U.S. Sending Switchblade Drones To Hit Russian Tanks In Ukraine

The White House announced a new $800 million military support package for Ukraine in a bid to help that country fight back against the Russian invasion. Part of the aid package is for cutting-edge aerial drones that experts say could prove exceedingly lethal to Russian forces, Niamh Cavanagh reported for Yahoo News.

Photo Insert: The Switchblade 300 is built to hit smaller and more precise targets while the 600 is built to strike armored vehicles and tanks.

The list of weapons to be shipped, President Biden said, includes 9,000 anti-armor systems, 7,000 small arms, and 100 tactical unmanned aerial systems. A US official later confirmed to ABC News that the aerial systems to be sent would be small Switchblade drones.

Manufactured by the California firm AeroVironment, the drones come in two variations: The Switchblade 600 and the 300. The latter is built to hit smaller and more precise targets while the 600 is built to strike armored vehicles and tanks.

The 300 is less than 2 feet long, weighs 5.5 pounds, and can fly up to 15 minutes. The larger drone weighs 50 pounds and can fly for 40 minutes over a range of 25 miles. Both can be carried in a backpack and deployed by individual soldiers. It has not been confirmed whether both models will be included in the shipment.

According to its manufacturer, the drones can cruise at around 65 mph and come fitted with cameras and GPS systems. They are single-use, which means they explode after striking their target and are not recoverable. The Switchblades also have a “wave-off” feature so that operators can abort a mission if civilians appear near the target.

“These were designed for US Special Operations Command and are exactly the type of weapons systems that can have an immediate impact on the battlefield,” Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, told ABC News.

Ukraine’s drones have proved vital in carrying out successful attacks in the early stages of the invasion. Jack Watling of the London-based Royal United Services Institute told Euronews that Ukraine had used drones to strike Russian forces before they were able to set up their air defenses on the battlefield.

Watling went on to say that the Ukrainian army drones “have been essentially flying in at a low level and then coming up and raiding with them. So, they are striking targets of opportunity.”

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