A final rundown of the drones committed to Ukraine by the Biden administration

The Ukraine-Russia conflict has been the most intense two-way drone war in human history, with unmanned aerial systems being employed by both sides on a large scale for one-way attacks and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

The Biden administration has committed more than $65 billion worth of security assistance to Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly three years ago, including thousands of UAS platforms via presidential drawdown authority and USAI funds.

As Joe Biden’s presidency nears its end and President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office next week, DefenseScoop has compiled a rundown of the various drones that Washington has acknowledged committing to Ukraine thus far.

Phoenix Ghost family of systems

In the early months of the war, the Pentagon made headlines when it announced that it was sending secretive “Phoenix Ghost” systems to Ukraine. For a long time, U.S. defense officials were tight-lipped about the capability, which is a kamikaze drone, or loitering munition, that attacks its target by crashing into it. Its development was overseen by the Air Force’s Big Safari office — which works on special projects — in partnership with AEVEX Aerospace.

In October 2024, AEVEX revealed that Phoenix Ghost is a family of systems, not a single drone model.

One of them is a loitering munition called Dominator, a Group 3 UAS (the Pentagon characterizes drones by groups on a scale of 1-5, based on size and other factors, with Group 1 on the smaller end and Group 5 on the larger end) with 5-plus hours of endurance, a range of about 500 kilometers, a top speed of 55-plus knots, and a 37-pound frag or penetrator payload capacity. The system is 5 feet long with a 15-foot wingspan and weighs about 100 pounds with a gas engine. It can be launched and recovered from a short runway or pneumatically, and operate in GPS-denied environments, according to the manufacturer.

The system can also perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), communications relay, “full spectrum” electronic warfare and cyber missions, the company says.

Other platforms in the Phoenix Ghost family include the Disruptor — a Group 3 drone with a configuration-dependent range of 600 to 1,150 kilometers, that uses a pneumatic launcher or rocket-assisted take-off and can carry a 50-pound payload — and the Group 2 Atlas, which has a couple hours of endurance, 50-plus knot top speed, and 120-plus kilometer range with an 8-pound payload, according to AEVEX.

The vendor’s loitering munitions “achieve autonomous flight through algorithms and sensor fusion, enabling them to navigate, make decisions, and complete missions without direct intervention,” according to a company website, which noted that the platforms use visual-based navigation to “autonomously identify and follow landmarks or features in their environment, enabling precise positioning and pathfinding without reliance on GPS.”

Switchblades

The Switchblade 600 is a kamikaze drone that has a 40-plus kilometer range, 40-plus minutes of endurance, a “sprint speed” of 115 miles per hour, and can carry an anti-armor warhead, according to manufacturer AeroVironment. The all-up round weighs about 65 pounds.

“Equipped with … high-resolution EO/IR gimbaled sensors and advanced precision flight control, Switchblade 600 empowers the warfighter with quick and easy deployment via tube-launch, and the capability to fly, track and engage non-line-of-sight targets and armored vehicles with precision lethal effects without the need for external ISR or fires assets,” per the product description. “Patented wave-off and recommit capability allows operators to abort the mission at any time and then re-engage either the same or other targets multiple times based on operator command.”

The tube-launched Switchblade 300 Block 20, meanwhile, can be deployed in less than 2 minutes and has a range of 30 kilometers, upwards of 20 minutes of endurance, and a “sprint speed” of 100 kilometers per hour. The all-up round weighs only about 7 pounds, according to the vendor.

“Cursor-on-target GPS coordinates provide situational awareness, information collection, targeting and feature/object recognition, that together deliver the actionable intelligence and precision firepower needed to achieve mission success across multiple domains,” per a product description.

Altius-600

The Altius-600, originally built by AREA-I — which was acquired by Anduril — is a tube-launched drone that weighs up to 27 pounds, has an endurance of up to four hours, and can be deployed from ground vehicles, aircraft and other platforms. It’s able to carry mission-specific payload configurations that can contribute to ISR, electronic warfare, counter-UAS or “kinetic” engagement, according to a product description.

The platform’s autonomous capabilities allow one operator to control multiple assets, according to the Anduril.

“Altius-600 launches from a variety of platforms and altitudes, providing increased capabilities to any mothership,” per a product description.

Jump 20

The JUMP 20 is a Group 3, fixed wing, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) platform that can provide advanced multi-sensor ISR capabilities, according to manufacturer AeroVironment.

The drone has 13-plus hours of endurance, a range of 115 miles, and a payload capacity of up to 30 pounds, according to the company.

“Runway independent, the system can be set up and operational in less than 60 minutes without the need for launch or recovery equipment,” per a product description.

