Source: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
A soldier of the 14th. UAV Regiment carrying a AeroVironment Inc. Switchblade 600 loitering munition within its launch container. As part of the United States' military aid to Ukraine early in the Russo-Ukrainian War, one hundred AeroVironment Switchblade 300 were sent starting in April 2022 and starting in April 2023, ten Switchblade 600 drones were confirmed as delivered. Another three hundred Switchblades have been delivered to date though what models they are remains unknown. As this photograph was taken sometime in 2025, it is clear some Switchblade 600 munitions remain in service. In late 2020, AeroVironment unveiled to the public the Switchblade 600 and it is the larger brother of the Switchblade 300. The Switchblade series is utilized both as an anti-personnel munition as well as anti-armor.
The Switchblade 600 munition itself is 4.3 feet long and has a weight of 33 pounds. Power comes from an electric motor that drives a rear-mounted, 2-bladed propeller. Enough charge is carried to provide the Switchblade 600 with a maximum endurance of 40 minutes which translates to a maximum range of 50 miles. Operational altitude is usually around 500 feet in altitude. Due to the electric motor, the Switchblade 600 is very quiet. The typical mission profile is to travel to a target area some 25 miles from the operator which consumes half of the battery power. This allows the Switchblade 600 to loiter over the area for another twenty minutes. Should a target make itself known, the operator directs the Switchblade 600 to it, the drone having dash speed of 115 miles per hour during the final attack run. The Switchblade 600 uses a warhead derived from the FGM-148F Javelin in that it is a multi-purpose so as to permit engagement of hard or soft targets. The warhead is HEAT (High-Explosive Anti-Tank) designed for anti-armor but it is sheathed in a steel case which produces fragmentation that is lethal to soft targets such as exposed personnel.
The launch tube, when man-packed, can be set up on the ground or it can be mounted on ground vehicles and even on aircraft (such as helicopters). The Switchblade 600 is controlled using a touch-screen tablet-style fire control system (FCS) and a long-range antenna. Video is fed to the FCS via a gimble-mounted Electro-Optical/Infra-Red (EO/IR) sensor suite in the nose of the drone. The operator can use “tap-to-target” guidance while manually operating the drone or the Switchblade 600 can be set to operate autonomously. The Switchblade 600 utilizes a “wave-off” capability which can be triggered by the operator if he or she observes friendly forces or non-combatants in the target area. This terminates the initial mission profile and allows the operator to either resume the original mission parameters or the operator can decide to engage other targets.
In order to reduce or eliminate electronic interference, the Switchblade 600 uses a AES-256 (Advanced Encryption Standard w/ 256-bit key) symmetric encryption algorithm to secure communication channels and maintain signal integrity. Also, the Switchblade 600 is equipped with a GPS (Global Positioning System) that makes use of a SAASM (Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module). The SAASM decrypts encrypted positioning data sent to the drone's GPS, protecting the information from injections of false data by enemy actors.
The Switchblade 600 has the ability to use a digital data link (DDL) that can extend the engagement range out to 56 miles. Typically, to use the DDL effectively, a second long-range antenna would need to be integrated into the system. This involves the second antenna being with another operator who is further forward in the field. As the Switchblade 600 approaches the second operator, control of the drone is handed off via the DDL from the original operator to the second operator who then assumes the conduct of the mission.
All told, the entire Switchblade 600 system (munition, launch tube, tablet, and one antenna) has a field weight of 50 pounds. Set-up time from the halt until launch readiness is 10 minutes with a trained crew.
