This comes amid the new Russian approach of deploying long-range artillery and missiles to pulverise civilian areas.
ByDominic Nicholls, DEFENCE AND SECURITY EDITOR. 5 April 2022 •
The Switchblade loitering drone is designed to fly over a battlefield and select the best target to attack Switchblade drone.
A ‘tag-team’ of drones could soon be deployed for the first time in a battlefield to help Ukraine destroy Russian artillery.
The latest batch of lethal aid from the US could extend the range of the Switchblade “kamikaze” drone, which is already in use, by pairing it with the larger Puma drone.
The effort to seek out and destroy Russian missile and artillery units is seen as Kyiv’s next big requirement as calls for a no-fly zone have dissipated in the wake of much-reduced Russian air activity.
The fierce Ukrainian resistance has severely curtailed activities by the Russian Air Force and Moscow’s troops have never achieved air superiority.
As such, Russia has chosen to deploy long-range artillery and missiles to pulverise civilian areas in a bid to demoralise Ukrainian forces.
The focus now for Western countries is to donate weapons able to push Russian artillery systems further back, or destroy any that threaten civilian areas.
On April 1, the Pentagon announced a $300 million package of weapons for Ukraine to help fight off the latest Russian aggression. This second batch of arms takes to almost $1 billion the total pledged by the White House.
The latest package includes Switchblade loitering drones, designed to fly over a battlefield and select the best target to attack.
After launch, these lightweight weapons fly at about 60mph for up to 15 minutes using an optical camera relaying video of the terrain to its controller.
As it is controlled by a human it is highly accurate. Once it finds a target, it dives down on to the vehicle or bunker complex.
A high explosive charge in the drone detonates on impact, giving such munitions the nickname “kamikaze”.
It is thought around 200 Switchblade drones have been supplied to Ukraine by the US.
British forces have experimented with Switchblade and are expected to take delivery of an unspecified number under a $44.9 million contract with the US supplier.
Of particular interest in the latest Pentagon lethal aid package is the addition of Puma drones.
Made by the same company as Switchblade, these “traditional” drones have cameras that swivel to provide stabilised views of the battlefield.
Puma has a low-light camera and an advanced thermal imager, making it ideal for night operations.
Hand launched with a 15-foot wingspan, Puma weighs almost 10kg and can stay airborne for more than five hours with a range of around 25 miles.
Last year AeroVironment, the manufacturer of Puma and Switchblade, introduced a “Sensor to Shooter” (S2S) kit which allows the drones to share digital data.
The S2S kit means Puma can locate targets with its superior sensors for Switchblade to destroy.
The S2S system also allows the Puma operator to push a button and automatically launch a Switchblade which homes in on the target’s location, according to “Forbes”.
On arrival, imagery from the two are matched to confirm the Switchblade has the correct target; upon operator approval, it will engage.
By combining the two, a Switchblade would be able to fly directly to an area of operation without having to hunt for a target on its own. In effect, Puma will have increased the range of the Switchblade.
It means the Switchblade will be able to use most of its 15 minutes in the air travelling to attack a target that has already been spotted by Puma, thereby extending the operational range to 15 miles in any direction.
This is roughly the range of much of Russia’s multiple launch rocket systems and could give Ukraine the advantage in tactical battles.
This method of combining Puma and Switchblade attacks was demonstrated in October 2021 in a Nato maritime exercise off Portugal.
David Hambling, a commentator on military technology, said in an article for “Forbes”: “The teaming of drones and loitering munitions will be a big feature of future warfare and Russia is set to be on the receiving end of the first live tests.
“Whether or not we hear about it, the Puma-Switchblade teams will be making a difference.”
Some Telegraph readers comments :
Graham Cove
“All good news.
Flood the country with all the high-tech kit they need. And then more. Then the argument about joining NATO is pointless.
Once they have kicked Putin’s rabble out, fast track to EU membership. The brave Germans and French can pay the rebuilding costs.”
Per Olausson
“There isn’t a lot to pick up after a direct hit on these artillery positions of the Russians. Self cleansing. Joking aside. There is going to be a great many more dead Russians and by the time the final battles take place it will be a Combined Arms army with full spectrum support systems on the Ukrainian side and the mass infantry assault hurrah on the Russian side because the Russian side is running out of quality equipment and are too impatient in forming up new units. It’s Stalingrad again and this time odds don’t favour the Russians. 50% of their most modern tanks are already lost.”
Stephen G Spencer
“In addition to the Turkish drones which have been very effective, this next addition is going to add to the cost to the Russian Federation’s fratricidal attack on its neighbour in terms of increasing casualties, losses in terms of weapons and a further degradation of his logistics capability. Logistics shortfalls are were wars are lost.
An able KGB officer he may have been, a thought that brings a shudder to me, but the KGB was never a arm of the military, not even of the state but reported directly to, and was answerable only to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. His military knowledge and expertise is even less than that of the tactical blunderer, the former military runner, corporal Hitler.
The price of this one’s repeated aggression towards his neighbours is soaring even higher. The pity is it is other people’s sons and daughters, mothers and fathers that are paying the price. The impact on him needs to match that he has bought about on others regardless of which side of they are on. He images himself a latter day Peter the Great, but the dreadful reality he is more a shade of Stalin, an inexcusable multi-murderer. An evil destructive force that brings its country and its people misery and oppression as well as heaping opprobrium upon the Rodina.”
Orc scum.
War crime #3,622…