2022-11-10T10:25:00+02:00 Politics 2023-11-15T04:50:55+02:00

Ukrainian news

Ukrainian news

United States refuses to transfer Gray Eagle attack drones to Ukraine

United States refuses to transfer Gray Eagle attack drones to Ukraine

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden will not provide modern Gray Eagle MQ-1C drones to Ukraine for fear of escalation at the front.

This follows from a statement by The Wall Street Journal (USA).

Members of both houses of Congress have asked the White House to send Kyiv medium-altitude drones, which it has been requesting for several months. The Pentagon rejected the request due to fears of Moscow's reaction to the shipment of weapons that the Armed Forces of Ukraine could use to strike Russian territory, several U.S. officials said.

Some White House officials worried that if the drone was destroyed on the battlefield, the enemy could obtain secret technologies for its production.

The MQ-1C Gray Eagle is an American reconnaissance and attack drone manufactured by General Atomics. It was commissioned by the U.S. Army, not the U.S. Air Force. The length of the Gray Eagle is eight meters, the height is 2.1 meters. The maximum flight height is more than eight kilometers. The UAV has a wingspan of 17 meters. With increased fuel tanks, the Gray Eagle can fly for up to 45 hours. With the payload, Hellfire, Stinger missiles and Viper Strike bombs, the flight time will be more than 36 hours.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on October 27, Deputy Minister of Defense Anna Maliar stated that Russia wants to intimidate the population and leadership of Ukraine with attacks on infrastructure facilities, including with the help of drones.

On September 23, the AFU shot down a multi-purpose Iranian-made Mohajer-6 drone for the first time.

Also, the AFU have already shot down 85% of Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze drones.