US Army signs massive $1 billion deal to procure a fleet of Switchblade drones

[zohaibahd]

In context: Switchblade drones are precision-guided missiles that can loiter over the battlefield for up to 40 minutes while relaying video feeds back to troops before smashing into targets kamikaze style. The US Army has been working to procure them to give ground forces a new capability for taking out armored vehicles, tanks, and even enemies hiding behind cover.

AeroVironment has landed a hefty $990 million contract to supply the US Army with its combat-proven Lethal Unmanned Systems (LUS) over the next five years. It represents the Army's first push to outfit soldiers with man-portable loitering munitions at scale. A company representative told The War Zone that while they couldn't disclose exact numbers, this deal covers deliveries of two drone variants – the Switchblade 300 and 600. AeroVironment expects deliveries to begin in a few months.

"AV is proud to have been selected to provide Switchblade for this critical and urgent Army requirement," said AeroVironment Senior Vice President and General Manager of Loitering Munition Systems Brett Hush. "This latest contract underscores the unmatched maturity and effectiveness of our system, as well as AV's strategic positioning to rapidly produce and deliver these cutting-edge solutions to operators in the field."

Launched from a small tube system that foot soldiers can easily transport, the smaller Switchblade 300 model can loiter for 20 minutes out to 30 km. Troops can deploy it from land, sea, or mobile platforms. Due to its low acoustic signature, the system remains hard to detect, identify, or follow even when nearby.

The Switchblade 600 variant can loiter for 40 minutes, has a range of up to 40 km, and has the same anti-tank warhead as the shoulder-fired Javelin missile. While the smaller model is capable enough, the larger variant ups the ante with the ability to take out tanks.

Both models come equipped with electro-optical and infrared cameras that let operators get a bird's eye view for recon or manually guide the munitions to impact if needed. The drones also feature automated target tracking and engagement smarts, giving them multi-mission and multi-domain capabilities.

While AeroVironment is happy about the deal, it's worth mentioning that the company has been delivering these drones to the Army for a while now under previous contracts. The military has already used them in neutralizing Russian military assets in the Ukraine war. However, this new $990M award signals that the Army is more serious than ever about making such munitions a standard part of its arsenal.

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US Army signs massive $1 billion deal to procure a fleet of Switchblade drones

 

[NumberNine]

"If we don't sign em, the competiton will!"

"Ooooh yes lord! We got to get that competition!"

 

[BobDolesGhost]

Kinda bad a$$, I want 1!

 

[Vanderlinde]

Drones are changing the whole fields in regards of a war. Where in WW1, WW2 you got infantry, troops, tanks and artillery a league of drones pretty much takes out large swaps of the above if needed.

But at the other hand; why the F does US needs to invest 1 billion in warfare while it's own country is on fire? Homeless, drug addiction, prices through the roof. Elites have other plans it seems.

 

[kiwigraeme]

Drones are changing the whole fields in regards of a war. Where in WW1, WW2 you got infantry, troops, tanks and artillery a league of drones pretty much takes out large swaps of the above if needed.

But at the other hand; why the F does US needs to invest 1 billion in warfare while it's own country is on fire? Homeless, drug addiction, prices through the roof. Elites have other plans it seems.

Because your DoD has the strategy of most western armies of minimising fatalities. If no drones, or drone defense your trillions of dollars investment is seriously degraded

It's not binary - either help homeless or drones and is really quite complicated

Defense spending can if used wisely spread the jobs to areas of country with no prospects of higher skilled jobs- lots of people leave services with trade skills.
In bad times Defense training can upskill and teach life values to many young men/women who might turn to crime or antisocial activities, to enliven their lives ( ie lots of teen criminals is for thrills and not necessarily greed or money )
plus 100 other reasons pro and negative as is complicated

You want to change that stuff, then get out and vote in November.
You choose which party will work - Trillions of dollars more debt for tax cuts to Billionaires so money will trickle down to homeless or needy or that other communist party who wants to protect people and environment from the fore mentioned wealth creators. You choose. I always amazed that The USA and maybe EU have the ability to just print endless money , endless debt with little inflationary pressure. If my country NZ did that, our dollar would devalues overnight . Advantage of such a huge economy in USD and the de facto currency of the world ( plus world needs to sell into USA, so they don't want a weakened USD )

 

[p51d007]

The globe is getting closer and closer to "skynet" land... <wink>

 

[wizardB]

You could always vote for the man who didn't start a war as president and had take-home incomes the highest in years or you could vote for the communist bimbo who helped kill the economy and headed the biggest invasion the USA had ever seen.

 

[Namtrooper]

Drones are changing the whole fields in regards of a war. Where in WW1, WW2 you got infantry, troops, tanks and artillery a league of drones pretty much takes out large swaps of the above if needed.

But at the other hand; why the F does US needs to invest 1 billion in warfare while it's own country is on fire? Homeless, drug addiction, prices through the roof. Elites have other plans it seems.

Someone in here asking the real hard hitting questions. Totally agree though.

 

[Watzupken]

A drone I supposed will need to be controlled remotely. So if you have some sort of a signal jammer, won’t that render all these drones useless? While something like a bazooka sound like an ancient and clunky technology, but they are likely more reliable.

 

[Vulcanproject]

Battle proven to be very effective at killing Russian armor and a host of other lighter targets. Good reason to send Ukraine some more experimental systems, they're weeding out what's worth the money and what isn't. Switchblades very much are.