The Phoenix Ghost is a small aerial

loitering munition A loitering munition (also known as a suicide droneLoitering Muniti ...

(explosive drone) designed by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

company Aevex Aerospace. According to a senior US defense official, it is broadly similar to the

AeroVironment Switchblade The AeroVironment Switchblade is a miniature loitering munition, designed by AeroVironment and used by several branches of the United States military. Small enough to fit in a backpack, the Switchblade launches from a tube, flies to the target ...

Capabilities

The Phoenix Ghost's primary purpose is to deliver an explosive munition to a human-selected target. The drone can loiter over an area for up to six hours, and can conduct surveillance. It is effective against medium-armored ground targets. It has

infrared sensors Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

for night operations.

History

In April 2022, the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

stated that the Phoenix Ghost was developed before the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

and that it was a "close match" for the needs of the

Armed Forces of Ukraine , imports = , exports = , history = , ranks = Military ranks of Ukraine , country=Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Збро́йні си́ли Украї́ни), most commonly known ...

in the battle of Donbas. It was later revealed that the Phoenix Ghost was a project under the

Big Safari Big Safari is a United States Air Force program begun in 1952 which provides management, direction, and control of the acquisition, modification, and logistics support for special purpose weapons systems derived from existing aircraft and systems. ...

weapons program. After initially sending 120 in April, it was announced in July 2022 that another 580 Phoenix Ghosts would be delivered beginning the next month4 HIMARS and 580 Phoenix Ghost drones the USA has allocated a new military aid package for Ukraine
''

Yahoo News Yahoo! News is a news website that originated as an internet-based news aggregator by Yahoo!. The site was created by a Yahoo! software engineer named Brad Clawsie in August 1996. Articles originally came from news services such as the Associate ...

''. 22 July 2022. as part of the

Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative or USAI is a U.S. Department of Defense-led funding program to increase Ukraine's capacity to defend itself more effectively against Russian aggression through the further training of its Armed Forces, equipm ...

(USAI). The Phoenix Ghost weapons were being provided to Ukraine via a new procurement by the United States, unlike the other weapons the US has provided to Ukraine in the early months following the invasion in February 2022. A U.S. aid package announced in November 2022 included more than 1,100 Phoenix Ghosts.

Operators

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

(at least 120 systems delivered by early May 2022; with training also underway by May 2022) A further 1,100 were delivered as part of an aid package in early November.

References

Unmanned aerial vehicles of the United States Loitering munition Weapons and ammunition introduced in 2022 {{UAV-stub