'Kamikaze' aircraft slams into targets.

• Author: Wright, Austin
• Position: TECHWIRE

* Tim Owings, deputy project manager for Army unmanned aircraft systems, calls it a "kamikaze" aircraft.

Promotional material on the manufacturer's website describes it as a "magic bullet."

The Switchblade, produced by California-based AeroVironment, is a battery-powered mini-unmanned aircraft equipped with surveillance cameras.

But it also carries a small warhead. And it can fold its wings back and slam into a target like a missile.

Once engaged, the Switchblade locks on the target and flies autonomously toward it, exploding on impact.

"Infantrymen can take it out of a backpack, put it in the tube and use it as a weapon immediately," says Stephanie Folster, a marketing coordinator at AeroVironment. "Lots of companies have contacted us with the idea of adding it to an aircraft or larger [unmanned system]."

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