Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a press conference Thursday that a new type of drone developed by the U.S. Air Force would be sent to the government of Ukraine.
Kirby says the Phoenix Ghost is similar to the Switchblade, which has already been sent to Ukraine in the country's fight against Russia. The Switchblade is a small tube-launched drone with a camera and an explosion that can be used as an aerial weapon.
Kirby said on Thursday that the Phoenix Ghost is designed for tactical operations and not just to attack targets.
It can be used to give you a site picture of what it is seeing, like almost all drones. Kirby said that the principle focus is attack.
The Air Force helped tailor the Phoenix Ghost to meet the needs of the eastern part of the country. Kirby wouldn't say what that means when asked by a reporter at Thursday's press conference.
Without getting into the specifications, the kinds of things this drone can do, lend itself well to this type of terrain. I'm just going to leave it at that. Kirby said that the purpose is similar to the Switchblade.
The Phoenix Ghost was developed by AEVEX in California. AEVEX didn't respond to an email from Gizmodo early Friday, but they did have a funny story about calling the company on Thursday. The person from AEVEX said they had no comment on the issue they were calling about, when the reporter from Breaking Defense said they wanted to ask about it.
The Drive news outlet points out that the Pentagon doesn't mean that the Phoenix Ghost is a tube-launched drone like the Switchblade. The only similarity between the Phoenix Ghost and the Switchblade is that the Phoenix Ghost is a single-use drone with an optical system and an attached explosives. We don't know at this point. The Russians will find out soon enough.
A new $800 million military assistance package for Ukraine includes 72 Howitzers, tactical vehicles to tow the Howitzers, and at least 144,000 artillery rounds to shoot out of those Howitzers. The Pentagon says that Ukraine will get 121 Phoenix Ghost drones.
According to a tally by the United Nations, over 5 million people have fled to other countries. With no end in sight, there are sure to be millions more forced to leave their homes, all because Russian President Vladimir Putin decided he had to show what a big tough man he is on the world stage.
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