An official from the Pentagon on Wednesday said that Ukrainian soldiers are being trained in the United States to operate the deadly Switchblade drones that Washington is supplying to Kyiv.
Defence Department spokesman John Kirby said it was a “very small” number of Ukrainian troops who were already present in the US before Russia invaded their country.
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“We took the opportunity, having them still in the country, to give them a couple of days’ worth of training on the Switchblades, so they can go back… to train others in the Ukrainian military,” according to Kirby.
Kirby further said that 100 drones, which are essentially remotely controlled flying bombs which are crashed into targets where they explode, have been sent to Ukraine to bolster the military’s fight against Russian troops.
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“They arrived over there earlier this week. So they’ll be getting into Ukraine quickly if they aren’t already there,” Kirby said. He also said that the number of Ukrainian trainees was less than a dozen.
On March 16, US President Joe Biden announced that, among other weaponry and munitions Washington was shipping to the Ukrainians, it would start sending the Switchblades.
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Named for the way their wings unfold when launched, Switchblades are called loitering munitions, because they can be flown to target areas and held there until the right moment when a target is identified.
The operator then flies them into the target where they explode.
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The original version, small enough to carry in a backpack, was used by US forces in Afghanistan.
A larger version, with enough explosives to take out armoured vehicles, has also been developed. But the Pentagon would not say which one has been sent to Ukraine, if not both.
