There should be a Switchblade 400, essentially an elongated 300 (to launch from the same tubes) with a bigger battery and a HEAT warhead (AT4 or NLAW equivalent, or preferably somewhere in between) and a ~10-15 minute flight time. The munition should weigh around 5 to 6 pounds excluding the tube.

For comparison, the newest Block 20 Switchblade 300s have a flight time of 20 minutes, or about 30km range, with a ~200-300 g tungsten pellet anti-personnel warhead, and weigh 4 lbs each.

10 minutes of flight time is double that of currently fielded AT FPVs, and the Switchblade is a pusher prop that's faster by design. It also provides NLOS capability that most shoulder-fired systems of similar size and weight cannot.

Ideally, it would have a field-swappable payload to suit a wide variety of missions. The ~500-1000 g weight class is very versatile compared to the tiny 300 warhead and the highly specific use case of the 600.

>inb4 $60,000
That's the price for 10 drones, a controller, and probably even training. A single SB 300 munition costs significantly less than $6,000. That's for a loitering munition with thermals, datalink, and automated terminal targeting.

>>64073067 (OP)
>comparing a rotary wing drone with a fixed wing drone
Disingenuous of your part. And Ukrainians (actually both sides) are using fixed wings drones built with the same components as their quads, of course the range and payload are far better.

>>64073089
I didn't mean to bash FPVs, I just used them as a point of reference. They're pretty good and Western militaries would appreciate similar capabilities in a more compact form factor for some missions.
Are they going to transition to fixed wings for AT? They can't fully transition with the requirement for ambush missions and what have you ofc. I remember when the cardboard drones first came out.

>>64073146
>Are they going to transition to fixed wings for AT?
By the videos I've seen a realistic CEP is 1-2m that isn't enough to snipe a hatch, foxhole or pillbox. Maybe as heavier AT but FPVs are more universal than that and they aren't forced to move continuously at a speed that degrades their accuracy.

>>64073146
>similar capabilities
To clarify, I meant that the Switchblade 300 (or 400) would have a range and payload that's similar despite being smaller because fixed wings are more efficient.
>>64073182
I'm surprised they aren't using software terminal guidance more considering jamming and ground clutter etc.

impressive

>>64073965
This was unironically new and much safer than systems used in Ukraine. Still ineffective though. It was dumb to try and beat the Ruskis at their own smekalka shtick.

>>64073243
>I'm surprised they aren't using software terminal guidance more considering jamming and ground clutter etc.
AFAIK some Baltic country makes a quadcopter with their terminal guidance module that can be setup to go active on comms (radio or fiber optic) failure. The ones they make for Ukraine are made using as much Ukrainian parts as possible. Even had a NSN.

>https://www.janes.com/osint-insights/defence-news/air/australia-procures-switchblade-loitering-munition
>Front and rear wing area ~0.0760 m^2
The Switchblade 300 has a wing loading of around 22 kg/m^2 or slightly more.
If you're going to make it longer you should also have longer wings, since the current ones would work out to almost 33 kg/m^2 with a 2.5 kg gross weight. It could bump up your range too.

>>64073965
USA! USA! USA!

>>64073965
Do people understand that the US army is not at war? They have the luxury to take their time before going all in on a system, imagine if you ordered a billion fpv drones and in 6 months turns out they are all obsolete because of a new development?
People keep repeeating the "fight the last war" mistake and think they are smart, the army should look into drones obviously, but it should alsao look beyond them.

>>64076040
People do, orcs and slants don't

>>64076040
>>64076096
To be fair it was still a dumb social media post. Kegsbreath's drone dominance shit is embarrassing, he should leave it to the professionals.

>>64074746
Latvia, right? They really ramped up their manufacturing. Their drones are mainly equipping Madyar's Birds I think.

To be honest, I thought they were just another Russian-infiltrated shithole like Moldova.

>>64076459
I apologize, I don't remember which Baltic state it was but they had some major points going on that made me remember them:
>The ESC was made in the EU/avoided Chinese components as much as possible to the point they were saying they had none
>They had a fiber optic variant of their FPV drone
>And they offered a terminal guidance module for it and/or I don't remember if it could be fitted to other drones.
>The ones being shipped to Ukraine were built with as much made in Ukraine parts as possible
>Had a video of them charging 18650s in some Nitecore chargers jigged up using a little robo arm to un/load them for preparing them for pack assembly or something

Really slick modern looking website, Militarnyi or U24 or one of the Ukie defense news groups had an interview with one of their execs.

>>64073067 (OP)
this is absolutely essential desu, I don't know why the US keeps the Switchblade 300 around

>>64073067 (OP)
The loitering munition .... is the 21st Century equivalent of the mortar.

Soon, it will be as natural for us to see the loitering munition platoon as an integral part of an infantry company in the same way that the organic mortar or ATGM platoon is. In fact, the loitering munition will eventually be able to replace both.

