American company to produce Switchblade 600 kamikaze drone in Ukraine

3 October 07:58

The American company AeroVironment has signed an agreement to localise the Switchblade 600 in Ukraine. This is reported by Komersant UkrainianKomersant Ukrainian with reference to Militarny.

Senior Vice President and General Manager of AeroVironment’s Barrage Strike Systems Division Brett Hash said that cooperation with the unnamed Ukrainian company will be phased.

“It will start with the fact that, in fact, subsystem components will be shipped… So, it will start with a very simple integration. And then over time, we will localise more and more systems and improve the complex so that it becomes better than it is today,” he explained.

The agreement has to be approved by the US government, and both countries are working on it. This may take about nine months. As for the volume of future production, the company did not name a figure. However, the company’s representative noted that it should be several thousand Switchblade 600s per year.

AeroVironment is working on simplifying the operation of the Switchblade. Hash noted that there is different feedback on the effectiveness of the application from different departments.

However, the result can be improved with the help of training, which should be conducted directly in Ukraine.

“Today, according to US policy, training is carried out outside Ukraine. So operators have to travel to Poland, where we have the right to conduct training, or to other places outside Ukraine. We are trying to lobby our government to get permission for instructors to come to Ukraine. I have a few people now, but they can’t teach. They can only listen and get feedback. I think it will make a big difference if we simplify the process,” he added.

Дзвенислава Карплюк
Editor