American AeroVironment, a defense company specializing in making unmanned aerial systems, including the Switchblade loitering munitions and Puma reconnaissance UAVs, has produced over 1,000 drones for Ukraine already.
Voice of America reports that after a visit to one of the company's production facilities and a talk with their management.
Read more: Switchblade 300 Loitering Munition Combat Use In Ukraine (Video)
One of the products, the Switchblade loitering munitions, a.k.a kamikaze drones, have been used by Ukrainian forces since the spring of 2022 when Ukrainian soldiers got the Switchblade 300. It is the smaller version of this drone with a total weight of 2.5 kg, the warhead is as powerful as a hand grenade. It can be triggered either on impact or directly above the target for better effect. Flight endurance is 10 mins, operational range is up to 10 km.
These were often seen in the hands of Ukrainian Special Operation Forces because an entire system with a laptop and catapult can be carried in a backpack. On the other hand, this much firepower only makes it useful against enemy manpower, and ineffective against armor. However, in an environment where one needs to take down a target beyond a visual line of sight, it is difficult to find any more suitable tool.
Also, this drone can automatically track the target which makes guidance easier and increases the chance of an effective strike.
Unfortunately, there is no answer whether Ukraine has already received the bigger version of this unmanned system, the Switchblade 600. This one weighs 23 kg and can destroy an armored vehicle with firepower equivalent to an FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile. Also, it flies further, up to 40 km and lasts for 40 mins.
Ukraine was promised Switchblade 600 in September 2022 under the USAI program from the United States which meant those drones had to be manufactured first. The number of loitering munitions in the package wasn't disclosed, only the total cost of $3 million, according to the latest update published in October 2022. In recent days, a video of presumably a Switchblade 600 was filmed for the first time in Ukraine but so far unconfirmed.
We should keep in mind that if we take for example a thousand Switchblade 300 and compare it to a thousand Switchblade 600, the effect they bring to the battlegrounds significantly differs. At the same time, the creation of the Switchblade series was in the first place prompted by the demand of the U.S. Army for an expendable munition that would be used against targets of lower priority, when spending a Javelin would be too financially unreasonable.
Though considering the active use by the Ukrainian military of some mysterious kamikaze drones with a range of 100 km, apparently the Armed Forces of Ukraine have more than one supplier of loitering ammunition.
Read more: Ukraine’s Military Use Mysterious Kamikaze Drones More Often: One of Them Fell In Donetsk (Photo)
