RUSSIAN TANK KILLERS ARRIVE IN UKRAINE! Pentagon announces: We are sending FLYING SHOTGUNS! (VIDEO)
IZVOR: Republika - 08.04.2022 | 13:23
The White House announced the delivery of 100 drones as part of a 800 million dollar package.
The US Department of Defense plans to order and send to Ukraine 10 of the newest model Switchblade drones armed with tank-busting warheads.
The Pentagon announced on Friday that the new Switchblade-600 weapons are part of 300 million dollars in military aid that should reach Ukrainians directly from industry instead of drawn from existing stocks, Bloomberg reports.
The White House announced on 16 March that it was supplying 100 Switchblade drones as part of a 800 million dollar package of weapons and gear taken from U.S. inventories. And those systems are the “series 300” versions: 3.3-pound (2.5kg) drones designed to attack personnel and light vehicles. They can fly about six miles (10 kilometers) and loiter over a target roughly 15 minutes, according to AeroVironment Inc..
The new 600 Series model is significantly heavier (50 pounds or 23 kg), produced by the Simi Valley, California-based company can fly more than 24 miles (39 kilometers) and loiter 40 minutes before attacking with an anti-armor warhead.
The drone operator uses a tablet-based touchscreen fire-control system with the option to pilot the loitering missile manually. The previous version of the dive-bombing drone has been in the arsenal of U.S. commandos since it was secretly sent to Afghanistan in 2010 for use against the Taliban. Army officials have described it as a flying shotgun.