The U.S. Army recently awarded Virginia-based AeroVironment (AV), a defense technology company, a prototype agreement for the rapid development, delivery and testing of the Switchblade 400 loitering munition.
Switchblade 400, a medium-range, man-portable, anti-armor loitering munition, is a key component of the Army’s Low-Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (LASSO) program. The program supports the Army’s modernization priorities for rapidly deployable, precision strike capabilities.
“This award reflects the Army’s confidence not only in Switchblade 400, but in AV’s ability to deliver at scale,” Trace Stevenson, AV president of autonomous systems, said. “Being selected under the LASSO program positions AV as a long-term partner to the Army as it modernizes its loitering munition capabilities, from development and testing through production, fielding, and continuous capability evolution.”
Switchblade 400 operates within AV_Halo, the company’s suite of artificial intelligence-powered software tools. It also incorporates advanced aided target recognition and autonomous capabilities to detect, classify and engage targets. It allows a single soldier to detect, identify and engage targets through a unified, networked architecture and features an all-up round that weighs less than 40 pounds.
AV recently delivered to the Army a $186 million order for Switchblade 600 Block 2 and Switchblade 300 Block 20 explosively formed penetrator loitering munition systems.