The US Army has purchased Switchblades to send to Ukraine. (AeroVironment Inc)
The US Army recently awarded AeroVironment a contract that could be worth up to USD990 million to deliver more Switchblade loitering munitions for its Lethal Unmanned Systems (LUS), but work has been stopped on the award, according to the company.
Mistral Inc – which represents unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufacturer UVision in the United States – filed a protest against the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) award that was announced on 27 August, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The nearly USD1 billion award is part of the Low Altitude Stalking and Strike Ordnance (LASSO) programme to “further” increase production capacity for the Switchblade 600 Block 1 loitering munition, Alton Stewart, Programme Executive Office Soldier spokesperson, told Janes in a 13 September statement.
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the protest was filed with an expected decision date of 16 December. “The US Army has issued a stop-work order on the contract and the delivery order issued,” while the protest is considered, according to AeroVironment's filing.
Mistral Inc – which is on contract to deliver Hero-120 loitering munitions to the army separately – filed the protest, a GAO representative confirmed to Janes on 19 September. The GAO is required by law to respond within 100 calendar days, according to its website.
Stewart declined to say for which increment of LASSO AeroVironment was awarded. The company announced that it was selected for tranche 1 of the DoD's Replicator accelerator programme in May 2024.
The “rapid fielding” of the Switchblade 600 will help “capture lessons learned”, Stewart told Janes .
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