LASSO
US Army loitering munition OTA programme; $1.2bn ceiling through FY2031; awarded to AeroVironment.
Last refreshed: 10 May 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Timeline for LASSO
Awarded to AeroVironment Switchblade 400 on 4 May with $1.2B ceiling
Drones: Industry & Defence: Switchblade 400 wins Army LASSO at $1.2bn ceilingWhat is the LASSO programme and what did it select?
How does LASSO fit into the Pentagon's drone procurement strategy?
How much is the US Army requesting for LASSO in FY2027?
Background
The Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (LASSO) is a US Army procurement programme using Other Transaction Authority (OTA) to field extended-range anti-tank loitering munitions at brigade combat team scale. LASSO sits within the Pentagon's Gauntlet II munitions architecture alongside the Lethality Prize and Mountain Horse Solutions kinetic award.
On 4 May 2026, the Army awarded the LASSO programme to AeroVironment's Switchblade 400, with a planned ceiling of approximately $1.2 billion through FY2031 and an FY2027 procurement request of $110 million . The programme's annualised run rate of roughly $200 million funds approximately 200 to 400 Switchblade-class munitions per year against the Pentagon's 300,000-drone procurement target.
LASSO's strategic significance lies in extending anti-tank loitering reach at brigade level from roughly 10 km to 65 km, pulling Russian armoured formations inside deep-strike reach without divisional artillery. The $1.2 billion six-year ceiling is modest against the $54.6 billion Defence Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG) budget line but establishes AeroVironment as the Army's standardised anti-tank loitering supplier across three simultaneous programmes.