r/CombatFootage • u/PNV_WarInUA • Mar 31 '23

Russian soldiers in the lens of a Switchblade 300 kamikaze drone. Photo published on 31.03.2023 by Ukrainian SOF soldiers. Photo

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1.1k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

72 comments sorted by

181

u/RallyToTheColors Mar 31 '23

Flying 40mm grenade wants to know your location.

18

u/Ceramicrabbit Mar 31 '23

Isn't it more like a shotgun shell?

61

u/TrifleHopeful6652 Mar 31 '23

It has the explosive force of equivalent to a 40 mm HE grenade, But it is surrounded by shrapnel that explodes outward in a pattern designed for to have the greatest effect on infantry.

Almost like a Claymore with wings.

Its big brother, the switchblade 600 is similar to a Javelin anti tank missile. Intended to destroy armored vehicles.

50

u/GeeXTaR Mar 31 '23

"Claymore with wings"

Yeah nah. As if the nopestone wasn't terrifying enough.

13

u/FeoWalcot Apr 01 '23

All sides toward enemy.

2

u/BooBooBoy1234 Apr 01 '23

Fly directly into enemy.

6

u/NibblesTheChimp Apr 01 '23

Apply directly to forehead!

25

u/iSlacker Mar 31 '23

A grenade is kinda just a shotgun shell without a barrel. An explosion behind shrapnel. The forward momentum of the drone when the grenade goes off gives it a shotgun like pattern.

28

u/Aromatic_Balls Mar 31 '23

Think the Switchblade 300 warhead is also designed specifically for the forward projection of shrapnel. Its entire design premise revolved around avoiding collateral damage in populated/urban settings.

From its wiki:

The warhead is specifically designed for controlled firepower to reduce collateral damage through a focused blast. It has a forward-firing shotgun-blast effect rather than a 360-degree blast, throwing pellets in the direction that the missile is traveling.

2

u/omegaflarex Apr 01 '23

Then they' will need to design one for warfare purpose where civilian is non-existence.

93

u/AlexTheRockstar Mar 31 '23

Goddamn that is a target rich environment.

1

u/Planttech12 Apr 01 '23

The patented Aerovironment Wave-OffTM technology did not collect any royalties on this occasion.

64

u/WeedstocksAlt Mar 31 '23

Man once these types of drones become more developed and more autonomous, traditional battlefield or urban warfare will become even more of a nightmare for infantry.

On the battlefield when you have a swarm of 100s of autonomous flying grenade just hovering above your head …….

36

u/Flames_Revenge Mar 31 '23

As tech gets smaller too it’s really going to be scary. Imagine thousands of tiny inch sized drones flying around looking for anyone they can injure. One finds someone, hits him, and while that dude is patching up 100 more show up and annihilate him. What’s even scarier is the thought of drones like these getting in the hands of people with the intent of terrorizing civilian populations.

20

u/Detr22 Mar 31 '23

I can't help imagining a 9/11 like scenario in 2040 or something when hundreds of those get released in a populated area.

I'm probably in a list now just for typing that.

4

u/UnderworldCircle Apr 01 '23

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

3

u/Holden_Coalfield Apr 01 '23

a bank of leds on the back of a rack in the basement of a nondescript black glass office building somewhere in Maryland blinked several times and then settled down

1

u/jondubb Apr 01 '23

That scene in Olympus has Fallen was fun but watching it recently made me worried. Drone hive-mind programs are getting really sophisticated with the light shows. Hitting too close to reality.

1

u/EstablishmentFree611 Apr 01 '23

China has probably already amss produced something too lol

7

u/Piyh Apr 01 '23

The physics of flying, energy storage, and explosives don't favor drones getting much smaller unless they start using micro needles of nerve agents.

11

u/Weztside Mar 31 '23

War throughout history has been a game of people designing new weapons to overcome defenses and new defenses to protect against weapons. I guarantee this war has made militaries around the world realize they need countermeasures to drones. The US has had drones for decades we however prefer the very expensive kinda that use hellfire missiles. Still the thought of thousands of inexpensive kamikaze drones roaming a warzone slaughtering humans as programmed is absolutely terrifying.

