{"id":32260437,"date":"2026-11-11T11:27:56","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T10:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/how-loitering-munition-works-kamikaze-drones-explained\/"},"modified":"2026-11-11T11:31:17","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T10:31:17","slug":"how-loitering-munition-works-kamikaze-drones-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/how-loitering-munition-works-kamikaze-drones-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Loitering Munition Works: Kamikaze Drones Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background 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Before it has cleared the treeline its wings have snapped open and an electric motor has taken over. For the next quarter of an hour it will circle overhead, sending live video back to a hand-held screen, and it will only become a weapon when a human decides it should.<\/p>\n<p>That is a loitering munition, popularly called a kamikaze drone: part reconnaissance drone, part missile, built to wait over a battlefield until a target appears and then dive onto it. Once a niche Israeli speciality, the category now ranges from 2.5 kg backpack rounds to 200 kg long-range attack drones launched by the hundred. Here is how they work, and why their labels cause so much argument.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:18px 22px;margin:26px 0 30px;font-size:15px;line-height:1.7\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:600;color:#0d1117;font-size:17px\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px\"><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>What it is:<\/strong> An expendable uncrewed aircraft with a built-in warhead that can search an area before committing to an attack<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Key difference:<\/strong> Unlike a cruise missile it can wait over a target area; unlike a reusable armed drone it is destroyed in the attack<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Launch methods:<\/strong> Tubes and canisters, catapults, and rails or racks with rocket boosters<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Propulsion:<\/strong> Mostly electric motors on small types; small piston engines on long-range designs such as the Shahed-136<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Smallest example:<\/strong> Switchblade 300: 2.5 kg (5.5 lb), up to 15 minutes of flight in its original version, according to AeroVironment<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Long-endurance example:<\/strong> IAI Harop: up to 9 hours of endurance, according to IAI<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Disputed label:<\/strong> Analysts argue whether the Shahed-136 is a loitering munition, a one-way attack drone or a low-cost cruise missile<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Missile, Drone or Something in Between?<\/h2>\n\n<p>The easiest way to understand a loitering munition is to place it between two older ideas. A cruise missile is launched at a target that has already been found. It flies a planned route, often at low level, and has no reason to wait: the decision to strike was made before launch. A reusable armed drone such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/mq-9-reaper\/\">MQ-9 Reaper<\/a> is the opposite. It searches for hours, fires a separate missile or bomb, and flies home to be refuelled.<\/p>\n\n<p>A loitering munition merges the two. Like the Reaper, it can be sent to an area without a precise target and spend time searching. Like a missile, it carries its warhead inside its own airframe, so the aircraft and the weapon are one and the same. Once it attacks, it is gone. The US Congressional Research Service notes that the Department of Defense typically uses the term one-way attack UAV for a single-use aircraft with an integrated explosive warhead, and treats it as broadly the same family.<\/p>\n\n<p>The trade-off is simple. Because the vehicle is expendable, it can be small, cheap and simple. Because it can wait, it does not need a target to be located in advance by another sensor. That makes it attractive against targets that appear briefly and move: an artillery piece that fires and relocates, a radar that switches on for a few minutes, a vehicle crossing open ground.<\/p>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Launch, Transit, Loiter, Strike<\/h2>\n\n<p>Almost every loitering munition flies the same basic profile. It is launched, it transits to a search area, it loiters there while its sensor looks for a target, and it either dives onto that target or is called off. The details vary enormously by type, from a few kilometres and a few minutes for a backpack round to well over a thousand kilometres for the largest long-range designs.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/loitering-munition-mission-profile-diagram.jpg\" alt=\"Diagram of a loitering munition mission profile showing launch, transit, loiter and search, terminal dive and an abort or wave-off branch\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A generic loitering munition mission profile: launch, transit, loiter and search, then a terminal dive or, on types that allow it, an abort and climb-out. Not to scale. Diagram: Afterburner \/ MiGFlug.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>Launch is where the family first divides. The small American Switchblades are fired from the same sealed tube they are carried in, using a small charge to push the round clear before the wings unfold. Israel&rsquo;s Harop leaves a canister mounted on a truck or a ship. Russia&rsquo;s Lancet is thrown into the air by a catapult. The heavy Shahed-136 needs a short-burn rocket booster to get airborne from a launch rack, such as a tilting truck-mounted container, as described by the CSIS Missile Defense Project.<\/p>\n\n<p>Propulsion follows size. Small, short-range rounds almost always use an electric motor driving a propeller. It is quiet, starts instantly and gives off little heat, which makes the munition harder to hear or spot with a thermal camera. Long-range designs need more energy than any affordable battery can store, so they use small piston engines. The Shahed-136, according to CSIS, is powered by a roughly 50 hp two-stroke, four-cylinder engine derived from the German Limbach L550 design, which Iran produces as the MD550.<\/p>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Loiter: Sensors, Datalinks and a Human Decision<\/h2>\n\n<p>The loiter phase is what gives the category its name. Over the search area the munition flies orbits while a nose camera, often combined with a thermal imager, streams video back to the operator. On the Switchblade family that operator holds a ground control unit; on long-range systems the control station may be hundreds of kilometres away and the link may run through relays.