The White House on Wednesday announced that it will send military aid to Ukraine, as part of an $800 million support package.
According to the White House, the $800 million in security assistance will provide Ukraine with: 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, 100 suicide drones, "over 20 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenade launcher and mortar rounds," 25,000 sets of body armor, 25,000 helmets, 100 grenade launchers, 5,000 rifles, 1,000 pistols, 400 machine guns, 400 shotguns, as well as "2,000 Javelin, 1,000 light anti-armor weapons, and 6,000 AT-4 anti-armor systems."
A US official told ABC News that the drones are in fact small "switchblade" drones. The smallest such model weighs 5.5 lbs, is less than two feet long, and fits in a rucksack and flies directly into targets to detonate its small warhead, ABC added. It can be launched from a small tube and fly for up to 15 minutes. The larger model is effective against armored targets and can fly for over 40 minutes, but weighs 50 lbs.
ABC added that both models have an option to abort the attack, and use sensors and GPS.
The US official could not tell ABC which model would be included in the units sent to Ukraine.
Mick Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defense and an ABC News national security and defense analyst, said, "These were designed for U.S. Special Operations Command and are exactly the type of weapons systems that can have an immediate impact on the battlefield."