical/infrared camera payload technology. Edge Autonomy has since supplied Penguin-series aircraft for reconnaissance, surveillance and target-acquisition missions to military and government customers, including a direct contract with Ukraine's armed forces, and builds the VXE30 "Stalker" family of small long-endurance UAS used by US Navy, Marine Corps and Army customers. On 20 January 2025, Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW) announced a $925 million agreement to acquire Edge Autonomy; the deal closed on 13 June 2025 after clearing antitrust review in the United States and foreign-investment reviews in Latvia, Canada and the United Kingdom, making Edge Autonomy part of Redwire's space-and-defence-technology portfolio.

Products on this site

The Penguin B Series is Edge Autonomy's original fixed-wing catapult-launched surveillance UAS family, with the Penguin C a larger, longer-endurance successor and the Penguin C VTOL a vertical-take-off variant that removes the need for catapult launch and net recovery. The VXE30 ISR, part of the Stalker family, is a small, hand-launched long-endurance UAS used for persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.