need them urgently for u.s. troops overseas. reporter: a new kind of weapon presenting a new kind of risk both abroad and at home. ken delainen, dougway proving ground, utah. ken, thank you. that s going to do it for me today. hallie jackson picks up our coverage next.
nbc s ken de lane yan got a demonstration back in december. reporter: amid the quiet beauty of the utah desert, a deadly new kind of weapon on display. nbc news got an exclusive look at a so-called killer drone. it doesn t fire a missile. it is the missile. this is about the size of a toy drone i bought my 12-year-old a few years ago. reporter: the switchblade can be carried into bat until a backpack and launched miles away from a threat. wauns target is identified the switchblade can find and kill it in minutes. launching. reporter: the drone s manufacturer showed us how an operator. starting our turn. reporter: can put a switchblade through the window of a truck. onboard cameras capture the moment before impact. how far away was the switch blaids when it took the picture? three meters from the target. reporter: $6,000 each, the switchblade costs a fraction of the $150,000 hellfire missiles fired from larger military