Ireland Degges
AeroVironment has received an initial order under a potential $249 million U.S. Marine Corps contract supporting the Organic Precision Fires-Light program of record.
In this first stage of the project, AV will deliver its Switchblade 300 Block 20 loitering munition system, which will provide the USMC with organic, anti-armor/anti-personnel precision fires capability at the tactical level, AV announced from Arlington, Virginia on Thursday.
Brett Hush, senior vice president of LMS at AV, said the company’s “battle-proven and production-ready system” as well as “mature and trusted manufacturing capability combined with world-class training and support” will properly equip Marine Infantry for the fight.
“With over 6,000 Switchblade loitering missiles tested, produced, and fielded, AV is in a unique position to offer revolutionary organic precision fire capabilities to the USMC, leveraging the proven reliability, producibility and supportability of current Switchblade programs,” he elaborated.
The Switchblade 300 Block 20 is a response to OPF-L’s call for an individually operated, man portable loitering munition. It includes a lightweight, precision-guided capability against beyond-line-of-sight adversaries and offers a new armor penetrating capability as well as an increased target attack angle and improved battery life, flight enduring and radio link range.
The Switchblade 300 has been used in combat theaters for more than 10 years, and the Block 20 edition of this technology builds on user feedback and lessons learned from combat deployments and the Ukraine conflict.
