The U.S. is sending 100 Switchblade loitering munitions (unmanned systems) to the Ukrainians, said Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby echoed by C. Todd Lopez, US DoD News, on April 6, adding that those “suicide drones” are already in Ukraine or will be arriving there shortly. “We’re in discussions with Ukrainians about future … usages of Switchblade drones, and of course we’ll keep that option open going forward,” he said.
Along with the $300 million in military assistance announced last month, Kirby said, the total U.S. security assistance commitment to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion has been more than $1.7 billion. ”The United States, along with our allies and partners, will continue to work closely with our Ukrainian partners to evaluate their specific requirements, to ensure that our assistance Kirby told reporters the training mentioned by Austin and Milley involved a small number of Ukrainian soldiers who are already in the U.S. and have been in the U.S. since the fall for professional military education. “We took the opportunity to … give them a couple of days’ worth of training on the Switchblade so that they can go back, and they will be going back soon, back home, to train others in the Ukrainian military,” Kirby said. “We’ll look at other suitable opportunities if needed to provide more training on the Switchblades if it’s necessary.”
Ukrainian soldiers do not typically use the Switchblade, Kirby said, and because of this, some amount of training will be needed to familiarize them with this system, as was mentioned during testimony on Capitol Hill yesterday by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley: “It is not a very complex system”, Kirby said. “It doesn’t require a lot of training. An individual could be suitably trained on how to use a Switchblade drone in about two days or so.”