UAV manufacturer AeroVironment, Monrovia, Calif., lowered its revenue outlook for 2009, citing economic conditions and the timing of customer orders.

Reporting fiscal 2009 third-quarter results Monday, AeroVironment said it now expects full-year growth in revenue of between 11 percent and 16 percent over fiscal 2008, down from the 20 percent to 25 percent growth predicted last June.

“Even with our backlog, our view of the balance of the year requires that we lower our revenue outlook for fiscal 2009,” the company stated. “This is driven largely by current economic conditions as well as the timing of the receipt and shipment of customer orders, and does not reflect a fundamental change in our long-term view of the demand for our solutions, the relevance of our development programs or the soundness of our business model."

Revenue for the fiscal 2009 third quarter was $52.2 million, an 8-percent increase over the same period in 2008, AeroVironment reported. The larger part of the increase came from the company’s energy system segment ($2.5 million), with $1.2 million attributed to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). AeroVironment supplies the Raven and Wasp systems to the U.S. military, among other UAVs.