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Putin Is Mad: U.S. Begins Delivering New Phoenix Ghost Drones to Ukraine

Switchblade Drone. Image Credit: Industry Handout.
Switchblade Drone. Image Credit: Industry Handout.

U.S. Begins Delivering New Phoenix Ghost Drones – The United States officially began delivering the new Phoenix Ghost drones to Ukraine after announcing the development of the brand-new vehicles last month. Deliveries of the new weapon were initiated last week, and the first shipment arrived on April 29.

121 of the new drones are on their way to Ukraine, where they will help Ukrainian soldiers hold back Russian soldiers advancing from the east. Russian forces are now focused on “liberating” the Donbas region of Ukraine, with almost all Russian soldiers now relocated from central Ukraine to the east. 

What is the Phoenix Ghost?

The Phoenix Ghost drone system is an unmanned aerial vehicle and loitering munition. Single-use, these drones are designed to target and attack enemy vehicles and military equipment and will function in a similar way as the popular Switchblade drone already in use in Ukraine.

The new drone was designed to be lower-cost, and for Ukrainian soldiers to be able to use the drones with minimal training. According to the Biden administration, the Phoenix Ghost will be easy for Ukrainian soldiers to begin using right away.

No specifications or details about the new vehicle have been released. The United States government is remaining tight-lipped about the weapon’s capabilities, likely to give Ukraine as much of a tactical advantage against the Russians as possible.

The Pentagon kept the development of the aerial vehicle, which began before the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, quiet. When asked about the development of the vehicle, (Ret). Air Force Lt. Colonel Brian Raduenz said that he cannot “talk about details.”

“I have to refer you to the remarks that John Kirby made about this,” he said.

On April 21, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the drone system was “designed for tactical operations.”

“In other words, largely, but not exclusively, to attack targets…” Kirby said. “It can also be used to give you a sire picture of what it is seeing, of course, but its principal focus is attack”.”

Kirby himself compared the new drone to the Switchblade and said that it is designed to do the same thing. At this stage, though, that’s all we know about the new vehicle.

Phoenix Ghost – Ukrainian Soldiers Have Yet To Be Trained

According to one U.S. official, the training of Ukrainian troops to use the new weapon has not yet started. 

“We believe that the first tranche of those drones should be arriving in the region today, but not all 121. the first tranche of them will be arriving in the region today,” an official told reporters on Friday.

Switchblade Russia Ukraine

Switchblade drone. Image Credit: Industry handout.

Switchblade Ukraine

Switchblade drone. Image Credit: Industry handout.

“And again, we’re still working out how the specific training is going to be done on this. We do believe that training will not take very long for pilots that have some existing UAV knowledge.”

Some of the training of Ukrainian soldiers is expected to be carried out by members of the Florida National Guard who were withdrawn from Ukraine in February as the invasion neared. Training will continue in Germany and Poland. 

Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.

Written By

Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive's Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.

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