What Are Kamikaze Drones?
The US announced USD 800 million in new military aid for Ukraine, including 800 additional Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, 9,000 antitank weapons, 100 tactical drones including Kamikaze or suicide drones.
- Kamikaze are unmanned aircraft that are part of the tranche of weapons that are being sent by the US to Ukraine to assist their fight against Russia.
- Kamikaze drones also called Switchblade drones, these are small unmanned aircraft that are packed with explosives that can be flown directly at a tank or a group of troops that are destroyed when it hits the target and explodes.
- They are called Switchblade because their bladelike wings spring out on launch.
- The drones have the capability of going past traditional defences to strike its targets and also cost a fraction of what the larger counterparts do.
- These small lethal drones are difficult to detect on radar, and they can even be programmed to hit targets without human intervention, based on facial recognition.
- Although the Kamikaze might be the most advanced form of this genre of drones, Russia, China, Israel, Iran and Turkey all have some version of it
