In one of our publications from October 2024, we discussed how the USA finally revealed the mysterious Phoenix Ghost drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which had been promised back in 2022, and explained why this presentation raised more questions. Interestingly, the original source of this information was a publication from The War Zone.
Now, a month later, the Americans have decided to disclose an important detail about their Phoenix Ghost family of drones, specifically regarding how the warhead detonation occurs, which makes the situation even more intriguing.
According to a new publication from The War Zone, the Phoenix Ghost drones utilize airburst detonation of the warhead, similar to how it can occur with artillery shells.
The advantage of this detonation method is that the drone does not have to strike the target directly to inflict damage. The mechanism of airburst detonation on the Phoenix Ghost, along with all its benefits, can be seen both in the screenshot above and in this video:
The video was filmed during the Northern Strike 24-2 exercises, conducted by the Michigan National Guard in August 2024. It is noted that during these exercises, American military personnel conducted a "test run" of the kamikaze drones Dagger, Dominator, and Disruptor, which are part of the Phoenix Ghost family and have likely been used by the Ukrainian Defense Forces since 2022.
Even if the details mentioned above seem somewhat "limited," they are actually incredibly valuable. Until this point, any information regarding the Phoenix Ghost drones had been strictly classified, and it was only in October 2024 that their approximate appearance became known, which helped clarify many aspects.
For instance, what initially appeared to be likely a Shahed-101 in the hands of the Russians turned out to be the Dagger kamikaze drone from the Phoenix Ghost family, meaning it was indeed our drone, not an enemy one. In any case, this was the assessment provided by the authors of TWZ.
Earlier, Defense Express also reported on whether the Phoenix Ghost is significantly different from Russian drones.
