Ukrainian forces just hit an expensive Russian vehicle with a U.S. weapon

On October 28th, the Ukrainian 14th Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Regiment posted a video on its Telegram channel showing an attack that it launched against a Russian air defense system in cooperation with the Ukrainian Security Service. 

The video is interesting for several reasons, the least of which is the end-to-end footage of a high-profile attack on an expensive piece of Russian equipment using a drone that was made in the United States: the AeroVironment Switchblade 600.  

Photo Credit: Telegram @army_14reg

AeroVironment’s Switchblade 600 loitering munition drone has been in use in battle on the frontlines by Ukrainian forces since at least November or December 2022 according to Popular Mechanics, which noted that that was when the weapons arrived. 

Photo Credit: Youtube @AeroVironmentInc

The Biden administration announced shortly after Russian troops invaded Ukraine that it planned to send hundreds of Switchblades, but these were AeroVironment’s smaller, yet still powerful, anti-infantry Switchblade 300 model. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Tyler Forti, Public Domain

In the Spring of 2022, the United States placed an order worth $2.2 million dollars to get the larger Switchblade 600 systems into Ukrainian hands, something that took months to accomplish since AeroVironment hadn’t built out its production capabilities. 

Why Washington wanted Ukraine to have the Switchblade 600 is easy to figure out once you understand the damage the system can do to armor. The weapon essentially uses the same warhead as a U.S. Javelin anti-tank missile and can take out heavy armor and tanks. 

The Switchblade 600’s armor-destroying capabilities were on full display in the footage that was posted online by the 14th Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Regiment, which worked with the Ukrainian Security Service to destroy a Russian 9K330 Tor missile system. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @army_14reg

The video shows the 14th Regiment using an advanced reconnaissance drone to locate the Russian Tor—which is a surface-to-air missile defense system and more commonly known by its NATO reporting name: the SA-15 Gauntlet or as the Tor-M2.

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin, CC BY-SA 4.0

After Ukrainian forces spotted the SA-15 Gauntlet operating in an open field, operators called in the big guns, Ukrainian Security Service fighters armed with Switchblade 600s. The Kyiv Post noted the Russian weapon’s coordinates were passed along.

Photo Credit: Telegram @army_14reg

Ukrainian Security Service troops operating in the field received the coordinates just in time because the video shows that the SA-15 Gauntlet was moving positions when the first of the SBU’s Switchblade 600s began attacking the air defense system. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @army_14reg

Kyiv Post reported that as the SA-15 Gauntlet began preparing to leave its location, “the first of the precision-guided kamikaze munitions struck it at the rear.” This forced the vehicle to stop which gave the second Switchblade enough time to hit the system. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @army_14reg

The second drone strike caused the SA-15 Gaunlet’s crew to scatter and watch on as the vehicle caught fire. Unfortunately, it is difficult to tell from the nearly 40-second clip whether or not the Russian air defense system was destroyed. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @army_14reg

If the SA-15 Gauntlet was destroyed, or damaged beyond repair, it would make for an expensive loss for Russian forces. Kyiv Post pegged the air defense systems, which it assessed was an M2 variant model, to cost roughly $25 million dollars. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @army_14reg

The SA-15 Gauntlet was first developed in the 1980s under the Soviet Union for point defense against enemy aircraft, helicopters, and precision-guided munitions according to Missile Defense. However, the M2 variant of the system was revealed in 2007. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @army_14reg

“The Tor-M2 family can be armed with up to 8 9M331 or 16 9M338-series missiles, expanding its engagement range to 16 km (9.8 miles) and ceiling to 10 km  (6.2 miles) against targets under Mach 3.7,” Missile Defense noted, adding additional upgrades could push the systems range to 32km (19.8 miles). 

The Ukrainian military website Military noted that the real danger of the Tor-M2 is in its anti-drone capabilities and noted the system “poses a threat to Ukrainian drones.” It also added that the recent attack on the M2 in the video took place somewhere in Donetsk. 

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Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin, CC BY-SA 4.0