In time, instead of a grenade launcher, every rifleman may even handcarry a packed FPV drone which can be used to drop explosives on the heads of the enemy. Signallers will not need to carry a sognal set or anntenae, a loitering UAV overhead will be able to function as a aerial rebro station. Forward air controllers will be obsolete as the UAV takes over. Commanders will not need a GPS, compass or binoculars, the UAV offers unlimited and unhindered line of sight as a navigation aid. UAVs will be able to carry out resupply missions by delivering ammunition, rations, and medical supplies to isolated units.

Eventually ..... we may not even need to carry toilet paper into the field. The UAV will wipe our asses and act as a flying bidet

>>64079211
Can't tell if serious or joking, but FPVs really aren't the best way about this. What really makes them is their pilots, since like 80% of FPV sorties fail due to technical reasons and another 10% if they can't find a target or whatever
It seems they're mostly used for double-tapping targets already hit by artillery nowadays, really not an effective strategy for countries with adequate numbers of effective weapons, air support, and BDA

>>64076040
Do muttmericans understand that cope like that makes them look like brown street-shitters in the eyes of white people?
Take an L, shut the fuck up, and stop digging yourself in even further, you fucking embarrassment.

>>64078489
Ukrainian FPVs are bulky, fragile, janky things which weigh 15+ pounds.
A S300 weighs 5 pounds, is drop-proof, and you can stuff three or four in a rucksack and go.

So it's a surprisingly good system from the perspective of on-foot infantry carrying their own supplies. Actually working every time, generic controllers and having double the range doesn't hurt either.

>>64073965
Switchblade was first used as LMAMS circa 2010 four years before Russia invaded Ukraine for the first time.

>>64081119
Yeah, FPVs aren't the future for the US, but a bigger Switchblade 300 would be a massive upgrade. It would be able to keep up in an actual war
Some Ukrainian FPVs are used for assassination and attacks against infantry, and Switchblade 300 does that well, but a slightly bigger one with a multipurpose warhead would be fantastic, especially if it didn't weigh much more and could be launched from the same tubes. It would be more like a beyond-line-of-sight guided AT4, insane capability.

>>64076040
>not at war
explain this then. Last time I've heard the Houthi did not surrender. Did you losen again?

>>64073067 (OP)
>>64081339
Something like this could complement/replace the M224 in the company fire support support role. Assuming the Switchblade's cost can be brought down to something like $2000, it would even compete in price. It has at least 3 times the range too.

Shit, the current Switchblade 300 could do it. The M888 round has 360 grams of filler and weighs 4 lbs.

>>64073067 (OP)
Way to predict an average iterative upgrade anom, one day they will make a 16 ounce beer!

>>64083166
Do note that the SB300's payload figure is an estimate and includes the tungsten pellets, so your mortar bomb has 4 lbs of shrapnel. But the accuracy makes up for it.
>>64083185
I'm glad you think it's an upgrade, but the frustrating part is that it will likely never actually happen. The closest thing payload-wise is the Altius-M and it's much bigger and higher endurance, longer range, and exclusively vehicle deployed.

Pic unrel. Anduril Ghost, cool looking surveillance thingy. Anduril probably hires actual video game concept artists.

>>64081119
>$500
>$50000

>>64083908
retard

>>64076640
>>The ESC was made in the EU/avoided Chinese components as much as possible to the point they were saying they had none
Tangential, but Ukes are starting to think chink suppliers are intentionally sabotaging them
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2025/07/24/ukraines-upgraded-fiber-drones-are-deadlier-at-longer-ranges/

>>64083908
Imagine you need ordnance and your stolem Uhaul full of cheap drones all rattled themselves apart. Now imagine having a helo drop off 100 bombproof design drones that you can hammer nails with and still work.

>>64086200
Switchblades 300s cost $6000 at most as the OP said, ten times as expensive as FPV drones, but more than ten times as effective.

>>64086200
Switchblades 300s cost -at most- $6000. Ten times the price of FPV drones, but more than ten times the value. The price shouldn't matter as much anyway because America won't use them as the main means of indirect fires.

>>64083908
>MBA brain
In infantry world the currency is pounds not dollars. A 5lb drone that does the same thing as a 15lb drone is a third the cost, so you can have triple the effect for the same price.

>>64073965
Wow, they got a drone to drop a grenade, just like Ukraine has been doing for three years, and just like ISIS was doing a decade ago.

>>64081544
The point wasn't to make the houthis surrender lol who the fuck has ever surrendered to an air strike

>>64086951
>he doesn't know tricks exist

>>64086517
>Switchblades 300s cost -at most- $6000.
Citation from the budget article?

