Buying guide
AeroVironment Switchblade (300/600) vs Archer in 2026
Comparing 2 humanoid robots across availability, pricing, capabilities, and verified deployments. Current as of 2026.
| Attribute | No image on file | No image on file |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | AeroVironment | Neros |
| Form factor | aerial | aerial |
| Maturity | production | commercial |
| Availability | internal-onlyenterprise | internal-onlyenterprise |
| Price | Not announced | Not announced |
| Capability claims | — | — |
| Brain | — | — |
| Verified deployments | 1Kyiv | 1El Segundo |
| Privacy practices | — | — |
| Sources on file | 5 | 5 |
Editorial summaries
AeroVironment Switchblade (300/600)
AeroVironment's Switchblade is a family of tube-launched loitering munitions: the Switchblade 300 (anti-personnel) and Switchblade 600 (anti-armor). These are military weapon systems, not consumer products, so there is no consumer price. They are mass-produced and supplied to the US Army under a nearly $1B IDIQ and sent to Ukraine; the US Army program of record is LMAMS (Lethal Miniature Aerial Missile System). As a legacy-prime loitering-munition archetype, the Switchblade is operator-launched and operator-committed to target: it is not a fully autonomous weapon, and the autonomy framing for loitering munitions is cap-flagged honestly. Recorded at production maturity on named contracts and combat fielding.
Archer
Neros' Archer is a first-person-view (FPV) strike quadcopter from the 2023-founded, Los-Angeles-based new-defense maker, sold to defense customers rather than consumers, so there is no consumer price. Its verified gating events are strong for so new a company: selection for the US Army's Purpose-Built Attritable Systems (PBAS) program Tranche 1 in November 2025 as one of three primary FPV makers, a multi-million-dollar Marine Corps Archer Strike contract in December 2025, and roughly 6,000 Archers fielded to Ukraine via the Ramstein drone coalition at about 1,500 per month. Two corrections the registry records and this page carries: the often-cited Replicator tie is not borne out (the verified program is Army PBAS plus Marine and DIU work), and the Archer is a human-piloted FPV drone, not autonomous (Series-B funds are earmarked for autonomy research that is aspirational, not fielded). Recorded at early commercial maturity on real product plus named contracts plus combat fielding; the aspirational scale figures (10,000 per month, one million per year) and the undisclosed PBAS value/quantity/timeline are not granted.
Machine-readable: this page as markdown.