The US military, especially those who carry out special operations away from fire support forces, will soon receive new weapons that can be dispensed with artillery barrage or preventive air strikes.
A portable unmanned aerial vehicle, which fits in a special knapsack on a soldier's back, will help to calculate the position of the enemy and his intentions, as well as to attack him before the start of the battle.
AeroVironment has already signed a $ 4.9 million contract with the Pentagon for the first batch of Switchblade drones. Manufacturers hope that the battlefield reconnaissance and strike mini-drones will provide significant new advantages to the American military during combat operations.
How does the new device work? Without waiting for artillery barrage, the US Army unit, which has a Switchblade at its disposal, will be able to launch the drone from anywhere using a special tube-shaped launcher. The flight of the vehicle is controlled from the ground using a portable computing module. However, the drone is capable of performing flight missions in automatic mode, without human intervention.
All data on the combat situation and the position of the enemy are also transmitted to the control module in real time. When enemy units are detected on command from the ground, the drone carrying a warhead is directed to the target.
However, the option of the Switchblade program includes the ability to quickly cancel the command to defeat. It allows in this way to avoid the death of civilians in the event that they unexpectedly find themselves in the attack zone of the drone.
For greater efficiency, the creators of the device have equipped the drone with a silent electric motor, which will allow it to covertly approach enemy positions. Having approached the minimum distance to the target, the device can completely turn off the engines and go into glider mode.