>>64074746
>>64073243
>Optical terminal guidance and image recognition
Both sides have been using this to some extent for at least 18 months now. I understand why they'd want to keep the public details to minimum. There was a news article published in early 2024 about some of the Ukrainian efforts regarding this and iirc it even showed a demo video of an overhead flight showing how the drone was able to recognize different vehicles (heavy tank, truck, ifv etc) and showed the confidence value between 0-1

>>64089001
OP here, I checked and I was dead wrong. A lot of, or I daresay most early reporting claimed a $6,000 dollar price for the 300 (I think I first read this on NBC and later saw it on Wikipedia), but Forbes and 19FortyFive said this figure was a myth in their analysis of Switchblade, it is indeed an order of magnitude more expensive. AVAV's CEO even said the 300's sticker price was in the 'tens of thousands', and he was meant to sweeten the pot here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wT5rbox2oU

I still like it, but I wouldn't pay more than $15,000 for the capability. I think the Army feels the same way, though they definitely won't be able to get very many with it being priced like this.

>>64089532
It's probably price gouging. There's no reason for the Switchblade to cost this much.
It's an interesting but underexplored field, and some offerings look like scams. The closest thing to SB300 is the Turkish Alpagu and the SB600-sized Uvision Hero-30. I don't believe half the specs of picrel.

>woww why dont amelica just zip tie bomb to rc helicopter?

because every training accident is a scandal here

>>64086185
There's been a lot of peddling about how China laughs at Russia and wants their land back which to degrees are true. There is however some nuance that normies and whatnot miss which is China's relationship with Russia is kind of close to the ones that the Nazis and Soviets had: Fuck everyone else over then they respectively thought they'd be the last one standing after knifing the other in the back. China's going to do Russia a solid (sub-sanctions levels of exposure of course when it comes to supplier favoritism, supplying no-no goods in plausible-deniable numbers, etc) and then try to lead them into getting mulched elsewhere before they knife them in the back. Conversely, Russia thinks they can drag China into this and get them fucked over by the ire of the US.

>>64095081
>Conversely, Russia thinks
Schizo hallucinations in Russians heads cant be called thinking.

>>64095297
I mean sure that's what the nutty clown show of advisors around monke deludeink themselves into:
https://api.army.mil/e2/c/downloads/2025/07/11/f2b1e75e/how-russia-fights-a-compendium-of-troika-observations-on-russia-s-special-military-operations.pdf
>War in Ukraine, according to Trenin, is being used by the US and its allies as a tool "to exclude Russia from world politics as an independent factor, and to completely destroy the Russian economy... to finally resolve the "Russia question" and create favorable prospects for victory in the confrontation with China".
>“A nuclear strike on the territory of Ukraine will not stop anyone, a strike on the territory of Europe will not be considered critical, but a strike on the territory of the United States is another matter. Which is why it is important to return a sense of fear to geopolitics.”
>Trenin believes only a strike that hits U.S.
territory will get the West’s attention.

>dude, lmao eurasianism with china
>but dude lmao let's also solve the final chinese question afterwards
They sure something potent when Dugin farts on the krokodil and they try to do neo-Molotov–Ribbentrop.

>>64095366
Like i said its completely schizo rumbling in Russian echo chamber of suppressed free speech.
They are just clowns entertaining Tsar

BTW i greatly recommend to watch this movie for all slavboos wanting to touch genuine Russian culture and soul. Its sincere movie.

>>64073067 (OP)
HERE'S YER SWITCHBLADE 400... 400 SWITCHBLADES FLYIN OUTTA SERGEI'S ASS

>>64073067 (OP)
There's a weight tradeoff because batteries are relatively power-weak next to gas. S300 was optimized against troops in the open. DFCs are ~8x more efficient than an omnidirectional warhead. But to fill the infantry goal of an all-purpose shoot that room HE-frag you need about a kg, which feeds back for less range.

>>64096120
That's the idea: bigger warhead + bigger airframe -> much less range
+ bigger battery -> moderately less range
SB300 = 20 min
SB400 = 10 min

>>64076459
Latvia's a miracle when you think about it, place was almost 50% non-Latvian at 1989, their capital is still 50% Russian speaking, yet they managed to bounce back to 75% with Latvians having control back of the country since independence.

>>64097519
I gained a lot of respect for the Baltics as of late, Latvia especially. Lithuania and Estonia have their geographic and cultural proximity to other European states and seemingly better integration with the EU, Latvia has nothing of the sort and much more vatnigs to boot. They deserve a break.

>>64073067 (OP)
A PG-7VL warhead weights 5.7lb and you think the whole thing it going to weight 6lb?

>>64098003
Yeah, 8lb is more realistic, maybe 10

>>64073067 (OP)
The Switchblade 300 Block 20 already has an EFP warhead.
>The Switchblade Block 20 system significantly expands on the currently fielded Switchblade 300 capabilities, including armor penetrating capability through an Explosively Formed Penetrator (EFP) warhead, increased target attack angle, and significantly greater battery life, flight endurance, and radio link range.
https://www.avinc.com/resources/press-releases/view/avs-switchblade-300-selected-for-u.s-marine-corps-organic-precision-fires-light-program/

>>64098201
there is a safe harbor disclaimer but I doubt it applies to the warhead