AeroVironment is upgrading its Switchblade loitering munition.
The Block 10C upgrade improves control and communications with Switchblade, a loitering munition (popularly nicknamed a "kamikaze drone") that can orbit the battlefield until its ground controller guides it on to a target.
Switchblade will now incorporate a more secure digital data link. "The Block 10C upgrade also enables the concurrent operation of multiple Switchblade systems in the same vicinity without signal conflict, provides the opportunity to extend operational ranges significantly using another DDL arbiter, such as AeroVironment's Puma AE unmanned aircraft system, and facilitates the automatic communication of mission plans from one AeroVironment unmanned aircraft system to a Switchblade, also known as sensor to shooter operations," said an AeroVironment news release.
"Switchblade Block 10C will increase the capabilities of the warfighter in the field through encrypted operation and improved Army-wide frequency de-confliction and management," said Bill Nichols, with the Close Combat Weapons Systems (CCWS) program office in the Army's Program Executive Office Missiles and Space.
