In 2008, it was selected for the
United States Special Operations Command. In March 2012 the United States Army ordered the Puma All Environment (AE) and designated it the RQ-20A. In April, the United States Marine Corps and United States Air Force placed a similar order for the RQ-20A. On 26 July 2013, the Puma became one of the first unmanned aerial vehicles to be granted certification by the
Federal Aviation Administration to fly in U.S. airspace for commercial purposes. On 8 June 2014, the Puma AE made its first flight for
BP in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, which was the first authorized unmanned commercial flight over land. The UK tested ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) packages compatible with the Puma AE on board the
M80 Stiletto trials ship in November 2014. As of 2024, there were nine qualified Puma teams with
700 Naval Air Squadron, six of which were dedicated to supporting the
Royal Marines in
40 and
45 Commando. In August 2016, AeroVironment announced the
U.S. Navy had tested and deployed the RQ-20B Puma aboard a Flight I Guided Missile Destroyer. The test included the company's Precision Recovery System to autonomously recover the aircraft aboard a ship. The Puma was utilized on Navy patrol craft in the
Persian Gulf. Three individual Pumas were certified, with strict requirements: only one aircraft of the type was allowed to be airborne at any one time; they were not certified for clouds or icing conditions; takeoff and landing was not allowed during certain gust and wind conditions. The certification did not mention line-of-sight control. In December 2021, the United States allocated $5 million for a Puma drone for the
Kurdish Peshmerga in
Iraq. On 1 April 2022, the United States announced a $300 million military aid package to Ukraine that included Puma drones, during the
Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Oryx reports that by 19 September 2023, Russian forces had shot down at least 10 of these drones. ==Variants==