Switchblade
The Switchblade family of tube-launched, man-portable loitering munitions — the 300 for anti-personnel and the 600 for anti-armor — delivers precision strike with real-time operator oversight, and has been battle-proven in Ukraine.
The US-made, tube-launched loitering munition family — the Switchblade 300 for anti-personnel, the Switchblade 600 for armored targets — that has reshaped infantry-level precision strike and been battle-tested by Ukrainian forces.
Overview
Switchblade is a family of man-portable, tube-launched loitering munitions developed by AeroVironment. The system consists of a folded-wing airframe that is fired from a small launch tube, then immediately deploys its wings and begins transmitting live electro-optical/infrared video to an operator, who can loiter, search, and — with a man-in-the-loop — dive onto a target. The Switchblade 300 is designed for anti-personnel use with a compact fragmentation warhead, while the larger Switchblade 600 carries a Javelin-derived anti-armor warhead for engaging main battle tanks and other heavy vehicles. Together they provide infantry units with an organic precision-strike capability that bridges the gap between a guided missile and a recovery-class reconnaissance drone.
Development
AeroVironment began delivering the Switchblade 300 to the US Army in 2011 as an organic precision-munition solution for small units, according to the system’s official designation history compiled by Designation-Systems.net. The design capitalized on the company’s earlier work with small electric unmanned aircraft, adding a fragmentation warhead and a forward-facing EO/IR sensor to enable real-time target confirmation. Over the following decade the 300 was procured by US Special Operations Command and the Marine Corps, and the concept was scaled up to produce the Switchblade 600, which was revealed in 2020 with a tandem-warhead anti-armor payload and the ability to engage targets out to several tens of kilometres. In October 2025 AeroVironment unveiled the next generation of its Switchblade family, including the Switchblade 400 — a heavier, longer-range variant with an even larger warhead — signaling the expansion of the LMAMS (Lethal Miniature Aerial Missile System) concept into a complete strike ecosystem.
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