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AeroVironment [AVAV] is expanding its array of loitering munitions and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) by adding capabilities to two products and introducing a medium-range suicide drone and a vertical takeoff-and-landing long-endurance drone.
An addition to the company’s loitering munition family, the Switchblade 400 is a man-portable anti-armor munition with rocket-assisted takeoff and weighs less than 40 pounds for the all-up round, including the common launch tube.
The new offering was designed for the Army’s Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance program, called LASSO, to provide Infantry Brigade Combat Teams with an upgraded loitering munitions system, Brian Young, who leads AV’s Loitering Munitions business, told reporters on Monday at the Association of the U.S. Army Conference. LASSO would be the Army’s first program of record for loitering munitions.
Young called the new loitering munition the “Goldilocks Switchblade,” describing it as “the perfect blend of everything” with the 40-kilometer range unmanned system carrying the Javelin multi-purpose warhead, one electro-optic and one infrared camera, a new battery pack that enables 40 minutes of flight, an NVIDIA [NVDA] processor for automatic target recognition, and modular warhead and radio configurations.
AV also debuted the VAPOR Compact Long Endurance (CLE) unmanned aircraft drone, which the company will offer for the Army’s Medium Range Reconnaissance (MRR) effort. The all-electric vertical takeoff and landing Group 2 unmanned aircraft system has a 24-pount lift capacity and so far, the company has integrated 26 different payloads including kinetic, electronic warfare, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, Jason Hendrix, vice president of Small UAS at AV, told reporters.
The Army has previously awarded contracts to Anduril Industries and Performance Drone Works to supply their respective drones to inform MRR requirements (Defense Daily, Sept. 18).
The three-bladed helicopter VAPOR CLE has a two-hour flight time, less with maximum payload, and features autonomous navigation, including visual navigation in GPS and communications-denied environments, and manual position updates with communications intact, Hendrix said. The UAS also fits into a small Pelican case, he said.
VAPOR CLE has undergone flight-testing in different environmental conditions, including in the Arctic, Hendrix said.
AV also announced updates to its two legacy loitering munitions, the longer-range Switchblade 600 and shorter-range 300, both of which have been used by Ukrainian forces in the defense of their country against Russia. The company continues to supply the Block 1 Switchblade 600s to Ukraine and has several hundred still to deliver with U.S. funds, Young said.
The Switchblade 600 is being upgraded to the Block 2 configuration, which includes a new battery to provide a 20 percent increase in endurance beyond 100 kilometers, M-Code GPS, modular datalinks that enable flying with MANET radios, an NVIDIA processor that allows AV’s autonomy stack to be used to provide automatic target recognition, and aided target recognition when operators are in the loop, a secondary payload for multi-mission options, and the system is IP67-rated for maritime applications, Young said.
Switchblade 600 Block 2 continues to include the Javelin warhead and “best-in-class optics,” Young said.
Production of the Block 2 variant has begun and will be sold to U.S. customer in early 2026, he said.
AV has increased production output of the Block 1 six times over the past year and the company plans to do the same with the Block 2 variant in the coming months and years, he said.
In late 2026 or early 2027, AV plans to open a new facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, that will double or triple production capacity over the next two to three years, Young said. The facility is primarily for Switchblade 600 but there will be space for the Switchblade 400, he added.
The original Switchblade 300 comes with an anti-personnel fragmentation payload. The new 7.2-pound Block 20 variant, developed with company funds, is the same weight as before and comes equipped with a field-swappable Explosively Formed Penetrator to provide users with a tank-killing munition from beyond-line-of-sight, Young said.
“So, now a soldier with three of these on his back can pierce armor and kill a tank with an extremely small, lightweight loitering munition,” he said.
The Block 20 will go through an eight-week safety and qualification test regime funded by the Army, he said.
