The Ukrainian army broadcasts the images transmitted by an American Switchblade 300 drone before it reached its target, a Russian T-72, whose crew was on the tank. Futura takes the opportunity to take stock of this killer drone.
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[EN VIDÉO] The US Army is testing a squadron of 103 autonomous mini-drones In the United States, the Department of Defense successfully tested a group of 103 microdrones dropped from three combat aircraft. Driven by artificial intelligence, these small machines 16 centimeters long have demonstrated their ability to fly in formation and make decisions to adapt to circumstances.
The war in Ukraine demonstrated the value of drones as force multipliers. We talk a lot about the TB3 Rayba who have built a reputation as Russian tank killers, there are also the so-called suicide drones, which are also called rodent ammunition. Among the novelties, Ukraine should now be delivered phoenix ghost, American suicide drones specially adapted for the needs of Ukrainian troops in the field. But the latter already have other similar drones with the Switchblade 300 – developed by AeroVironment for the American army during its operations in Afghanistan. Seven hundred copies of this flying ammunition have already been delivered to Ukraine.
The country’s armed forces have just taken the opportunity to show how this drone posting a viral video of her hitting a Russian T-72B3 tank. The first images showing the presence of the russian tank come from a drone presumably a statically positioned commercial-type quadcopter. The rest of the video comes directly from theapplication switchblade flight control. While the drone rushes on the tank, we can then distinguish the crew sitting on the tank. The video cuts out before impact, so it’s not clear what the impact of the hit is. This “cut” is not due to the editing, since when it approaches its target the Switchblade often loses its video link.
Video captured by the Switchblade 300’s control monitor shows its direct attack on a T-72 tank on which the Russian crew is seated. © Twitter, StratCom Ukraine
Ammunition not designed to pierce armor
From that moment, an automatic pilot system takes over. As for the effectiveness of the strike, the T-72 may have survived, but this is less certain for the crew. The ammunition of Switchblade 300 is not designed to penetrate armour, but as an anti-personnel weapon. It is the 600 version of the drone that can be used as an anti-armour weapon, but it is not certain that the Ukrainians received it. The operation was perhaps to eliminate the crew to possibly capture the still functional armor.
Earlier in the month, another video attack of a Switchblade 300 on Russian positions had been published. The drone can be launched by a single soldier via a tube resembling that of an artillery mortar. Once fired, theaircraft has a range of about ten minutes and can travel about ten kilometres. The drone can also be used to carry out surveillance operations and not use its ammunition.
The presence of this type of drone in large quantities could help the Ukrainian army to have an effective and precise air attack capability.
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