Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
AeroVironment Seeks To Grow 'Switchblade' Missile Business
The supplier of small unmanned aircraft systems to the U.S. military is developing new variants of its Switchblade expendable flying missile.
AeroVironment displayed Switchblade and its launcher at the Unmanned Systems conference in Atlanta this week. (Photo: Bill Carey)
AeroVironment displayed Switchblade and its launcher at the Unmanned Systems conference in Atlanta this week. (Photo: Bill Carey)

The manufacturer that has supplied most of the small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) the U.S. military uses also has a tactical missile systems business. AeroVironment’s Switchblade is an expendable, “backpackable” UAS with an explosive warhead that can be flown into targets. It can be configured for other missions and scaled to larger sizes, attributes AeroVironment hopes to exploit to build the business.