Scoop: U.S. Army buying Switchblade drones for $186 million

Zoom in: AeroVironment will furnish for the Army Switchblade 600 Block 2s and armor-busting Switchblade 300 Block 20 Explosively Formed Penetrators.

• This is the first time the service is purchasing the latter.
• The company unveiled both configurations in October at the annual Association of the U.S. Army conference in Washington.

Zoom out: Militaries are increasingly turning to drones and other unmanned technologies to stalk and strike targets. (Replicator and Drone Dominance are among the Pentagon's recent mass-buying initiatives.)

• Switchblade has for years been used globally, including in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Flashback: AeroVironment scooped up BlueHalo, another defense contractor, in May. The acquisition was initially valued at $4.1 billion.

Go deeper: Laser weapon that shut down El Paso's skies was LOCUST system