Continúa el apoyo de EUA y aliados a Ucrania para hacer frente a la invasión de Rusia, mediante la provisión de moderno equipamiento militar, siendo los más demandados aquellos sistemas que otorguen capacidades letales. Está previsto incrementar esa asistencia con la entrega de modernas Loitering Munitions (LM) de la familia Switchblade, fabricadas por la empresa Aerovinment, líder en el mercado de sistemas autónomos de ataque. Ambas partes en conflicto han empleado gran variedad de UAS / UCAS /LM en sus operaciones militares. Hasta el momento, Ucrania había empleado los pequeños Switchblade 300 (2.7 kg – 10 km alcance – 10’ operación’) que, por sus escasas prestaciones, solo son aptos para pequeños blancos de oportunidad. Ucrania espera ahora con ansiedad, los poderosos Switchblade 600 (55 kg – 40 km – 40’ operación), para ser utilizarlos contra plataformas terrestres blindadas y de artillería rusas.
WASHINGTON ― The U.S. Army is poised to award a contract for longer-range, harder-hitting kamikaze drones for Ukraine more than five months after they were pledged to the fight against Russia, according to the Pentagon.
The research and development contract for 10 of the Switchblade 600 drones in question, made by AeroVironment, is expected in the next 30 days, Pentagon spokeswoman Jessica Maxwell said in an email to Defense News.
While Russia’s five-month-old invasion of Ukraine has mostly been an artillery war, thousands of drones are being used by both sides, and both the United States and Russia have been signaling that more are on the way.
“I think loitering munitions are going to be a significant part of that larger amount because they don’t require a lot of infrastructure, they don’t require a runway,” said Samuel Bendett, an expert on Russian drones with the Center for Naval Analyses and Center for New American Security. “They may play a significant role in the way that the Russian military wants to attack Ukrainian soldiers, materiel, logistics and everything else on Russia’s list.”
The Pentagon has already sent Ukraine loitering munitions, which means the system itself is the payload: a number of the smaller, shorter-ranged Switchblade 300 variant, and the Phoenix Ghost. But observers say the Switchblade 600′s anti-armor payload, weighing in at 30 pounds and boasting longer loiter time, would offer an even better tool for finding and striking Russian troops and equipment during Ukraine’s expected counteroffensive in southern region of Kherson.
“This Switchblade capability can be instrumental as the Ukrainians are preparing their attack on Kherson and Crimea, because they can be launched beyond the range of Russian systems and inflict damage on Russian infrastructure,” Bendett said.
The appeal of loitering munitions is that they can provide reconnaissance and strike in a single package. And although less sophisticated drones can be used to spot Russian targets for their artillery, Russian forces have been using electronic warfare to trace them to their pilots and strike back.
“There have been a lot of losses among commercial drone operators on both sides, and the further away from combat you can launch your UAV, the better off you are,” Bendett said.
The 300 variant weighs 5.5 pounds, can fly 10 kilometers and loiter 15 minutes, while the 120-pound 600 version can fly 40 kilometers and loiter in the air for 40 minutes, according to the manufacturer.
The greater longevity and heavier payload would help Ukrainian forces target Russia’s armored, self-propelled artillery, in particular, said Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“You can use a 300 maybe to damage a radar, but the more a Russian target is armored and the less Russian forces are in the open, the more you’re going to want the Switchblade 600,” Bowman said. “They have the same name, but they’re very different systems with very different target sets ― and they’d both be incredibly helpful to Ukrainian forces now and in the coming weeks.”
Fuente: https://www.defensenews.com
