Warheads In Phoenix Ghost Kamikaze Drones Blast Towards The Ground As Air Explosive Artillery Rounds

With the previously secretive Phoenix Ghost family of kamikaze drones now fully out in the light, AEVEX Aerospace has been openly discussing their capabilities. One very interesting piece of information has come out: different Phoenix Ghost types can be made to launch attacks directly down through the surface, similar to an air-exploding artillery shell, instead of being careful in their targets and explosions.

The top-down attack capability was a feature of the Phoenix Ghost promotional video AEVEX released earlier this month, seen below. The images were taken during Northern Strike 24-2, a joint operation of the Michigan National Guard that led last summer that included a variety of air, ground, and sea assets, including JSX-2 microjets acting as submarines and drones. AEVEX had given its first information about the Phoenix Ghost family, which was first developed as part of an experiment under the Air Force’s Big Safari special projects office and rushed to Ukraine after the Russian invasion in 2022, last month. Information about the drones, or even what they looked like, was closely guarded beforehand.

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AEVEX brought three types of Phoenix Ghost drones – the Dagger, Dominator, and Disruptor – to Northern Strike 24-2. There is evidence of these three types operating in Ukraine. At least one member of the family, the Atlas, is known to exist, but it is not known if the Ukrainian military has adopted it in addition to other races.

“The Dagger is one of our first designs,” the AEVEX member says in the video. “So, 50 kilos with a small warship and actually traveling 100-150 kilometers. [range-wise]. … a minority can use it and make a difference on the battlefield in technical-oriented situations. “

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The Dominators are…definitely our heavy duty truck system out there,” the same person continues. “[It has] 100 pounds worth of payment [and] it flies for five hours. [It] it can take a lot of anything you need to carry on a long trip or stay in one place for a long time. “

When it comes to the Dominator, a photo, seen below and said to have been taken in Russia proper, surfaced earlier this year showing what appears to be one of the drones. However, questions have been raised about whether this could be a source created in the territory of another nation given that the US government has given, at least publicly, broad restrictions on Ukrainian forces using American weapons against targets inside Russian territory at the time. . Some exceptions and caveats were known to exist at the time. Drones can stray away from planned flight paths for a variety of reasons, too. American authorities have recently loosened the restrictions in question.

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“The Disruptor is a simple design with many features,” he adds. “So the design is simple in terms of design. It is also a simple design in terms of functionality. So, it’s easy to put together in the field, but still – now you’re talking about a 50 pound payload to be able to carry that again, five to six hours. [in terms of endurance]. So, it still packs a punch. “

In terms of “punch,” the AEVEX video shows all three designs conducting top-down attacks using explosive fragmentation warheads that shower their targets in lethal shrapnel. Pictures, found inside the social media post below, the recently released remnants of the Disruptor launched by the Ukrainian military show a part of the war in which the drone has a pre-sealed ‘sleeve’ designed to break into pieces after the explosion.

Surface-to-surface explosive attacks offer significant advantages over surface-to-air explosives, especially when it comes to capturing personnel or unarmored targets in trenches or otherwise behind cover. They can be very effective against a variety of obvious targets, including aircraft and air defense systems, and light-skinned vehicles, and provide more local effects, in general.

It wasn’t obvious at first, but the first AEVEX promotional video seen below features some views of the Phoenix Ghost family’s top-down attack dual.

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Whether other types of weapons, such as those with large anti-armors, are available to the Phoenix Ghost family or whether they are in development is unknown, but it can also be well suited to the top-down style of attack. Tank heads and other armored vehicles are often at risk. The growing perception of surface-to-ground attacks, including drones and specially designed anti-tank guided missiles, has already had an impact on the design of new defense techniques for armored vehicles. Earlier this year, Israeli defense manufacturer Rafael unveiled a new version of the battle-proven Trophy active defense system (APS) with features to help defeat threats from above.

“We haven’t really gone into anti-tank or anti-weapons, because that wasn’t the requirement for us,” Elizabeth Trammell, executive director of business development at AEVEX, said. TWZ at AUSA back in October. “Most of our planes, we had a lot of power and our customers came in and said, ‘This is what we want.’

It is not yet clear how the Phoenix Ghost drones know where and when to turn their heads, if they can perform targeted movements, or if they can attack in other modes. “The mobile AEVEX automatically detects, detects, locates, reports (DILR) and deploys lethal and non-lethal threat targets in a variety of environments and locations at unprecedented speeds” and are able to “navigate, make decisions, and complete missions without direct intervention,” according to the company’s website. .

As already noted, Daggers and Disruptors have been used extensively in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and Dominators appear to be in use, too. With the information that has come out so far, experts and observers now know what to look for and have gone back and shown images of several drones previously known as members of the Phoenix Ghost family.

1. A solved mystery, kind of. Early 2024 several drones crashed in Russia: typical wreckage is shown here. I spent a lot of time trying to find out who made this but recently a commercial manufacturer announced this drone

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. Anyway, here’s what I found. pic.twitter.com/a1BkM6DbUM

– DanielR (@DanielR33187703) November 26, 2024

13. At this point the story was usually over – except for one explanation. The drones’ vehicles that fell had the word “Forward” on them. This same inscription was seen on the propellers of a different drone. This meant that they were already manufactured by the same company. pic.twitter.com/NU5Tvsyo7U

– DanielR (@DanielR33187703) November 26, 2024

16. This drone is Dagger again by Aevex. These drones have been in Ukraine since about January, 2023 and significant progress in their design has been observed. The airline board has seen revisions so the information shown here may be out of date. pic.twitter.com/NCP2abSlSJ

– DanielR (@DanielR33187703) November 26, 2024

AEVEX also said that it is actively looking for new sales opportunities for the Phoenix Ghost, which could come together with other transportation for the whole family, beyond the dispute in Ukraine. However, now that the kamikaze drones have come out of the shadows, some insights into their capabilities, including their attack patterns, seem to continue to emerge.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com