Behold the Pentagon’s new magic bullet: Switchblade

3 min read

It comes in a tube, flies for only a few minutes and then blows itself up.

Tried and tested to lethal effect in Afghanistan, it’s the Pentagon’s new “kamikaze” drone. The existence of another new, small “killer” drone has been known for more than a year but evidence that it has been used in combat in Afghanistan has just emerged. It’s another element in the increasing use of remote-controlled weaponry.

Video shown by California-based AeroVironment Inc., maker of Switchblade and a host of other unpiloted flying vehicles – one barely the size of a hummingbird – shows how a solider can carry the system in a knapsack, launch Switchblade from a propped-up tube, peer into a viewer providing real-time video and then destroy a target on the “far side of the hill.”

It can fly for about 15 minutes. Switchblade will – for instance – fly into a cave entrance. It packs enough explosives to destroy a vehicle. It’s a one-time LMAM, or Lethal Miniature Aerial Munition in acronym-rich military jargon.

AeroVironment dubs its tiny, three-kilogram controllable flying bomb Switchblade and says it’s the soldier’s “magic bullet.”

The Pentagon has ordered $4.9-million worth of additional Switchblades but it’s not clear how many “magic bullets” that will buy. Details of the experimental already-deployed new weapon system are still sketchy. Nearly silent, powered by batteries, the half-metre long Switchblade can feed real-time video back to its operator who guides it rather like hobbyists fly radio-controlled model airplanes.

But for Switchblade, there’s no coming back. Like the feared “Divine Wind” during World War II when Japanese pilots flew kamikaze missions, crashing their planes into U.S. warships, Switchblade is a very expensive way to deliver a precise attack. The big difference is with no pilot, there’s no suicide.

The U.S. army tested a dozen Switchblades in the last few months in Afghanistan and has ordered more. It’s all part of a growing reliance on unmanned, remote-controlled, military systems.

President Barack Obama has opted for drones – in sizes ranging from globe-girdling jets to tiny hand-launched models that fly only a few minutes – as the favoured way to hunt down and kill Islamic extremists.

Missile-firing Reaper and Predator drones are routinely used on kill missions in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. Mr. Obama ordered the killing of al-Qaeda cleric (and U.S. citizen) Anwar al-Awlaki with a Hellfire missile from a drone last month.

Long-range Global Hawks can patrol for days and fly across oceans. Unarmed versions of the mid-sized Predators are patrolling the Canadian and Mexican borders. But the focus on tiny drones like Switchblade shows a new “disposability” as costs come down.

Proponents of the tiny Switchblade claim it is safer than sending soldiers into defended positions and causes fewer unintended casualties than, for instance, calling in an air strike. Switchblade can kill insurgents atop a building, rather than destroying the whole building.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/behold-the-pentagons-new-magic-bullet-switchblade/article2207870/

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PaanLuel Wël

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PaanLuel Wël is the founder and editor-in-chief of PaanLuel Wël Media Ltd, a news website that covers news, opinions, analysis, history, culture and literature of South Sudan and the world. Founded in July 2011 by PaanLuel Wël to create a platform for free expression and constructive dialogue, the website features articles from various contributors, including columnists, commentators, poets, authors, activists and academics. PaanLuel Wël believes that media can play a vital role in informing, educating and empowering the people to participate in nation-building and social transformation. He also believes that media can foster a culture of dialogue, tolerance and diversity among different communities and groups, and hopes to inspire and mentor the next generation of South Sudanese writers and journalists.

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