Illustrative Image
Ukraine is now one of the hottest places on the world map. Weapons are brought here from all over the world. The Ukrainian military receives live ammunition, artillery and air defence systems. One way or another the Russian army continues its offensive. One of the few positives of the AFU is the extensive use of UAVs. One of the most used is the American Switchblade. It has proven to be excellent. Today it is one of the means that allows the AFU to demonstrate some advantages on the battlefield.
The Switchblade UAV is a platoon-level ISR/attack drone developed by Aerovironment. Classified as a Lethal Miniature Aerial Munition System (LMAMS), the Switchblade has been in limited deployment in Afghanistan since late 2012, acting as both a reconnaissance drone and guided munition for American soldiers.
The Switchblade measures two feet long and weighs just under six pounds including its carrying case and tube launcher, making it svelte enough for a single soldier to carry. Its 10 minute loiter time detracts from the Switchblade’s usefulness as a forward scout, but in the middle of a firefight, its color camera and GPS locating is more than sufficient to identify and track human and vehicle-sized targets up to three miles (10 km) away.
The Switchblade is most useful, however, as a guided munition. It carries an explosive charge equivalent to a 40mm grenade, allowing it to target lightly armored vehicles and embedded (or otherwise inaccessible) infantry positions, such as on rooftops or ridge lines. What’s more, the Switchblade’s electric propulsion system and small stature make is a sneaky little bastard, difficult to track and able to glide silently in a window before detonating.
The Switchblade uses AV’s Ground Control Station, which means that a squad can launch a Switchblade and Raven together, one for recon, the other for blowing stuff up. And if the situation changes after the Switchblade has been launched, the operator can cancel the strike and bring the UAV back for use later.
Even more promising is the Switchblade’s precision. Instead of calling in an airstrike in a densely populated urban area to clear out dug-in enemy positions, which would surely result in numerous civilian casualties, forces can strike with pinpoint accuracy.
The US has sent 100 Switchblade drones to Ukraine as part of one of the Biden administration’s arms packages.
The Americans have also thought about the training of Switchblade UAV operators. The Pentagon said that a group of Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel trained in the USA had been sent to Ukraine. According to US Defence Department spokesman John Kirby, among other things, they were trained to fly Switchblade drones.
Furthermore, it was announced that the training of Ukrainian servicemen would begin. They will be learned in Ukraine’s neighbouring countries. The training will be conducted by US instructors.
There is little information in the media about the success of Switchblades in the war with Russia. The Ukrainian military is still in the process of learning. However given its ability to hit targets with maximum precision as well as its striking power, the Russian army has gained a serious obstacle in the way of special operation tasks, while the Ukrainian army has an excellent defence tool.
After watching the Russian armies performance for the last 2 months, the switch blade is the least of its problems! From corruption at the very highest levels leading to poorly equipped and trained troops at the lowest levels. The problems are myriad. Once again history is repeating itself as in the winter war corruption and poor moral led to humiliating losses. Finland had few allies to support her in that fight, perhaps it will be different in this one?
Perhaps a military defeat will pave the way to freedom and prosperity for the Russian people.
Or if the Russian people are to cowed and submissive, a frustrated and cognitively declining Parkinson’s Putin may go nuclear and kill us all!
stupid Oregon nazi senile LGBT—sodomized too often by Taliban
All his points are valid u toxic mouthed scum pajeet
Yuri how much money you making for terrorists state Russian propaganda.?
nobody want to kill obese ugly amerikan automaton—you are so pathethitic u defeat yourselves
Your daily vídeo of thís very special spinning operation 😘
https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1518542194646388738?s=20&t=vl7FGVGaUh4COAxrdri_Xw
I thought Finland got over the war with Russia. Dig up your homebrew under the ice and get happy.
Speak for yourself satanic scumbag!
diluted liar
Ahh, how cute you are, princess. You obediently regurgitate every talking point Rachel Maddow and Hillary Clinton defecate around the clock.
