AeroVironment to produce 14,400 Switchblades loitering munitions per year in the US.

AeroVironment plans to increase the monthly production rate of its Switchblade loitering munitions to 1,200 units, resulting in an annual output of roughly 14,400 units.

On October 13, 2025, AeroVironment announced that it would increase the production of its Switchblade loitering munition to about 1,200 units per month, resulting in an annual output of roughly 14,400 units. To achieve this goal, AeroVironment will establish a FreedomWerx production facility in Salt Lake City, which is planned to begin operations between late 2026 and early 2027. This new factory will add new assembly, test, and integration lines to the company’s existing U.S. manufacturing network in Los Angeles, Simi Valley, and Arlington, as well as meet the US Army's future requirements.
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The Switchblade family includes the backpackable 300 Block 20 with an EFP payload, the LASSO-focused 400 (under 18 kg) with a Javelin-type warhead, and the long-endurance 600 Block 2 with M-code GPS, mesh radios and automated target recognition. (Picture source: AeroVironment)

AeroVironment describes the Salt Lake City FreedomWerx facility as adding assembly, testing, and component integration lines to its manufacturing footprint and expects the site to materially increase overall throughput. Current public figures and company statements show monthly Switchblade production in the low hundreds at established lines, and management has outlined ambitions to raise monthly output from roughly 500 units to several thousand as new lines come online. Some facilities have been engineered and certified to ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100D standards and were designed with ceilings cited at about 1,000 airframes per month. Company materials and background reporting reference plans and investor guidance that target aggregate Switchblade throughput in excess of 1,200 units per month as growth phases complete.

Earlier background reporting discussed more aggressive scale targets, including aspirational monthlies in the multiple thousands, though those larger figures are not uniformly documented as realized. The Salt Lake City site is described as a next-generation manufacturing node intended to relieve capacity pressure at Simi Valley and Los Angeles while enabling faster assembly flows and larger multi-shift operations. Management has indicated that the new lines will support higher volumes of component procurement, subassembly work, and final test with increased automation and standardized process controls. Those changes are intended to shorten lead times and allow the firm to respond to large DoD and allied orders as they materialize.

The Switchblade family itself has been expanded and differentiated into specific variants in recent years; the Switchblade 300 Block 20 adds a modular explosively formed penetrator payload to increase effect against hardened and armored targets while retaining a backpackable form and short setup times for a single operator. The Switchblade 400 is described as a medium-range, man-portable anti-armor option tailored to meet the Army’s LASSO requirement, with an all-up round mass reported below 40 pounds and a Javelin-type multipurpose warhead to provide standoff anti-armor effect for small units. The Switchblade 600 Block 2 is presented as a longer endurance, multi-domain configuration with encrypted M-code GPS, improved radios and mesh networking, automated target recognition, and a secondary payload bay for mission flexibility, and company statements set Block 2 deliveries to begin in early 2026.

Public and vendor descriptions attach specific performance figures to the variants, such as endurance, sprint speeds and handoff ranges that reflect design tradeoffs between portability, range, and warhead mass. The company has also described incremental software and hardware updates across the family to improve jamming resistance, sensor performance, and command and control interoperability. Product roadmaps emphasize modular open systems architectures to allow plug-and-play radios, sensors, and other components across variants to support different mission sets and export configurations. Those variant developments are explicitly linked to service requirements under LASSO, Replicator, and other US Army acquisition pathways.

Ukrainian forces have extensively used Switchblade systems in combat, and that battlefield use has shaped iterations such as the EFP payload for the 300 and software updates for the 600 to mitigate jamming and electronic attack. U.S. Army units have also conducted live-fire events, training integrations, and initial fielding under directed requirements, including incremental deliveries and tactical experimentation at installations such as Fort Hood and other training centers. AeroVironment has demonstrated multi-domain launch concepts and interoperability trials, including a test in which a Switchblade was launched from an MQ-9 Reaper in flight using a modified tube hung under the aircraft, and in which the Reaper satellite link was used for control handoff. The company has promoted launcher concepts ranging from individual tube launches to multipack launcher systems, vehicle-mounted banks, and sea-surface launch demonstrations, and it continues to test integration of launchers and fire control across ground, air, and maritime host platforms.

AeroVironment is emphasizing software, common user interfaces, and MOSA principles to reduce logistics burdens and speed integration with existing tactical C2 architectures. The new variants are presented as MOSA-aligned, using a common tablet-based fire control interface and software suite that the company positions for interoperability with fielded applications such as ATAK and Nett Warrior. Enhanced onboard processing and automatic target recognition have been cited as Block 2 features intended to support faster target handoff and autonomy-enabled functions while preserving operator in-the-loop authorities such as wave-off and recommit.

Communications improvements referenced across the family include encrypted GPS, resilient datalinks, and MANET or mesh radio options to support handoff and relay architectures for longer reach. The company has also described integration work on counter-UAS and broader C2 suites such as AV_Halo and Golden Dome initiatives that are meant to provide fused sensor pictures and facilitate coordinated defensive and offensive employment. These integration priorities are linked in vendor materials to reduced operator training burdens, common spare parts approaches, and faster fielding cycles via urgent acquisition pathways.

Fiscal 2024 revenue was reported at $716.7 million, an increase of 33 percent year-on-year, and a cited fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 revenue was $275.1 million, about 40 percent above the comparable quarter of the prior year. Funded backlog figures disclosed in investor materials moved from $400.2 million in April 2024 to $763.5 million in January 2025, reflecting more orders and program awards. The firm has referenced a contract vehicle with a ceiling near $990 million to supply Switchblade systems under Army-directed requirements and has positioned parts of its output to participate in the Replicator initiative that aims to deliver thousands of attritable systems across the services by 2027.

Company investor presentations and press materials have linked planned capacity expansions to specific Switchblade revenue targets, including a stated goal of more than $500 million in Switchblade product revenue in fiscal 2025 and a pathway toward $1 billion in annual Switchblade revenues at full production ramp. Background materials and prior reporting also note earlier ambition statements about raising small UAS production ceilings substantially, though not all aspirational monthlies cited in earlier commentary are documented as achieved.

The company AeroVironment was founded in 1971 and now operates multiple U.S. manufacturing sites that produce small and medium UAS, loitering munitions, and counter-UAS systems, with Simi Valley and Los Angeles cited as major production nodes and Arlington serving corporate and integration roles. Its facilities have been designed to accommodate significant monthly outputs, and the FreedomWerx Salt Lake City site is intended to bring additional high-volume assembly, test and component integration capability online in late 2026 or early 2027. The company has described multi-shift production plans, new assembly lines and standardized test fixtures to accelerate throughput while maintaining quality controls tied to aerospace standards. Those manufacturing changes are being coordinated with suppliers to scale parts supply and with DoD acquisition schedules to meet contract deliveries.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.