US‑supplied disruptor drone shot down by Russia: Implications unravel
The Russians have succeeded in shooting down a mysterious drone supplied to Ukraine by the USA. Here, we explore what the Disruptor from the Phoenix Ghost range is all about.
The Ukrainians are deploying a variety of drones from around the globe, from improvised solutions across different levels of sophistication to drones from Europe and the USA. The Disruptor drones, part of the Phoenix Ghost family, originate from the latter and were specifically designed for Ukraine by AEVEX Aerospace.
They were conceived as a cost-effective means of targeting soft targets using a fragmentation warhead. According to the portal Breaking Defence, these drones are based on the Switchblade 600 drones. Despite their simplicity, these drones were designed to resist GPS signal jamming. However, analysing the wreckage might boost the effectiveness of Russian electronic warfare systems in the coming months.
Phoenix Ghost — budget-friendly family of flying killers from the USA
Drones from the Phoenix Ghost family are equipped with a 22-kilogram fragmentation warhead shaped like a cylinder, which consists of a deeply scored steel tube. Inside, there is an explosive charge, possibly with an additional load of tungsten balls—a popular advancement in recent years. This setup is intended to create a fragmentation impact area spanning several dozen metres.
The drone is made from composite materials to reduce weight, benefiting a large fuel reserve for the internal combustion engine that operates the two-blade pusher propeller. Notably, the engine is a small two-cylinder unit in a boxer configuration, a favourite among model builders because it doesn’t require liquid cooling; mere airflow to the side-exposed cylinders is adequate. This allows the drone to cover a range of approximately 600 kilometres and remain airborne for up to 4.5 hours.
Moreover, the guidance system relies on GPS and INS navigation and the capability to fly using terrain mapping from a daytime or thermal camera. Consequently, a drone conceptually similar to the Shahed was developed but, unlike it, designed for combat operations.
The drone's core, however, is the flight controller, which takes the form of a Cube Orange+ module with a dual-core STM32H757 processor clocked at 400 MHz. This highlights the substantial use of off-the-shelf components, which aid in reducing production costs compared to bespoke systems.