But on the ground Russia has been slaughtering Ukraine even with a numerical disadvantage of three to one. In fact tactical planning suggests a three to one advantage for the defender, but Russia is so confident they flipped the script, son. This is what happens when Washington teaches Polish and Ukrainian bums that they are gender fluid and can fight, or run if they feel like it. And theyve obviously chosen the latter. Meanwhile “Z”elensky is traveling on all fours begging for more weapons and fighters, Russia is mopping up you brown toothed bumpkins by the scores. But no hard feelings!
You’re drinking too much cool-aid Ras. If they were really performing that badly, they wouldn’t be gaining more and more territory, and the West wouldn’t need to keep changing battle plans.
Sumbody better ask Assad how he survived a war by proxy by the likes of the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. What is a Finland, lol?
trump kinda helped there, by not falling for the same old false flags that other sucker or captive presidents would have fallen for.
finnland have to try get rid off whip —- sinze 1987 …. sees they are not that good
Yes, the situation is similar to that of the Winter War. But there is a striking paralel with the Eastern Front of WW2, with Russia as Nazi Germany and Ukraine as the Soviet Union… Russia clearly has better army, better kill ratio, but still loosing on the long term because Ukraine is mobilising more and more man, using own cities as fortresses and getting Western land-lease.
“and getting Western land-lease”
The anglZionaZi empire of shit will be getting cents back on the millions of dollahs poured down the Ukrop sewer when Mr Bear and the Dragon ship Ukrop scrap to the “West” when this is finally over.
land-lea$€, my ass.
The Copium level in this comment section is very high
https://yourimageshare.com/ib/xcVfsZoD4Y.jpg
You lucidly enumerated the problems the Russian armed forces don’t have. Now let’s return to the real issues. Thanks to SF for the informative and candid article.
“Perhaps a military defeat will pave the way to freedom and prosperity for the Russian people.”
Last desperate gasp of a Slumvillain who perhaps understands that the total collapse around his USSAN ghetto cannot be stopped because the free lunch is over and the Bear and the Dragon are coming to whip its wobbly ass. The evil dystopia USSA is being destroyed in rump Ukropland and nary one in a million USSANS see that their own civil war is already reloaded and primed to blow.
It will take more than a truckload of mikey mouse “switchblades” from dying angloZionaZi geriatrics in Washing town to extirpate the stinking gangrene from the USSAN Golem.
When exactly did the Russians and the Finns fight? 1939? These were Georgian-led Soviets, not Russians.
Thank you for the deluded opinion from the peanut gallery! 😂😂😂
please you dead soon
More freebies for the DPR/LPR forces
100 drones is at best 100 hits. A sophisticated tactical missile but I don’t see how Ukraine can win the war with just that.
It can’t. This BS is for the home crowd and money.
no pathetic amerikan toy can change reality—Russia has obliterated the ukropistan fascists—anglo nazis cry
Russia knows what to do… By the way All and every one of the direct clashes against afu was won by the Z A proxy war where the puppets afu and nazis are pure cannon fodder meanwhile Narcoman & c. are sniffing like a vacuum cleaner, madman continues to shake hands with the invisible man and his puppeteers rub their hands
What the ukrops have shown, especially the nazis, is that they are completely unable to win each and every battle on plain terrain. They have had limited success with guerrilla/terrorist tactics, but they have always been obliterated in direct confrontations.
The Russians said thank you, they’ve already captured numerous switch blades for study.
“What’s more, the Switchblade’s electric propulsion system and small stature make is a sneaky little bastard, difficult to track and able to glide silently in a window before detonating.”
Is this how the 2-3 generals and 40 other officers got hit in Kherson?
Evidence please? Try this for size miky https://t.me/intelslava/26662?single on you go then,fools!
Sneaky yes,but in the end God will crush the evilutionary incests of evil and bio weapon labs to boot!
