US sends 580 Phoenix Ghost kamikaze drones to Ukraine

Europe, News, US July 26, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

United States has recently announced an additional $270 million in military aid for Ukraine. Under the new package, the U.S. would send more than five hundred Phoenix Ghost kamikaze drones, 36,000 shells, and at least four armored command posts.

The U.S. plans to send a newly modified version of the Phoenix Ghost drones that have been rapidly developed by the U.S. Air Force keeping in mind the requirements of the Ukrainian military. This is the second batch of kamikaze drones being delivered to the Ukrainian military by the United States. Earlier a batch of 121 Phoenix Ghost drones was sent to Ukraine.

The Phoenix Ghost is a loitering munition drone, which means that it functions as a regular unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to carry out surveillance and spying missions, however, it is also tipped with warhead capabilities to strike and destroy the enemy target.

The Phoenix Ghost drone has been developed by the California-based Aevex Aerospace company. Aevex markets the Phoenix Ghost drone as a ‘secretive suicide kamikaze drone’. It has been designed to destroy medium-armored ground targets.

Being a relatively new project, very limited information has been released about the dimensions, characteristics, armaments, working dynamics, and success of the Phoenix Ghost drone.

Based on an interview given by the adviser to the Ukrainian President’s Office Oleksii Arestovysch the newly delivered kamikaze drone is a “good ‘widget’, it fits inside a backpack and hangs up in the air for six hours.”

According to Arestovysch, the drone has infrared guidance and can operate at night and destroy medium-armored targets, including light- and medium-armored ones. 580 of such units equals about 350 destroyed targets in the close rear.”

*^{AeroVironment Kamikaze Drone. Photo illustration: IRIA. (Image Credit: AeroVironment)}*

The drone’s ability to be carried in a backpack and ease of use suggests that Phoenix Ghost is not a conventionally large UAV that requires a large operation space. Similarly, the term ‘kamikaze’ suggests the Phoenix Ghost drone is a ‘one-way’ attack drone, or more specifically a controlled anti-tank-sized missile that can be maneuvered to hit a specific target with extreme accuracy.

The armament of the Phoenix Ghost drone is similar to that of the U.S.-made Switchblade 600 which is also being widely supplied and used in Ukrainian along with the Javelin anti-tank missile launching base. The Phoenix Ghost drone has the capability to fly for more than six hours suggesting that it is far superior to regular switchblade 600 anti-tank projectiles.