The Switchblade "kamikaze" drone

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
"What is a switchblade drone?
A one-time-use unmanned aerial vehicle, the Switchblade drone is a powerful weapon that can dive bomb its targets, such as tanks and artillery nests, at a range of up to 30 miles. So far, 700 Switchblades – large and small – have been supplied to Ukraine for use against Russian forces."

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Crates containing Switchblades are already being loaded for Ukraine. "We've been in touch with the Ukrainian military," said Nawabi. "They could use thousands of them. The type of conflict they're engaged with today really is almost ideal for the Switchblade capability."

He's talking specifically about the long Russian convoys creeping toward the front lines. "Switchblade can just literally take them out like popcorn, literally," he said.

Martin asked, "Is the enemy going to hear it?"

"No. It's very, very quiet," said Aldana.

"But if you look up you can see it?"

"Well, it's not easy, right? I mean, it looks big on a table, but when it's in the sky it's very hard to see."

When asked if a Switchblade can be shot down, Aldana replied, "As far as I know, it's never happened."

But the signals which control the Switchblade can be jammed, and so far only 100 have reached the battlefield. Still, the weapon has earned Wahid Nawabi a place (along with Vice President Kamala Harris) on the list of Americans whom Russia has sanctioned.

It's not his first encounter with the Russians. "I was born and raised in Afghanistan," Nawabi said. "I left Afghanistan right at the beginning of the occupation of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan back in the early 1980s, so in some respect, this is very emotional and personal for me as well."

At the age of 14, the oldest of four children, he learned what happens when the Russian army invades your country. "I've been there. I know exactly what it's like. Life changes in a matter of seconds, completely changes upside-down."

And he remembers how one weapon, the American-made Stinger missile, helped chase the Russians out of Afghanistan.

"I vividly remember the Stinger missile," he told Martin. "I saw what it did to the Russian helicopters. Probably have seen a half a dozen of them with my own naked eyes get shot from the sky while watching from the ground."

Now he wants to see Russian tanks destroyed by his Switchblade drones.

"A capability that you cannot hear, you cannot see, you cannot tell where it came from, and boom! All of a sudden it hits you," he said. "Just creates havoc in your mind: 'Oh my God, what is this? What's happening to us?'"

They are nasty little devils!!