The kamikaze drone, which is being developed in the United States under strict secrecy, failed to hit the mock-up of the Russian anti-aircraft missile and gun system (ZRPC) "Pantsir-S1". This is reported by The Drive.
According to the publication, the incident occurred during the Edge 21 exercise with the participation of a unit of the Air Force (Air Force) The United States and the Marine Corps, which for two weeks took place at the Dugway training ground in the US state of Utah. According to the scenario, the drones were supposed to hit three targets of a simulated enemy, scattered across an imaginary chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean. One of them was an air defense radar system, the second-a command and control unit, and the third-an imitation of the "Shell-S1".
The first two targets were successfully hit by drones, but when the barrage munition was supposed to strike a mock-up of the Russian ZRPC, it failed. The drone, for an unknown reason, was out of the hit position. As a result, the military decided to abort the tests and save the ammunition for the next Project Convergence exercise.
As The Drive notes, very little is known about the drone itself, since information about it is classified. In particular, it was previously reported only that this is a long-range drone that is launched from the ground.
In January, The Times newspaper, citing its own sources, reported that the United States in July 2020 stole a Russian-made Pantsir-C1 in Libya. According to the newspaper, the ZRPC was taken from the battlefield and delivered to Ramstein air base in Germany. Later it became known that the Russian complex could get to the Tonopah air base in the secret "Zone 51".
Varvara Koshechkina
