‘It will save lives on the battlefield’: Fort Hood soldiers train on new Switchblade drone missile system
FORT HOOD, Texas (KWTX) - American soldiers are always looking for new ways to get the edge on the battlefield.
The 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team is training on the Switchblade 600 missile drone system.
It’s a remote-controlled missile that can travel more than 25 miles and take down heavy armored vehicles far from the front lines.
“There’s about a five pound payload from a Javelin anti-tank missile, onboard a battery-operated drone basically,” said Martin VanBuren, Flight Operations Supervisor with AeroVironment. “It’s about a 5-feet-long, 75-pound drone.”
According to AeroVironment, who makes the Switchblade, it has options other missiles don’t.
“This is one of the unique ones in the world that can actually fly and loiter for almost 45 minutes over a target, and then engage the target at that time,” said VanBuren. “At any time during the engagement process, the soldier can wave off of that engagement and cancel the engagement if he sees something that shouldn’t be targeted.”
The Switchblade launches from a tube but soldiers can control it from an observation point miles away, where they have roughly 40-minute of light time before they have to take out that target.
The Switchblade’s capabilities are giving soldiers an advantage they didn’t have before.
“The Switchblade system increases out lethality by enabling us to target individual vehicles and small groups of personnel at ranges further than we have been able to before,” said Cpt. Jefferey Weller, Commander of the Multifunctional Reconnaissance Troop, 2nd Brigade.
All while keeping operators like Specialist Drake Cross safe behind the line.
“You’re not putting soldiers’ lives at risk to move to move to a target,” said SPC Cross. “You can pin point a target, take out heavy armored vehicles, or light armored vehicles, or personnel. It has a multitude of uses , so, I think it’s going to save soldiers’ lives and make an impact on the battlefield.”
Once they’re done training with the Switchblade at Fort Hood, they will take it to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, where they will be the first Armored Brigade Combat Team to use this new technology at a large-scale exercise.
The Switchblade missile has only been used by small groups like special forces and in the war in Ukraine.
Now, soldiers are training to use it in large scale combat situations.
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