It has been confirmed that the United States government is sending a suicide drone in the latest arms aid package to Ukraine. The drone is called the Switchblade.
President Joe Biden has approved the assistance of the drones, also dubbed the kamikaze drones. Assistant US Department of Defense, Celeste Vallander stated that the drone will be very useful for Ukraine in the face of a Russian attack.
"We have committed to provide 100 Switchblade tactical drones to include in the new package," he said, as quoted by CNBC, Thursday (31/3/2022).
"We listen to Ukrainians and we take their requests very seriously," he added.
The drone is reportedly ready to be given to the Ukrainian military to use. Switchblade drones thus, could be one of the mainstay weapons for Ukraine in attacking Russian convoys. Drones have become a powerful weapon in this conflict.
There are two types of drones. The Switchblade 300 which is quite small is designed to target human personnel, while the larger Switchblade 600 is intended to destroy tanks and similar vehicles.
This Switchblade drone is made by the AeroVironment company and is dubbed the 'kamikaze' drone because it can hit its target with a high warhead so that both are destroyed.
Basically this drone is a smart robotics bomb. Among other things, it is equipped with cameras, guidance systems and of course warheads to immobilize targets.
Then the Switchblade can be programmed to automatically go to targets that are located quite far away. This drone can also maneuver first while waiting for the right time to crash.