American company plans to manufacture Switchblade 600 drones in Ukraine - mass media
American AeroVironment has signed an agreement with a Ukrainian company to localize the production of Switchblade 600 kamikaze drones.
This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to "Military".
The contract was concluded at the International Forum of Defense Industries in Kyiv. The signatory Ukrainian company is not named for security reasons.
Bret Hush, senior vice president and general manager of AeroVironment's barrage strike systems division, commented that the cooperation with the Ukrainian company will be phased.
"It's going to start with, essentially, the components of the subsystems being shipped... So it's going to start with a very simple integration. And then over time we'll localize more and more systems and refine the complex so that it's better than it is today," – he explained.
The treaty has to be approved by the US government, which both countries are working on. It can take about 9 months. They plan to make several thousand Switchblade 600s per year.
Hush noted that the Ukrainian military is not using the Switchblade 600 barrage munition as intended. From the beginning, these weapons were provided to American special forces for conducting irregular combat operations and hitting moving targets. The Ukrainian military uses this weapon to destroy targets worth 20-25 million dollars, for example, the Pantsir or S-300 air defense systems.
What is known about Switchblade drones
Switchblade is a family of small kamikaze drones developed by AeroVironment.
The small version of the Switchblade 300 drone weighs only 2.7 kg, can fly 10 km and can be controlled for up to 10 minutes. Its task is to increase the combat power of the infantry. The larger Switchblade 600 drone weighs 23 kg, can fly 40 km in 20 minutes and barrage for 20 minutes. Carries a Javelin-type warhead capable of hitting armored vehicles.