Black Hornet

Black Hornet nano drones and their ISR capabilities provide dismounted soldiers with “covert situational awareness,” according to manufacturer Teledyne FLIR.

The “extremely light, nearly silent” pocket-sized systems transmit live video and HD still images back to their operators, according to a product description.

Scan Eagle

Scan Eagle is a long-endurance ISR platform that’s launched by a catapult. The Group 2 UAS can operate at altitudes up to 19,500 feet and has an endurance of about 18 hours. It has a maximum payload weight of 11 pounds, according to manufacturer Insitu, which is owned by Boeing.

“Field-swappable payloads can be rapidly reconfigured to support a wide range of missions—electronic warfare, ISR, comms relay, overwatch and targeting,” per a product description.

Penguin

Edge Autonomy makes multiple variants of the Penguin long-endurance UAS, which can be tailored for different configurations.

The catapult-launched Penguin C Mk2 has an endurance of 20-plus hours, a 180-kilometer range, and a flight ceiling of 13,000 feet, according to the manufacturer.

“A crew of two can operate the Penguin C Mk2 and all the necessary equipment, including the pneumatic launcher. The whole system is packed in several ruggedized containers and weighs up to 265 kg (585 lb), all of which can be transported in a single minivan, pickup, or helicopter and assembled in under an hour,” according to a product description.

There’s also a VTOL variant of the Penguin C — which has 12-plus hours of endurance — and another system known as Penguin B.

The Pentagon has not identified which variant was sent to Ukraine.

Raven

The hand-launched Raven has a range of 10 kilometers, upwards of 75 minutes of endurance, is 3 feet long and weighs less than 5 pounds. It can be operated manually or programmed for autonomous navigation, according to maker AeroVironment.

The system “is ideal for low-altitude intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions that depend on rapid deployment,” per a product description. “Lightweight and simple to operate, the Raven is rucksack portable and can be hand-launched for day or night observation. The Raven has an optional stabilized gimbaled payload and delivers real-time color and/or infrared imagery to the ground control and remote viewing stations.”

Puma

Puma small UAS, manufactured by AeroVironment, can be hand launched and it’s designed to perform ISR missions.

The Puma 3 AE, a Group 1 drone, has a 20-kilometer link range, is less than 5 feet in length, weighs about 15 pounds, and has up to 3 hours of endurance, according to the company

The system “features a reinforced airframe with an optional under wing transit bay for secondary payloads and third-party applications,” per a product description. “Available kits and accessories expand the operational capabilities by providing vertical take-off and landing in constrained area operations and GPS-denied navigation in contested environments.”

The Puma LE, a Group 2 drone that weighs about 23 pounds, can also be launched by hand and has up to 6.5 hours of endurance. The system is about 7 feet long, according to AeroVironment.

The drones have a 60-kilometer range when assisted by the company’s long-range tracking antenna.

DOD has not disclosed which variant was committed to Ukraine.

Cyberlux K8

CyberLux does not provide images or specs about the K8 on its main UAS product page.

“Lightweight and man-portable, Cyberlux UAS solutions are capable of beyond line-of-sight engagements that are enabled by first-person view (FPV) command and control. Military customers have options including the integration with Battle Management Systems (BMS) as well as fire-and-forget technologies substantially resistant to EW,” the company states on its website.

In a Nov. 15, 2024, shareholder update, company CEO Mark Schmidt noted that the firm has “evolved” the original K8 drones into newer configurations that are part of its “X” series, noting that the manufacturer had “ongoing activity in Ukraine working to secure additional contracts” for its UAS and other business units.

One of the vendor’s X series drones, the X-8.10, has a range of about 6 miles, a payload weight of 6 pounds, a max speed of 86 miles per hour, and an endurance of 12 minutes when carrying a payload, according to a product description.

The company did not respond to a request for K8 product info and imagery.

The Wall Street Journal published a story about the company in March 2023 that included a photo of the K8.

‘Other UAS’

The latest DOD fact sheet on Ukraine security assistance, published Jan. 9, referenced “Other UAS” on the list of equipment that’s been committed to Kyiv. Pentagon officials have not provided additional information about those platforms. The department has previously cited operational security reasons for not providing certain information about the military systems going to Ukraine.

What’s next?

It remains to be seen whether the next U.S. administration, set to take power on Jan. 20, will commit additional drones to Ukraine. President-elect Donald Trump said he aims to quickly bring an end to the war after he’s back in the Oval Office.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has a strong industrial base for manufacturing its own UAS, and it can keep churning them out on a large scale. Other European nations have also contributed high-tech drones to Kyiv’s arsenal, and they may continue on that course even if Washington stops sending systems.