The secretive Phoenix Ghost kamikaze drone, first developed for the U.S. Air Force and supplied to Ukraine in its ongoing fight against Russia, has finally emerged publicly. We now know for sure that Phoenix Ghost is not a single design, but a family of increasingly larger and longer-ranged one-way attack munitions from AEVEX Aerospace, some of which have been seen before, while at least one was only revealed last week.
AEVEX confirmed the connection between various kamikaze drones it offers and the Phoenix Ghost effort at the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) main annual symposium in Washington, D.C., this week. The Pentagon first announced Phoenix Ghost kamikaze drones provided by AEVEX would be headed to Ukraine back in 2022, but scant information about them had subsequently emerged before now.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Elizabeth Trammell, senior director of business development at AEVEX, told TWZ Tuesday. “This has been around for a while … We’ve been able to receive specific permission to talk about it.”
The Phoenix Ghost family of one-way attack munitions includes types with distinctly different forms and performance capabilities. At least some of the designs were derived from aerial targets that AEVEX originally developed for testing counter-drone systems, according to the company.
Phoenix Ghosts were among the first kamikaze drones the U.S. military publicly announced it would be sending to Ukraine, but it had not been previously confirmed what they were and no conclusive imagery showing one had emerged before now. It is worth noting that the development of the Phoenix Ghost family, which traces back to a project under the Air Force’s Big Safari special projects office, also predates Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As such, AEVEX was very much ahead in the United States in working on one-way-attack drones, in general.
All “AEVEX loitering munitions use visual-based navigation to autonomously identify and follow landmarks or features in their environment, enabling precise positioning and pathfinding without reliance on GPS,” according to the company’s website. “Our systems leverage alternative PNT [precision navigation and timing] solutions to maintain precise navigation and operational capability in GPS-denied or degraded environments.”
In addition,
“AEVEX loitering munitions automatically detect, identify, locate, report (DILR) and deliver lethal and non-lethal effects against threats across multiple scenarios and domains with unprecedented accuracy and speed” and are able to “navigate, make decisions, and complete missions without direct intervention,” the company says.
Disruptor – JAMIE HUNTER
However, the drones can also be fitted with line-of-sight links and/or mesh networked radios, as well as electro-optical and infrared sensors, to provide some degree of direct control. In addition to acting as kamikaze drones, AEVEX says the uncrewed aerial systems in its product line can be configured for electronic and cyber warfare and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
Top Photo: Dominator – Aevex
Sources: AEVEX Aerospace; The War Zone