Mystery U.S. drone downed by Russia may bolster electronic warfare
The Russians successfully shot down a mysterious drone supplied to Ukraine by the USA. Let's introduce the Disruptor from the Phoenix Ghost family.
The Ukrainians are using various drones from around the world, ranging from improvised solutions with varying levels of sophistication to drones from Europe or the USA. The Disruptor drones, part of the Phoenix Ghost family, originate from the latter category and were specifically designed for Ukraine by AEVEX Aerospace.
They are designed as a cost-effective means of attacking soft targets with a fragmentation warhead. Breaking Defense shows these drones are based on the Switchblade 600 model. Despite their simplicity, these drones were intended to resist GPS jammers. Unfortunately, analyzing the wreckage could potentially enhance the effectiveness of Russian electronic warfare systems in the coming months.
Phoenix Ghost — a budget family of flying killers from the USA
Drones from the Phoenix Ghost family carry a 49-pound fragmentation warhead shaped like a cylinder, made from a deeply notched steel pipe. Inside is an explosive charge, possibly complemented with tungsten balls, a popular design enhancement in recent years. This construction aims to ensure a shrapnel impact area of several dozen meters.
The drone's structure is composite to reduce weight and allow for a significant fuel reserve for the combustion engine powering the two-blade pusher propeller. Notably, the engine used is a small two-cylinder boxer unit, popular among modelers because it requires only air movement over the protruding side cylinders for cooling rather than liquid cooling. This allows the drone to achieve a range of 372 miles and stay airborne for up to 4.5 hours.
Additionally, the guidance system is not only based on the GPS and INS navigation combination but also can fly using terrain mapping from a daytime or infrared camera. This result is a drone conceptually similar to the Shahed, but unlike it, this drone is suitable for combat use.
At the drone's core is a flight controller in the form of a Cube Orange+ module with a dual-core STM32H757 processor clocked at 400 MHz. This indicates extensive use of off-the-shelf components, which helps reduce production costs compared to dedicated systems.
