Griffon Aerospace, Inc.
"The Unfair Advantage"
Alabama maker of the MQM-170 Outlaw and MQM-171 Broadsword aerial targets and the Valiant (YRQ-30A) Group 3 hybrid VTOL tactical UAS.
Griffon Aerospace, Inc. is a privately held aerospace and defense company in Madison, Alabama, close to the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal. It was founded in 1995 by Larry French, who is still its owner and CEO. The company grew out of French's Lionheart, a six-seat single-engine composite kit aircraft that first flew in July 1997. Griffon later moved into unmanned aircraft and advanced composite structures. Its first prime contract came in 2003, covering production, engineering and flight services for the MQM-170A Outlaw target, which supports Army air defense training. Since then Griffon has built thousands of unmanned aircraft for the U.S. military, allied nations, commercial customers and university research labs. Wikipedia listed 121 employees in 2022.
Aerial targets are the core business. Unit crews use these remotely piloted vehicles to train and to evaluate weapons against aircraft that represent battlefield threats. The current baseline is the Outlaw G2 (MQM-170C), which succeeds the MQM-170A Outlaw G1. Griffon publishes these figures for it: a wingspan of 10.8 ft in target form and 16.0 ft as a UAV, a length of 8.75 ft, maximum takeoff weight of 150 lb (target) or 225 lb (UAV), cruise speed of 60-80 KTAS and top speed of 126 KTAS. Endurance is up to 8+ hours, payload capacity is 40-60 lb depending on fuel load, and the engine is a 150 or 170 cc two-cylinder two-stroke. Payloads include radar and acoustic miss-distance scoring and EO/IR gimbals. Broadsword (MQM-171A) is Griffon's largest target and research testbed, with a 17.2 ft wingspan, 550 lb maximum gross takeoff weight, 120 KTAS top speed, an 18,000+ ft ceiling, 5+ hours endurance and a 100 lb useful load. RedWing (MQM-186) is a Group 2 airframe for ISR, systems testing and payload development, with a 10.1 ft wingspan, 54 lb MTOW, 6+ hours endurance and a 35 cc engine. The current catalog also includes the Arrowhead aerial target and Arrowhead UAS, a RedWing VTOL version, the Outlaw G2E UAS, and ground support equipment.
Valiant is Griffon's Group 3 expeditionary tactical UAS. It is a hybrid-electric quad-tiltrotor with a high-aspect-ratio wing and a V-tail. It takes off vertically on battery power. For cruise, its front rotors fold, and a heavy-fuel engine drives a generator that powers the rear motors. Its swappable payload bays follow a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA). Valiant competed in the U.S. Army's Future Tactical Uncrewed Aircraft System (FTUAS) Increment 2 program to replace the RQ-7 Shadow. In October 2023 the Army chose it and Textron's Aerosonde as the two Phase 2 finalists. In April 2025 the Army accepted a Valiant for government developmental testing at Redstone Test Center and gave it the designation YRQ-30A. The Army cancelled FTUAS in May 2025, before any production award.
Army Contracting Command at Redstone awarded the company a $67.9 million firm-fixed-price contract for Outlaw Gen 3 systems in June 2026. In August 2026 it added a $133.0 million IDIQ contract for Outlaw systems, support equipment and field service representatives. Earlier in 2026 Griffon was one of 25 companies selected for the Pentagon's Drone Dominance program.
Griffon's work covers engineering, composite and metal manufacturing, machining, electrical integration and flight operations, and it keeps an office at Fort Bliss, Texas. Its quality system is registered to ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100D by Perry Johnson Registrars.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
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Contact Griffon Aerospace, Inc.
WEBSITE
https://www.griffonaerospace.comPHONE
+1 256 258 0035HEADQUARTERS
United States
Company Facts
Founded
1995
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
-
Funding Total
-
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