The Ukrainian Special Operations Forces claim to have used its US-made Switchblade loitering munitions, or suicide drones, to destroy Russian main battle tanks.
The video was posted to the Special Operations Forces’ social media page earlier today, showing a Russian T-72 tank before being suddenly hit by Ukrainian Switchblade loitering munition.
According to the Ukrainian military, the Russian soldiers calmly drank alcohol, sitting on the armor of their T-72 tank.
“A cutting-edge suicide drone equipped with powerful explosives flew right into the tank, inflicting irreparable losses on the enemy. The whole process of destroying the enemy was filmed by a camera located on the killer drone,” the Special Operations Forces said in a Facebook post Tuesday.
Switchblade is a tube-launched loitering munition that carries both a camera and a warhead developed by the AeroVironment. The company said that the Switchblade represents the next generation of extended-range loitering missiles, delivering unprecedented Reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition support and featuring high-precision optics, over 40 minutes of loitering endurance, and an anti-armor warhead for engaging larger, hardened targets at greater distances.
The U.S. Defense Department has already handed over dozens of larger Switchblade 600 and small Switchblade 300 loitering munitions to Ukraine.
The U.S. has promised hundreds more Switchblades, as well as mysterious new loitering drones called the “Phoenix Ghost,” which was tailored by the U.S. Air Force’s Big Safari office for use in Ukraine against Russian forces.