Russia wants to create a copy of the Switchblade 300 kamikaze drone
The Russian enterprise "Android Technics" has taken up the development of a barrage munition LAOP 500, which will be a copy of the American kamikaze drone Switchblade 300.
Here's What We Know
The announcement of the kamikadze drone was made at the Army-2022 forum, which ended last week. The LAOP 500 is a single-use drone with a launcher and support for artificial intelligence algorithms.
The Russian drone will weigh 3.5 kg and have a maximum payload mass of 0.5 kg. The LAOP 500 will be able to reach speeds of up to 130 km/h in flight, while the cruising speed of the drone will be 90 km/h. On a full charge the bomber will be able to fly 20 minutes. The communication range is 5 km.
The developers have proposed four options to control the drone: voice control, ground station, helmet-based bullet and a conventional controller. Launch of LAOP 500 will be performed from a catapult, the overall dimensions of which will be 1245 x 180 x 180 mm.
Source: @RALee85
Image: FlightGlobal
For those who want to know more:
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- The U.S. will launch the AGM-183A ARRW hypersonic missile for the third time this year, despite multimillion-dollar funding cuts