I don’t know. I think drones make for excellent propaganda as it looks very Hollywoodesque when a drone homes in on it’s target. I remain very doubtful about the overall success of using them though. They’re not game changers but just another cog in the military arsenal
Correct, people just over hype the idea that its a robot not a person doing the killing? Truth is a mig 17 or mig 15 with rockets and its guns would be ten times the terror any slow drone could be. A lot cheaper in todays world as well. The fact is if you shoot down the mig teen you kill a man so it does not have the impact the machine has.
China is converting some of theirs to drones and kamikaze drones.
RU should convert their T-55’s to Terminator style (BMPT) semi-autonomous assistants. Those 7.62 guns would be pretty good as a CIWS to protect nearby infantry against these loitering munitions.
Slimes tactics sure bet,against activated defense mechanisms more useless than not though(period)
Truss or the Ukro Nazis, who is more stupid?
Liz Truss is as dumb as a dead Ukie.:)
Who wrote this ad masquerading as an article? The switchblade drones were tried in Syria and they were useless garbage. You can defend from one of these with a net. They’re a toy with no practical purpose, and the idea that 100 could make any sort of impact is an insulting joke.
They’re unlikely to withstand 7.62 x 63 armor piercing ammunition. From a turret mounted guided anti aircraft system.
Or a shoulder fired anti aircraft missile.
Who ever wrote this article is surely a NAZI cheerleader..
Once the Russians get one, if they haven’t already, they’ll know how it works and how to deal with it.
Quad or hex coptors with gas engines have a lot of range and acrobatic capability far in excess of fixed wing drones. Making them particularly useful as a recon and weapons platform.
The most important thing about these infantry based drones and missiles is the end of the Unipolar Moment.
Nah, the Ukrops would need thousands of these to even make an impact. They won’t change anything.
It doesn’t perform that well cause of the gps jamming
The US and it’s Ukronazis try and get optics to work in their favor; however many countries around the world 🌎 have all been on the receiving end of US, Natostan attacks. Like watching a burning bridge throw everything they can get their on at the Russians. Yet, US and Natostan have been trying this since Russia entered the battle in Syria 🇸🇾. All the war propaganda is horseshit considering these warmongering fools have been faced before the debacle that is Ukraine. Made a smoldering mess by US and Natostan. Russia is just cleaning up but it’s enemies hope it will drain them.
Biggest problem of the Russian Army is the Kremlin leadership, who throw it into a bloody war that it cannot win without full mobilisation or tactical nukes. When attacking a country with a weak and corrupt army such as Irak, the US ammased around 600 000 man. Americans entered only after the initial air bombing campaign destroyed Iraki infrastructure, logistics, centers of comand, etc. Casualties were minimal in both Gulf Wars. In Ukraine, less than 200 000 Russians were thrown against a modernized army, withouth enjoying full air superiority. 2 months into the war Ukrainian logistics and centers of comand are still functional… the level of blunder and incompetence as well as lack of care for the life of own soldiers is staggering…
this is why riussia switched off gps there.
“to identify and track human and vehicle-sized targets up to three miles (10 km) away.”
Kinda lost me there with the astounding math ability. The “switchblade” sounds very USSAN, what every resident of Slumville needs in its pocket to make it home through their burning ghettos of crack head, toothless meth addled homeless drug vermin that lie in wait for anyone that might still have 5 bucks or “spare change” in their uniform.
Onward down the sewer to Washing town home of the turd world.
Electronic Warfare is the answer to all drones including switchblades. The EW jams the communication signals to/from UAV drones.
The Electronic Warfare works within 100 miles range. Electronic Warfare is the answer to all drones including switchblades. It jams the communication signals to/from UAV drones. For this reason switchblades are useless. Washington knows this and still they try these toys in Ukraine.
It becomes clearer every day, that a nuclear war is a certainty !
Tree cover is the solution.
Just an fine steel netting wil do the truc, stop the propeller turning and stop the electronic guiding !