Switchblade 600 to be produced in Ukraine, agreement signed

According to Brett Hush, Senior Vice President and General Manager of AeroVironment's Barrage Strike Systems Division, cooperation with the Ukrainian company will be phased. It will start with the shipment of subsystem components, i.e., simple integration. Later, more and more systems will be localized, and the complex will be improved to make it even better.

In particular, the agreement between AeroVironment and the Ukrainian company must be approved by the United States government. Both countries are currently working on this. This, in turn, will take about 9 months.

The volume of future production was not disclosed, however, Hash said that it would be several thousand Switchblade 600s per year.

In particular, the general manager adds that his company is working on simplifying the operation of Switchblade. The effectiveness of its use can be improved if training is conducted directly in Ukraine.

“In accordance with 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 of 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 explains.

Arms production in Ukraine

During the full-scale war, Ukraine increased the pace of domestic weapons production. As an example, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine is capable of producing 4 million drones annually. He also recently announced the successful flight test of a ballistic missile.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced a major Ukrainian missile program.