Loitering munition information

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A loitering munition, also known as a suicide drone,^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] kamikaze drone,^[5]^[6]^[7] or exploding drone,^[8] is a kind of aerial weapon with a built-in warhead that is typically designed to loiter around a target area until a target is located, then attack the target by crashing into it.^[9]^[10]^[11] Loitering munitions enable faster reaction times against hidden targets that emerge for short periods without placing high-value platforms near the target area and also allow more selective targeting as the attack can be changed mid-flight or aborted.

Loitering munitions fit in the niche between cruise missiles and unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs or combat drones), sharing characteristics with both. They differ from cruise missiles in that they are designed to loiter for a relatively long time around the target area, and from UCAVs in that a loitering munition is intended to be expended in an attack and has a built-in warhead. As such, they can also be considered a nontraditional ranged weapon.

Loitering weapons first emerged in the 1980s for use in the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) role against surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and were deployed in that role with a number of military forces in the 1990s. Starting in the 2000s, loitering weapons were developed for additional roles ranging from relatively long-range strikes and fire support down to tactical, very short range battlefield systems that fit in a backpack.

^ US army may soon use Israeli-designed ‘suicide drones’, Jerusalem Post, June 2016
^ China Unveils a Harpy-Type Loitering Munition, Israel Defense, March 2017
^ Meet Israel’s ‘Suicide Squad’ of Self-Sacrificing Drones, The Drive, August 2016
^ Loitering Munitions – In Focus, Center for the Study of the Drone, Feb 2017
^ Kamikaze drone loiters above, waits for target, CNET, June 2009
^ 'Kamikaze drones' add a new layer of lethality to remote force Archived 19 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, C4ISRNET, August 2015
^ Cite error: The named reference auto2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "Kyiv pummelled by Putin's exploding drones, Vitali Klitschko says". The Independent. 2 January 2023.
^ Loitering Munition Availability Expanding Internationally, Aviation Week, April 2016
^ Loitering Weapon Systems – A Growing Demand, h-ils, December 2016
^ Watch This Drone Turn Into A Missile, Popular Science, August 2015

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