Switchblades?

[DWalt]

All over the news, the US is sending Switchblade drones to Ukraine. I was aware of them, but know no details. Essentially, they are remotely controlled flying bombs, available in two sizes. Application was not discussed much, but apparently the larger Switchblades are capable of knocking out armored vehicles. It seems they have been deployed in various battle zones since 2010. Does anyone here have firsthand experience with them who could describe them and their capabilities in some detail?

 

[Onomea]

Re "Switchblades," from the NYT today:

Military officials call the weapon, which is carried in a backpack, the “kamikaze drone” because it can be flown directly at a tank or a group of troops, and is destroyed when it hits the target and explodes.

"These were designed for U.S. Special Operations Command and are exactly the type of weapons systems that can have an immediate impact on the battlefield,” said Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense.

Bigger, armed drones, like U.S.-made Predators or Reapers, would be difficult for Ukrainians to fly and would be easily destroyed by Russian fighter planes. But former officials said small, portable kamikaze drones could prove to be a cost-effective way to destroy Russian armored convoys.

Details here: AeroVironment Switchblade - Wikipedia

 

[yaktamer]

Saw this a few weeks ago:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-ZtFUxXzQg[/ame]

Middle child is hoping to attend Embry-Riddle in a couple of years and to major in Unmanned Aviation Systems. Seems like a growth area.

 

[DWalt]

My thought is that even the larger Switchblade seems too small to have much lethal effect on a Russian tank. What type of warhead do they have - I imagine a shaped charge design. AeroVironment stock (AVAV) has taken a pretty good jump over the last month or so.
_______________________
After searching, I found some scanty information on Warheads for the Switchblade 300 and 600 versions. The 300 has a warhead said to be comparable to a 40mm grenade, presumably antipersonnel. The 600 has a warhead that weighs 10 Kg (22 pounds) that is comparable to the Javelin's. Javelin's is a shaped charge HEAT and weighs 19 pounds. ATK makes the warheads. And that is about all the information I can locate.

 

[Retired W4]

The big one might do well against "light" Armor. Just repeating what I heard from Petraeus.

 

[Onomea]

The wikipedia article above says the smaller version is used primarily against personnel or light armored vehicles. Flies with an electric motor so hard to hear coming. Weighs only six pounds.

There is also a larger, 50 pound version that is designed to be fitted with a javelin anti-armor warhead.

(Ah, see we've had some posts while I was rereading the wiki article. It's a pretty good read if you're interested in the weapon.)

 

[Harrison]

The armor of almost all main battle tanks is very thin on the turret top and the deck top. It does not take a real large warhead to pierce it from above.

 

[UncleEd]

The armor of almost all main battle tanks is very thin on the turret top and the deck top. It does not take a real large warhead to pierce it from above.

This.

It's another game changer to
benefit the Ukrainians.

 

[riverrat38]

The Achilles' heel of a tank is the treads. Knock one off, and the tank is "stopped in its tracks" until repairs are complete. Not an easy thing to accomplish on a battlefield! Tanks loose their defensive ability when unable to keep moving, and their ordinance is depleted. I would not want to be trapped inside under these circumstances. And, exiting might not be all that much of an improvement!

73,
Rick

 

[yeti]

The delayed 'loitering munition' idea is smart. Pretty cool.
Just hope terrorists don't get their paws on them.


I firmly believe that the future of infantry ground support will be via directly operated armed drones more and more. Think real air power will still be needed for harder targets, but drones can do more each year. For armored vehicles, fortified positions, artillery, etc. its very handy to use an armed drone to reach out and destroy.

 

[DWalt]

The cost of a Switchblade is a real selling point. Only a small fraction of the cost of something like a Javelin. I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't dozens of similar ground support weapons that are even more effective now on the drawing boards around the world, or actually in production.

 

[dmar]

I could’ve used a couple of those on my commute to work today…

 

[John_M52]

This post is disappointing. I was about to grab a bunch of knives and start posting pictures.

 

[lkabug]

Things have surely changed since '67-69.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Unmanned ground combat vehicles. Some controlled remotely. Some pre-programmed with targeting data and capable of differentiating. Some launching weapons. Some are the weapons (kamikaze drones). Some capable of being deployed in swarms, communicating among themselves to determine the best solutions. Some completely autonomous.

Satellite communications. GPS navigation systems. On-board computers for target identification, maybe even facial recognition abilities? Weapon drone paired with a surveillance drone equipped with laser target acquisition and guidance. Infrared sensors. Heat-seeking ordnance.

What could possibly go wrong? Only a teenage geek hacker could answer that question for us.

Oh, the good old days! Teenage infantrymen with small arms chasing each other around in the weeds, relying on eyes and ears and noses to locate the bad guys, trying to sleep in a stinking hole in the mud, peeling the rotted skin off our toes after a week in the bush without a change of socks or underwear.

Death from the sky used to refer to the 101st Airborne Division visiting unannounced. Now it refers to a backpack-sized toy airplane that can be controlled by a handheld device from a thousand miles away.

Interesting stuff. Very scary, but interesting.

 

[DWalt]

Nearly 30 years ago, a USAF Brigadier General (who was a pilot) once told me that the Air Force would never use UAVs because there are no pilots to give promotions and medals to. And he was serious.

How about satellites firing neutron beams from low Earth orbit, and able to hit an ICBM in flight or a one square foot target on the surface? Much more effective and deadly than laser beams. Seen as the most reliable countermeasure to attacks from hypersonic vehicles which are also under advanced development. It's coming.