AeroVironment has announced a major production ramp-up for its Switchblade family of loitering munitions. On October 13, 2025, the company revealed plans to boost monthly output to 1,200 units, bringing annual production to roughly 14,400 systems. To achieve this, AeroVironment will establish a FreedomWerx manufacturing facility in Salt Lake City, expected to begin operations between late 2026 and early 2027.
The new plant will expand the company’s U.S. production network—which currently includes Los Angeles, Simi Valley, and Arlington—by adding assembly, testing, and integration lines to meet future U.S. Army requirements. Current lines produce a few hundred units per month, but AeroVironment’s roadmap targets a several-thousand-unit monthly capacity once all new lines come online.
Facilities built to ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100D aerospace standards are designed for scalability, with ceilings cited at roughly 1,000 airframes per month. Investor materials suggest total throughput will exceed 1,200 units monthly as the Salt Lake City expansion reaches full stride.
The Switchblade Family
AeroVironment’s Switchblade portfolio has evolved into a multi-tiered product family:
- Switchblade 300 Block 20 adds an EFP (Explosively Formed Penetrator) warhead for greater lethality against armored targets while retaining backpack portability.
- Switchblade 400 is a medium-range, man-portable anti-armor system aligned with the U.S. Army’s LASSO program, equipped with a Javelin-type warhead and weighing under 18 kg.
- Switchblade 600 Block 2 extends endurance and incorporates M-code GPS, mesh radios, and automated target recognition; deliveries are expected in early 2026.
Across the lineup, incremental hardware and software upgrades enhance jam resistance, sensor performance, and command-and-control interoperability. The entire series follows MOSA (Modular Open Systems Architecture) principles, enabling plug-and-play integration of radios, sensors, and control software for mission-specific and export variants.
Field experience from Ukraine has directly influenced updates to the Switchblade line — such as the EFP payload for the 300 and anti-jamming software for the 600. The U.S. Army continues to test and field these systems across training installations including Fort Hood, supporting live-fire events and tactical experiments.
Financial Outlook
For Fiscal Year 2024, AeroVironment reported revenue of $716.7 million, a 33% year-over-year increase. Q4 FY2025 revenue rose about 40% from the prior year to $275.1 million. The company’s funded backlog nearly doubled, from $400.2 million (April 2024) to $763.5 million (January 2025), highlighting strong demand and new program awards.
AeroVironment currently operates under a $990 million ceiling contract to supply Switchblade systems for Army-directed programs and aims to support the Replicator initiative, which envisions fielding thousands of attritable drones by 2027. Management has set ambitious financial targets — over $500 million in Switchblade revenue for FY2025 and $1 billion annually at full production ramp.
Founded in 1971, AeroVironment manufactures small and medium UAS, loitering munitions, and counter-UAS systems across several U.S. sites. The upcoming FreedomWerx Salt Lake City facility is designed as a high-volume production hub, adding new multi-shift assembly lines and advanced automation to speed throughput and maintain aerospace-grade quality. These manufacturing upgrades will synchronize with suppliers and DoD acquisition schedules to meet accelerating domestic and allied demand.
