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After ‘Super Success’ In Ukraine, France Wants To Buy ‘Angry Bird’ Switchblade Drones From US — Reports

According to the latest reports, the French Army is looking to add the US-made Switchblade Munitions to its arsenal.

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The Chief of Plans at French Army headquarters, Colonel Arnaud Goujon, said on June 13 that the service plans to add loitering munition to its inventory within the next six months. He also mentioned the Switchblade loitering munition offered by the US manufacturer AeroVironment.

On June 21, the French Armed Forces Ministry confirmed the country is in the process of launching a Foreign Military Sales request “for the acquisition of Switchblade remote-operated ammunition,” reported Defense News

“This launch aims to set up a first urgent capacity for the benefit of the French forces,” the ministry wrote in an email to Defense News.




SWITCHBLADE-DRONE
Switchblade 300 loitering munition. (via Twitter)

“You need something different than a mortar or an artillery shell,” Colonel Goujon told reporters during the Eurosatory Expo. “If it is the same price of a mortar round that goes about three kilometers away and flies for 15 minutes, then it’s interesting,” he said.

However, if it costs ten times as much as a mortar or an artillery round with the same range, then it’s not as interesting, Goujan added.

If the weapon can fly 30 or 50 kilometers away and endure for two to four hours, “then it’s a different animal,” he said.

Switchblades In Spotlight

The news comes after several reports of success enjoyed by the Switchblade munitions in the ongoing Ukraine war following the Biden administration’s decision to supply the Ukrainian Army with hundreds of these weapons.

The war in Ukraine has put a spotlight on Switchblade munitions that were not much known earlier despite being used by the US military, for example, in Afghanistan against the Taliban, who referred to the weapon as an “angry bird” or a “buzzing bee,” according to Wahid Nawabi, the Afghan-born CEO of AeroVironment.

AeroVironment’s loitering munitions have been “out of public view for many years” despite being used for more than a decade by the US Army, noted Charles Dean, the company’s vice president of global business development for unmanned systems.

“But with the crisis in Ukraine and the donation by the US government of our loitering munitions to support the Ukrainians, many more people are aware of these systems,” Dean told Defense News.

The company provides two variants of the munition: Switchblade 300 and an extended range Switchblade 600 munition.

Switchblade 300 vs. Switchblade 600

The Switchblade 300 weighs 2.5 kilograms, including the warhead; it has a range of 10 kilometers and an endurance of 15 minutes. The company says the system can be set up in less than two minutes.

It has cameras on board but is often used with a mini surveillance drone for better battlefield awareness. The two drones are integrated with sensor-to-shooter software that enables instant transfer of target coordinates from the surveillance drone to the Switchblade 300.

It can be used for pinpoint strikes against enemy personnel.

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