The American company AeroVironment, which manufactures UAVs and in particular the Switchblade kamikaze drones, as well as the Puma reconnaissance drones, has produced more than 1,000 Switchblade units and other drones for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This is stated in the news report by Voice of America, whose journalist visited the enterprise and talked with company representatives.
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In general, Switchblade kamikaze drones have been actively used by the AFU since the spring 2022 when the Switchblade 300 was received. According to public specifications, this version of the drone has a total weight of 2.5 kg and a warhead equivalent to a hand grenade, which can be exploded either during contact with the target , or in the air above the enemy. The flight duration of the Switchblade 300 is up to 10 minutes, and the control range is up to 10 km.
At the same time, this makes the Switchblade 300 only an anti-personnel tool, without the possibility of long-range damage to heavy armored vehicles. But this tool copes with its task nicely.
Defense Express notes that aiming at the target is assisted by the auto-taker of the target, which simplifies aiming and is a guarantee of hit accuracy.
Unfortunately, the answer to the question whether Ukraine received the more powerful Switchblade 600, which weighs 23 kg, and the warhead is equivalent to a Javelin, has a range of 40 km and a flight duration of 40 minutes, is not disclosed.
It is also extremely important to understand the difference between the conditional 1000 units of Switchblade 300, and the potential maximum result that they can achieve, given their purpose and combat power, with a similar number of "anti-tank" kamikaze drones. Of course, we should not forget that the Switchblade appearance is connected precisely with the need of the US Army to destroy targets which are "not economical" to spend the Javelin on.
At the same time, considering that russians themselves are complaining about Ukraine's active use of still-secret kamikaze drones with a range of more than 100 km, Ukraine’s military hasvarious suppliers of this type of weaponry.
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