Watch the First Confirmed Use of a Tank-Busting Switchblade-600 Drone In Ukraine

Shortly after being attacked by a kamikaze drone—or “loitering munition” in industry-speak—Russian forces in Ukraine recorded themselves picking over the wreckage of the killer robot. That footage reveals the first confirmed use of the tank-busting Switchblade-600 drone that the U.S. first ordered for delivery to Ukraine last year. (This has been misidentified by some observers as an Israeli HERO loitering munition; that craft has a different tail configuration).

Just a few weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 23, 2022, the Biden administration announced it was sending hundreds of Switchblade systems to Ukraine. That refers to a tiny flying drone named after its folding wings that weighs just 5.55 pounds. It can be launched out of a two-foot launch tube into the air, remotely piloted and ultimately instructed to dive towards enemy personnel and detonate a small grenade-like charge, releasing a shotgun spray of shrapnel in a specific direction.

The expendable drones have an endurance of 10-15 minutes, a cruising speed of a mile per minute, and a maximum range of 6 miles. Controlled by a tablet tap-style interface, they can also abort an attack run should circumstances change, and loiter overhead until a clear target presents itself.

In the 2010s, U.S. troops found the backpack-able Switchblade-300 useful while combating Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan thanks to its portability, precision and ability to limit risks of collateral damage to civilians.

However, the little weapon was less ideal for high-intensity warfare in Ukraine, given the importance of targeting Russian armored vehicles and, especially, artillery systems a greater distance from the frontline. The few videos released of Switchblade-300 strikes in Ukraine show a focus targeting individual personnel. Reportedly, they’ve also been used to target fuel trucks, machine gun nests, and trench positions.

Back in 2020, though, AeroVironment announced it had developed a larger, 120-pound model called the Switchblade-600 to hit tougher targets with the same tandem shaped charge warhead used by the portable Javelin missile to defeat Russian tank armor. While the Switchblade-600 is much slower than a Javelin missile at 70 miles per hour, it can travel a lot further (ordinarily 24 miles maintaining the command link, or 50-56 miles using relays), fly for longer (40 minutes), and hit just as hard.

This Switchblade-600 could therefore be used to take out tanks, artillery, and air defense systems well behind the frontline. The added range and endurance also make it more useful for reconnaissance.

There’s reason to think the Switchblade began its combat employment prior to April.

Notably, a video shared by Ukraine’s military early in March showed a loitering drone attack by Ukrainian Special Operations Forces that disabled a truck-based launcher—part of a Russian S-300V4 long-range air defense system. It appears to show a Switchblade-style targeting interface, but hits hard enough to suggest a more powerful weapon than a Switchblade-300. Furthermore, an S-300V would ordinarily be deployed further back than a Switchblade-300 could fly.

Bigger Is Better? Enter Switchblade-600

Arguably, Russia’s most demonstrably successful weapon in its shambolic Ukraine invasion has proven to be its Lancet-3 kamikaze drones. By April of 2022, they have been recorded destroying or damaging around 50 towed or self-propelled artillery systems well behind the frontline, including several sophisticated types supplied by the West. And that’s after counting out dozens of missed Russian drone attacks also recorded on camera.

Thus, in the spring of 2022, the U.S. placed a $2.2 million initial order for ten Switchblade-600 systems. However, it turned out that this inventory would need to be built from scratch, as the -600 model hadn’t begun production and AeroVironment only had a modest number on hand.

While waiting, the Pentagon focused on giving Ukraine a still mysterious anti-vehicle kamikaze drone called Phoenix Ghost. At least 1,800 were reportedly transferred to Ukraine over the last year. Allegedly proven successful with a 60% kill rate, the Ghost has yet be identified in public imagery.

The first Switchblade 600s reportedly arrived in Ukraine in November or December of 2022. Then, on February 24, the U.S. announced a new delivery of Switchblade-600s as part of a $2 billion arms package without specifying quantity.

Ukraine already fields a diverse menagerie of surveillance and attack drones, some designed originally for military use like Soviet target drones, others civilian UASs that have been field-modified for combat—especially First-Person View racing drones modified into kamikaze weapons.

Besides U.S. Switchblades, Ukraine has also received purpose-built loitering munitions from Poland (Warmate) and the United Kingdom and Australia (DefendTex D40).The country also manufactures some of its own, including the RAM II and the ST-35. In April, the hitherto unknown Ukrainian company called One Way Aerospace revealed it had been delivering a loitering munition called the Scalpel since 2022, which is being used in combat.

Thus, the impact Switchblade-600’s arrival in theater depends on whether Ukraine has received them in sufficient quantity (we’re talking hundreds at a minimum), as well as to what extent they prove qualitatively superior to Ukraine’s many improvised loitering munition solutions in terms of range, accuracy and resistance to jamming. That last factor is likely responsible for the majority of drone losses in the conflict.

If Ukraine has only received the initial 10 systems, then they’re simply undergoing small-scale operational testing. But it’s possible the February order has resulted in a larger volume delivery since.

An AeroVironment executive stated last October that the company had capacity to produce 2,000 Switchblade-600s annually, and plans to triple that production rate with additional factory lines and facilities.

Those numbers suggest a much higher level of ongoing procurement than has been publicly verified, though Lithuania is known to have ordered Switchblade-600s for its armed forces too. According to Jane’s, however, General Dynamics is struggling to source materials to build warheads for both types of Switchblades fast enough—a bottle neck it hopes to unblock by mid-2023.

Future of the Switchblade

In March, AeroVironment unveiled an enhanced Block 20 version of the smaller Switchblade-300, with twice the endurance (20 minutes) and a more flexible optical/infrared camera with improved reconnaissance functionality, including generating GPS targeting coordinates.

Another curious spinoff of Switchblade is the unarmed Blackwing drone, designed to be launched from a submarine for surface reconnaissance—a capability that Navy submariners are reportedly enthusiastic about.

A peculiar hybrid vertical-takeoff drone being supplied to Ukraine called the AeroVironment Jump 20 can also be adapted to carry and air-launch Switchblade-300 and, possibly, Switchblade-600 munitions, effectively extending their range and endurance.

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