There’re drones that fire missiles and then there’re ones that are missiles themselves, these are called kamikaze or suicide drones. Kamikaze drones are unmanned aircraft that are part of the tranche of weapons that are being sent by the US to Ukraine to assist their fight against Russia.
Following Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s passionate speech amid Russian forces pushing to encircle major cities, US President Joe Biden announced $800 million in new military aid for Ukraine and also quoted “This new package on its own is going to provide unprecedented assistance to Ukraine”
This military aid includes 800 additional stinger anti-aircraft missiles, 9000 antitank weapons, 100 tactical drones, and a range of small arms including a machine gun and grenade launcher.
What’re Kamikaze drones?
Made by Aero Vironment Inc. also known as “Switchblade drones” (due to their blade-like wing spring out on launch) has been used by the US commandos since it was secretly sent to Afghanistan in 2010 for use against the Taliban.
These small unmanned aircraft that’s packed with explosives can be flown directly at a tank or a group of troops that’s deployed when it hits the target and explodes.
This single-use weapon is way cheaper than predator drones and also comes in two sizes such as:
- The “Switchblade 300” weighs about five pounds, flies up to 15 minutes at a time, and is designed to be carried in a backpack that can assist small infantry units while tracking the Russian movements.
- The “Switchblade 600” weighs about 50 pounds, flies up to 40 minutes, and is known as a “loitering missile” that can target armored vehicles.
The drones have the capability of going past traditional defenses to strike their targets costing only a fraction of what the larger counterparts do.
People around the world are accustomed to images of Hellfire missiles raining down from predator and Reper drones to hit targets but the drone war has changed as the $6000 Kamikaze drones are fast replacing the $150000 predators.
Technical specification of Kamikaze drones
These small but lethal drones are difficult to detect on the radar with the capabilities of being programmed to hit the targets based on facial recognition without any human intervention. For example: – it can kill the driver of the vehicle but not the passenger and in case of misfire or a risk to civilians, the weapon can be “waved off” up to two seconds before impact.
The operator of the switchblade can set the blast radius, featuring a camera that shows the target seconds before impact. Aero Vironment Inc. Claims the drone cruises at 63 miles per hour and provides “operators with real-time video down-links for a centralized view of the area of operation.
The US is not the only one
Although Kamikaze drones might be the most advanced out of all drones, countries may not have kamikaze but have some version of them. According to the US military, Iran-backed militias have used small drones in 10 attacks this year on US bases in Iraq.
Last year Azerbaijan had used small Turkish-made drones against the Armenian military, bringing a decisive end to a stalemate over a disputed enclave that had gone on for years. There have been multiple occasions where Russia has used such drones to launch attacks in Ukraine following their invasion.
Published By: JAINAM SHETH
Edited By : KRITIKA KASHYAP
