AV’s Switchblade 600 selected for Tranche 1 of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Replicator initiative

AeroVironment’s (AV) Switchblade 600 loitering munition system has been selected for Tranche 1 of the first iteration of the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) Replicator initiative. AV’s Switchblade 600 is a man-portable, extended-range loitering munition system equipped with an anti-armor warhead for engaging larger, hardened targets at greater distances. The first iteration of the Replicator initiative aims to accelerate all-domain, attritable autonomous systems to warfighters at speed and scale.

The first iteration of the Replicator initiative will field thousands of autonomous systems across multiple domains within the next 18-24 months, as part of the Pentagon's strategy to counter peer adversaries’ rapid military buildup. The initiative will prioritize the fielding of attritable capabilities — affordable uncrewed platforms that allow commanders to tolerate a higher degree of risk in employing these “force multiplying” systems.

“Switchblade 600 is a battle-proven system in full-rate production that can support the DOD’s desire to field thousands of autonomous systems across multiple warfighting domains,” says Brett Hush, AV’s SVP of Loitering Munition Systems.

Equipped with advanced sensors and precision flight control, Switchblade 600 is capable of quick and easy deployment via tube launch and can fly, track, and engage non-line of sight targets. Switchblade 600’s patented wave-off and recommit capability allows operators to abort the mission and re-engage as the mission requires.

“Our uncrewed systems, autonomy technology and computer vision software can help achieve multidomain operations in a heavily contested battlespace, at very low costs and high levels of resiliency,” continues Hush. “We’ve invested in the maturation of such disruptive technologies and the production capability and capacity to produce large volumes at the level of reliability the U.S. DOD expects.”