Switchblade loitering munition

Switchblade is AeroVironment's family of tube-launched loitering munitions, which circle over a battlefield and then dive onto a target. In October 2026 AeroVironment and Taiwan's Thunder Tiger signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the Association of the US Army show to study fitting Switchblade to Thunder Tiger's uncrewed boats and ground vehicles, and to explore building drones together in Taiwan.

The family has three main lines. The Switchblade 300 Block 20 weighs 7.2 lb as a complete round, reaches 30 km and carries a fragmentation or explosively formed penetrator warhead. The Switchblade 600 is an anti-armour round of 65 lb with a range beyond 40 km and more than 40 minutes in the air. The US Army chose the Switchblade 400 for its Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (LASSO) programme in May 2026.

The Army buys Switchblade under a five-year, $990m Lethal Unmanned Systems contract awarded in August 2024. In 2026 it placed a $186m order in February for 600 Block 2 and 300 Block 20 rounds, its first with the penetrator payload, and a $51m order in August that included 600 Block 1 rounds for an unnamed ally. In July 2026 the US approved a possible $80.1m sale to Greece, and Janes reported in July that the UK had bought the 300.