AeroVironment Switchblade

The AeroVironment Switchblade is a family of man-portable loitering munitions: a small electric aircraft launched from a tube that flies to a target area, lets its operator watch through onboard cameras and then dives into the target and detonates its warhead. The spring-loaded wings flip out after launch, which gives the weapon its name, and an operator can wave off an attack after launch. It was introduced in 2011 and first fielded in Afghanistan, and the original model was renamed Switchblade 300 when the much larger anti-armour Switchblade 600 appeared in 2020. The United States sent hundreds of Switchblade 300 drones to Ukraine in 2022, and the Army signed a contract worth nearly a billion dollars for the family in 2024.