U.S. to send drones with anti-armor warhead to Ukraine- Pentagon chief

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley enter the hearing room prior to testifying before a House Armed Services Committee hearing on "Department of Defense's Budget Requests for FY2023”, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., April 5, 2022. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

The United States will send a variant of the Switchblade drone that has an anti-armor warhead to Ukraine as quickly as possible, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday.

"The Switchblade 600 and 300 will move as quickly as they possibly can," Austin said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing.

The 600 variant has the anti-armor warhead and can loiter over a target for more than 40 minutes, according to AeroVironment, which makes the drones.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali nand Phil Stewart.)