Switchblade 300

The Switchblade 300 is AeroVironment's backpackable loitering munition for platoon- and squad-level precision strike, built to give a single operator an immediate beyond-line-of-sight attack option against personnel, light vehicles, and fleeting targets. Launched from a compact tube and controlled through a tablet-based fire control unit, the munition provides real-time video, cursor-on-target GPS coordinates, and AeroVironment's wave-off-and-recommit capability, letting the operator abort or redirect an engagement in the final seconds if the tactical picture changes. The latest Block 20 configuration adds a higher-resolution EO/IR panning camera, longer endurance, and a modular payload bay that can be tailored for fragmentation or explosively formed penetrator effects.

Switchblade 300 first entered combat with US forces in Afghanistan and has since become one of the most widely recognized loitering munitions in Western service. The US Marine Corps selected the Block 20 variant for its Organic Precision Fires-Light program in 2024, and the system has also been supplied to Ukraine as part of US military aid. What makes the 300 strategically important is not raw payload size but the compression of reconnaissance, target confirmation, and precision strike into a munition small enough to carry in a rucksack and launch in under two minutes.