Today, high performance aircraft take many years to design, test and finally move into production. They can cost hundreds of millions to design and test.
Where aircraft today are being developed and moved to production is in the area of low tech drones that have “one-way missions” like the Switchbladethat I blogged on previously.
Another new “attack drone” is the Phoenix. “The Phoenix Ghost ‘is a different type of aircraft, it’s a one-way aircraft that is effective against medium armored ground targets,’ said retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and member of the Aevex board. The drone can take off vertically, fly for six-plus hours searching for or tracking a target, and operate at night using its infrared sensors, Deptula said. Phoenix Ghost has a longer loitering capability than the Switchblade, which can fly for less than an hour, he said.”
The full Politico story is here: “Mystery drone: How the Air Force fast-tracked a new weapon for Ukraine.”
When they say “medium armored targets,” I’m thinking everything except tanks. This provides for many more targets. Earlier in the Russian invasion, a message went out to Ukrainian fighters: don’t worry about the tanks, take out the fuel trucks, because the Russians were running out of fuel due to poor logistical planning.
A tank out of fuel is still very lethal — basically a pillbox, but not mobile!
