This drone family features advanced navigation systems and can operate in environments where GPS is not available.
Aevex Aerospace finally revealed its secretive Phoenix Ghost Kamikaze Drones at the Association of the US Army (AUSA)’s main annual symposium in Washington DC. The Warzone (TWZ), reports that the company confirmed that Phoenix Ghost was not a single design, but a family consisting of ever larger and longer ranged one-way assault munitions.
Drone warfare has become a key element of the ongoing Russo Ukrainian war. Unmanned vehicles, of all sizes, that operate in the air, on the ground, and at sea play a key role. Technology is advancing quickly. In the midst of the ongoing Ukraine–Russian drone arms race, several countries have started developing new drone systems in order to enhance their military capability.
The Pentagon announced the transfer of Phonex Ghosts to Ukraine in April 2022. The US military has committed at least 1,800 Phoenix Ghosts for Ukraine. As of August, $576 million had been obligated to purchase them. AEVEX shipped around 230 loitering munitions per month at its peak and continues to deliver new weapons every two weeks.
Elizabeth Trammell is the senior director of business Development at AEVEX. She told TWZ:
“It has been a long wait.” This has been around a long time… we’ve been able receive specific permission to speak about it.”
Phoenix Ghost drones come in a variety of shapes and performance capabilities. Some designs were derived originally from aerial targets developed for testing anti-drone systems. The development of these drones precedes Russia‘s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2020, with AEVEX leading the US in developing one-way attack drones.
According to AEVEX, their loitering munitions rely on visual-based navigation for autonomously identifying and following landmarks or features. This allows precise positioning and pathfinding, without reliance upon GPS. The systems can be equipped with line-of sight links, mesh networked Radios, electro-optical and Infrared sensors and even mesh networked radios.
Dominator, and Disruptor are two of the specific kamikazes revealed as part the Phoenix Ghost family. They both fall into the Group 3 category.
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