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| Taiwan Develops Flyingfish Drone Inspired by US Switchblade With 3 Versions |
Taipei - Taiwan made the US-made SwitchBlade in its version. This is as made by local manufacturer JC Tech. In October 2022, JC Tech is expected to get its first contract with the Taiwanese military. It is JC Tech that will develop the Flyingfish drone, the US version of the Taiwanese version of the SwitchBlade. This drone is also to protect Taiwan, which has recently been disturbed by China.
Quoted from Bulgarian Military, the Taiwanese Flyingfish will be developed in three versions with different sizes. The medium-sized one will be called the Flyingfish 200. The payload it can carry is about 10-12 grenades or about 500 grams. When fully loaded with explosives, the drone weighs over 2 kg, is 1.15 meters long.
Robert Cheng, president of JC Tech said that SwitchBlade inspired him and created it to develop Flyingfish. “Our drone is a single-rotor drone designed for the Coast Guard,” said Cheng. According to him, Taiwan should build a fleet of Flyingfish drones that can cut down important and primary enemy weapons in the early stages of hostilities. "Flyingfish will strengthen the country's defense," Cheng added.
The new Taiwanese drones will help protect not only the coast but also the ground troops. With its help, weapons, anti-ship missiles and tanks will be directed to hit the target. This is thanks to the built-in GPS, artificial intelligence, and several types of cameras.
The operating principle of Flyingfish is simple. The Flyingfish will detect the target and detonate the payload by detonating itself at the target.
The price of the drone is also very impressive, which is less than 3,000 dollars. This makes for a much longer range than cruise missiles for example, or other combat drones. "Using Flyingfish in large numbers makes it cost-effective and very effective," concluded Cheng.
On the other hand, the United States SwitchBlade is indeed very sophisticated. Quoted from euronews.com, the SwitchBlade 300 itself travels at a speed of about 100 km / h. These drones can provide cameras, guidance systems and explosives to bomb their targets. It can also fly up to 15 minutes and 10 km before attacking.
Meanwhile, the larger SwitchBlade 600, is a next-generation roaming missile capable of destroying armored targets such as tanks. It has a range of about 40 km and an endurance of about 40 minutes.
However, the result is much heavier, with drones and missiles carried together weighing in at nearly 55 kg. The drone operator uses a tablet-based touchscreen fire control system with the option to manually pilot the missile.