2

u/Adventurous_Lion7530 Apr 01 '23

The US is definitely doing R&D I to AI driven combat drone probably similar to the switchblade. I just don't think the technology and software is there just yet. That shit is crazy

1

u/EstablishmentFree611 Apr 01 '23

I bet you the b21 ai bomber has ai missiles like these or in the future we develop drone bombers that escort themselves with switchblades they can deploy

2

u/hempsmoker Apr 01 '23

You mean something like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjUdVxJH6yI

1

u/Flames_Revenge Apr 01 '23

Damn nice vid, and that was 2016. Imagine what we have now

1

u/iampatmanbeyond Apr 02 '23

The problem is we haven't seen any real anti drone video footage. I'm sure a phalanx would probably do a decent job of taking out most of androne swarm

4

u/Ricksauce Apr 01 '23

It won’t even have a person controlling it. Its a.i. will understand targeting parameters, friend or foe and they’ll just rotate fresh squads of them into the space. Constant CAS and sentry.

The shit going on with drones behind the scenes at AAC, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics must be insane.

1

u/WeedstocksAlt Apr 01 '23

Yeah exactly, these swarms will be autonomous at some point.
What we are seeing currently is like Stone Age level stuff compared to what probably exist in top R&Ds

1

u/Ricksauce Apr 01 '23

Even with current tech, world leaders must be in constant danger walking outside.

4

u/yaosio Apr 01 '23

Here's a video from October 2016 of an F-16 dropping tiny drones. It looks like it's giving birth to baby F-16s. https://youtu.be/BxR0foZMtns

That was 6 and a half years ago. I wonder what they're up to now.

3

u/Fausterion18 Apr 01 '23

Israel already deployed this. Instead of piloting each drone individually, one operator just selects a group of them and issues move and attack commands like he's playing StarCraft. They can go indoors too.

https://youtu.be/o8hhUI6V5KI

1:45

5

u/JeromePowellsEarhair Mar 31 '23

I guarantee it’s already there for the most advanced countries.

A peer vs peer war between the most advanced countries in the world would make this war look closer technologically to WWII than modern warfare.

11

u/WeedstocksAlt Mar 31 '23

Imo, this war clearly shows that there is no peer to peer possibly at the top in a non-nuclear conflict. It would be the US obliterating anyone else.
Russia is currently stalling, at best, against Ukraine armed from what’s the equivalent of a US leftover warehouse.
I fully believe the US top gear is probably at the point of somewhat autonomous drones swarms, but I highly doubt anyone else is even close.

4

u/That_Hobo_in_The_Tub Mar 31 '23

China has been pouring a lot of research and money into this field, and they had the benefit of being really at the forefront of the drone revolution what with being the place where most consumer drone hardware gets manufactured. So I wouldn't completely write them off, although I'm sure whatever DARPA has is flashier.

1

u/Fausterion18 Apr 01 '23

I fully believe the US top gear is probably at the point of somewhat autonomous drones swarms, but I highly doubt anyone else is even close.

Israel already deployed them last year.

2

u/DahManWhoCannahType Apr 01 '23

Ukraine should set up a subscription service. Enthusiasts would pay $100/month to fly missions with Switchblade drones.

-1

u/EstablishmentFree611 Apr 01 '23

And you wonder why elon musk and every one is freaking out about Ai now lol.

35

u/FlexTyler Mar 31 '23

After getting another chance at life out of prison, these Wagner troops thought they had it all figured out .. record scratch

11

u/TheGisbon Mar 31 '23

Every Sgt of every detail sent to bag and tag:

"THIS, LOOK AT THIS SHIT BLYAT, THIS. THIS RIGHT HERE IS WHY WE TELL YOU TO SPREAD. THE. FUCK. OUT."

12

u/BizarreNorwegian Mar 31 '23

This warhead gives you the canister shot treatment aswell, with quite the standoff range

11

u/kevinraisinbran Apr 01 '23

record scratch

freeze frame

Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.

2

u/Toddison_McCray Apr 01 '23

que Baba O’Riley while they get hit in slow mo

2

u/sync-centre Apr 01 '23

"So you are probably wondering how we got here..."

2

u/RedGhostOfTheNight Apr 01 '23

M-m-m-monnnnstterrr Kill!

1

u/Jane_the_analyst Mar 31 '23

Where is the "To be continued..." overlay and the music?

0

u/Weary_Conversation_6 Apr 01 '23 edited Apr 01 '23

What a shame it wasn't a Switchblade 600. I assume the 300 can transmit last GPS location for potential follow up attacks? This would be worth a HIMARS rocket.

1

u/deuszu_imdugud Apr 01 '23

Hey guys look. A bad day is incoming

1

u/dudreddit Apr 01 '23

I wish that we had access to a video of the attack from a second drone, to see the effects on the target ...