Famed U.S. drone maker accused of using Ukrainian drone footage

A Ukrainian defense expert has flagged an apparent discrepancy in a promotional video from American drone maker AeroVironment, saying footage the company presented as a successful Switchblade 600 strike actually shows the Ukrainian-made RAM-2X strike drone in action.

Bohdan Miroshnychenko, military analyst and editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian defense outlet Oboronka, raised the discrepancy in a post analyzing AeroVironment’s promotional video, which showcases the Switchblade 600 loitering munition’s use in Ukraine.

Miroshnychenko compared frames from the AeroVironment video against footage released separately by Ukrainian military personnel from a command post and a report from Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU.

“It seems that the American manufacturer of the legendary Switchblade strike drones, in its promotional video, presented a strike by Ukrainian RAM-2X drones as the work of their own product,” Miroshnychenko wrote.

Screengrab from video posted to social media

He pointed to a specific visual detail as evidence: the targeting reticle shown in the footage. A red reticle, which Miroshnychenko said is characteristic of the target-lock symbology used by the RAM-2X’s guidance system, appears repainted green in the AeroVironment video and shifted closer to the center of the vehicle shown on screen.

“The red targeting reticle, characteristic of target lock by the autonomous guidance system, was repainted the branded green and shifted closer to the center of the vehicle,” Miroshnychenko wrote.

Miroshnychenko framed the apparent mix-up as a sign that some Ukrainian-made weapons have reached a level of battlefield performance that allows them to be marketed internationally alongside established American systems.

“Another symptom that some Ukrainian weapons can already be brightly advertised with classic music under a beat and sold on the global market on par with American ‘hits,'” Miroshnychenko wrote. “Of course, as soon as we saturate our own Defense Forces with them and put things in order with the regulatory framework.”

Switchblade 600. Screengrab from video posted to social media

Miroshnychenko also credited the Switchblade 600 for a separate, verified result in the same SBU operation he referenced. He said Switchblade drones were used effectively in that strike, which destroyed two Buk surface-to-air missile systems, two Tor-M2 systems, a Strela system and a Tunguska air defense system.

Ukrianian RAM-2X drone. Photo by Come Back Alive

RAM-2X is a Ukrainian-developed strike drone. Switchblade 600 is a loitering munition built by AeroVironment that has been fielded by Ukrainian forces and, separately, by the U.S. Army, which has ordered additional units under an existing contract this year.