The U.S. Army has announced that it has placed a new $51 million order for Switchblade 600 loitering munitions developed by AeroVironment…
The order includes additional Switchblade 600 Block 2 systems and Switchblade 600 Block 1 systems under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.
Switchblade 600 Block 2 is designed for use in maritime and other contested operational environments as part of multi-domain operations.
The system features upgraded avionics and SPOTR AiTR automatic target recognition software designed to accelerate target detection, identification, and engagement processes.
Switchblade 600 Block 2 has a range of more than 100 kilometers and a flight endurance of more than 50 minutes.
The Switchblade 600 Block 2 loitering munition system can reach a cruise speed of 113 kilometers per hour and a maximum speed of 185 kilometers per hour.
The system is equipped with artificial intelligence and machine learning-enabled automatic target recognition capabilities, along with dual EO/IR gimballed sensors…