secwatch.observer — SEC 8-K summary
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Issuer:     AeroVironment Inc (AVAV)
CIK:        0001368622
Form:       8-K
Filed at:   2026-04-09T23:59:59+00:00
Accession:  0001104659-26-041267
Event type: leadership
Sentiment:  positive
Materiality: 0.70
Item codes: 5.02, 7.01, 9.01
LLM model:  deepseek-v4-flash:cloud@v2

AeroVironment appoints Dr. Robert Smith as COO, effective April 13, 2026
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- Smith succeeds Brad Truesdell, who retires after April 30 and will consult at $200/hr for up to 26 months.
- Smith receives $550k base salary, $440k bonus target, $350k sign-on bonus, and $350k RSUs vesting over 3 years.
- Eligible for FY2027 LTIP: $715k PSUs (3-year performance) and $385k RSUs (3-year vesting).
- Smith previously VP at Raytheon overseeing multi-billion-dollar radar/EW business; will oversee AxS and SCDE units.
- Truesdell's outstanding RSUs continue vesting; PRSUs forfeited except FY2024-2026 performance period.

Source:
  EDGAR index:    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1368622/000110465926041267/0001104659-26-041267-index.htm
  Primary doc:    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1368622/000110465926041267/tm2611447d1_8k.htm
  HTML page:      https://secwatch.observer/filing/0001104659-26-041267

License: Source filings: public domain (SEC EDGAR). Summaries (headline + bullets): CC-BY-4.0; attribute https://secwatch.observer