The United States will ship Phoenix Ghost drones to Ukraine to counter Russian invasion. Mysterious flying machines about which very little information has surfaced. Here’s what we know about these devices.
“What we do know is that they are very mysterious at the moment. » On the set of American television channel CNN, journalist Tom Foreman evokes the new drones that the United States has announced it wants to supply to Ukraine to counter the Russian invasion. The name of these unmanned flying machines on board: Phoenix Ghost. machinery “never seen before”, underlines CNN, Monday, May 2, 2022. Here’s what we know about this drone model, 121 copies of which will be delivered to the Ukrainian army.
A “Kamikaze” drone
Phoenix Ghost Drones “has capabilities similar to the Switchblade series”, US Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said on April 21, announcing that these devices are part of a new envelope of $800 million in US military aid to Ukraine.
The United States is already supplying Ukraine with Switchblade drones, and Ukrainian military personnel have been trained to operate them on American soil. This type of device is referred to as a “kamikaze” by several outlets, including The Washington Post.
You get it: an explosive-laden “suicide drone” that attacks targets and destroys itself in the process. Equipped with a camera, the Switchblade can also be used to monitor a specific territory, notes the American medium The Drive.
So you can imagine the phoenix spirit looking like him: “An inexpensive disposable drone, a flying munition that flies through the air before hitting a target.” summarizes the American medium Breaking Defense, which specializes in defense issues.
A mysterious name
The comparison doesn’t seem to go any further since, according to John Kirby, the “Skills” of the phoenix spirit are not “not quite the same” than those of the Switchblade series, although they are “similar”. However, he did not want to say more about the machine, which was manufactured by the American company AEVEX Aerospace and developed by the United States Air Force.
The Phoenix Spirit “was designed to meet a set of requirements that correspond very closely to what Ukrainians currently need in Donbass”, said a source as presented “Official of the Defense World” and interviewed by Breaking Defense. The Ukrainian army is currently trying to contain the Russian offensive in this region in the east of the country, where Russia is now concentrating its forces.
The source interviewed by the American media also notes that soldiers used to operating other drones need training “minimal” before taking control of the Phoenix Ghost devices.
Another unknown remains: the name of these drones, which could be translated into French as “phantom phoenix”. The Breaking Defense interlocutor indicated that this was not the case ” no idea “ about the origin of this denomination.