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Loitering munitions2023–presentProfile in progress
One-way attack drone
Terminal Autonomy AQ-400 Scythe is a one-way attack drone originating in Ukraine. It was built by Terminal Autonomy. Reported operators include Ukraine.
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One-way attack drone
Ukraine
2023–present
Ukraine
Russian invasion of Ukraine
2022-2023
Terminal Autonomy
USD $30,000
2023-present
100 kg (220 lb)
2.3 m (7.5 ft)
43 kg (95 lb)
32 kg (71 lb)
750 km (470 mi)
30–3,000 m (98–9,843 ft)
200 km/h (120 mph)
Ukraine
The AQ-400 Scythe is a one-way attack drone designed and built by the Ukrainian company Terminal Autonomy during the Russian invasion of Ukraine .
It has two sets of wings, one forward and one rear, with a wingspan of 2.3 m; 30 fully-assembled Scythes can be stacked in one shipping container for transport.
Overall weight is 100 kg with a 43 kg payload, of which 32 kg is the warhead which can be thermobaric or hold two 122 mm artillery shells.
Using the standard gas engine and pusher propeller , the AQ-400 has a cruise speed of 144 km/h (89 mph), a top speed of 200 km/h, endurance of 6.5 hours, and a strike range of 750 km; depending on the engine option, range could be increased as far as 900 km (560 mi), or payload increased to 70 kg (150 lb) at a reduced range.
Guidance at low altitude uses a laser altimeter to approach at 30 m to minimize the effects of electronic warfare to jam GPS navigation until very close to the target. At high altitudes of 3,000 m, it navigates with a visual positioning system using roads and other visible landmarks. A video link option is available so an operator can manually guide the drone to hit moving targets, but this adds costs and only works at shorter ranges. The basic Scythe airframe costs USD $15,000, which increases to USD$30,000 with a guidance system and other features; this compares to around USD$20,000 for a Shahed-136 one-way attack munition used by Russia . Swarms can use a leader-follower method, where one lead drone carrying a navigation system is followed by nine basic drones, which help saturate the target area and draw off enemy defenses from the lethal version. The use of such drones is intended to overwhelm air defenses as well as make them expend expensive interceptors against cheaper targets, exhausting their supplies over time.
Reference text from Wikipedia contributors, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Terminal Autonomy AQ-400 Scythe equipment records. Variants, orders and quantities are shown as reported in each inventory source; coverage is incomplete.