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1HUEERZU9oI\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Who decides to attack is the central technical and ethical question. In a man-in-the-loop system the operator selects the target on the video feed and arms the warhead; software then guides the final dive. AeroVironment says a required man-in-the-loop arming sequence provides positive target confirmation on Switchblade. IAI says Harop is supervised by remote human-in-the-loop mission control and can be aborted if required.<\/p>\n\n<p>At the other end of the scale sits autonomous target recognition. The IAI Harpy, the anti-radar ancestor of the Harop, is described by its maker as fully autonomous: it is launched into an area, listens for the emissions of enemy air-defence radars and homes on them without a human choosing each target. Russian developers have claimed that the Lancet can find and track targets using onboard software. US policy, set out in DoD Directive 3000.09 and updated in 2023, requires autonomous and semi-autonomous weapons to be designed so that commanders and operators can exercise appropriate levels of human judgement over the use of force.<\/p>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Warheads, Wave-Offs and the Terminal Dive<\/h2>\n\n<p>Warheads scale with the airframe. The smallest rounds carry little more than a grenade-sized charge aimed at people or soft vehicles. Mid-size types such as the Switchblade 600 carry anti-armour warheads intended for light armoured vehicles. Long-range designs carry tens of kilograms of explosive: commonly cited figures are about 23 kg for the Harop and up to 50 kg for the Shahed-136.<\/p>\n\n<p>The terminal dive is usually steep and fast, which shortens the time a defender has to react and lets a shaped-charge warhead strike the thinner top armour of a vehicle. What separates the better-designed systems is what happens if the operator changes their mind. AeroVironment markets a patented wave-off and recommit capability that lets an operator cancel an attack within seconds of impact, for example if civilians appear, and send the munition back up to search again.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;Since pioneering the loitering missile category with Switchblade 300 more than 10 years ago, AeroVironment has worked with multiple new customers to develop scalable variants that could address new mission requirements.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Wahid Nawabi<\/strong> &mdash; President and CEO of AeroVironment, launching the Switchblade 600 in October 2020<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/switchblade-600-loitering-munition-tube-launch-hawaii.jpg\" alt=\"A Switchblade 600 loitering munition with its wings deployed climbing away from its launch tube on a range in Hawaii\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Switchblade 600, known in US Army service as LASSO, climbs away from its launch tube with wings and tail already unfolded, Hawaii, May 2025. Photo: U.S. Army photo, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, public domain, via <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:LASSO_drone_launch.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Five Loitering Munitions, Five Design Philosophies<\/h2>\n\n<p><strong>IAI Harpy and Harop.<\/strong> Israel Aerospace Industries describes the Harpy as the world&rsquo;s first anti-radiation loitering munition, built to hunt air-defence radars. Its larger successor, the Harop, swaps the radar-homing seeker for an electro-optical and infrared camera and a human in the loop. IAI now quotes up to nine hours of endurance; defence publications have reported a range of about 1,000 km and a warhead of around 23 kg. Azerbaijan reportedly used Harops against Armenian forces, first in 2016 and on a larger scale in 2020.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>AeroVironment Switchblade 300 and 600.<\/strong> The Switchblade 300 weighs 2.5 kg (5.5 lb), fits in a backpack and, in its original form, offered up to 15 minutes of flight and a 100 mph dash speed, according to AeroVironment. The anti-armour Switchblade 600 followed in 2020. AeroVironment quotes more than 40 minutes of endurance for it and, with control handed to a forward ground station, a reach of more than 90 km (55 miles). The United States began supplying both types to Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>ZALA Lancet.<\/strong> Unveiled by ZALA Aero, part of Russia&rsquo;s Kalashnikov Group, at the Army-2019 forum, the Lancet-3 is a catapult-launched, electrically powered round of about 12 kg with a warhead of around 3 kg, about 40 minutes of endurance and a range of roughly 40 km, according to the manufacturer&rsquo;s published figures. In Ukraine it has been used widely against artillery, air-defence systems and armour.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>HESA Shahed-136.<\/strong> The <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/shahed-136\/\">Shahed-136<\/a> is a different animal: a delta-wing aircraft of about 200 kg that cruises at around 180 to 185 km\/h towards pre-programmed coordinates. Iran&rsquo;s Revolutionary Guard has displayed figures of 2,500 km range and a 50 kg warhead; CSIS notes that other estimates of range run from 1,000 to 2,000 km. Russia produces it as the Geran-2 and has since fielded <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/russia-jet-powered-shahed-geran-surge-2026\/\">jet-powered derivatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/shahed-136-one-way-attack-drone-launcher-tehran.jpg\" alt=\"Shahed-136 one-way attack drone on a launch rack mounted on a camouflaged pickup truck in Tehran, with the Azadi Tower behind\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Shahed-136 on a truck-mounted launch rack, displayed in Tehran in February 2023. Its rear propeller and delta wing mark it out from tube-launched loitering munitions. Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Military_equipment_displayed_for_the_44th_Iranian_revolution_anniversary_rally_-_Shahed_136.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Military equipment displayed for the 44th Iranian revolution anniversary rally - Shahed 136<\/a> by Meghdad Madadi, Tasnim News Agency, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY 4.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Is the Shahed a Loitering Munition at All?<\/h2>\n\n<p>The Shahed-136 is routinely called a kamikaze drone or a loitering munition, but it does very little loitering. In most reported attacks it flies a pre-programmed route to fixed coordinates, such as a power station or a building, and dives onto them. There is no operator searching a video feed and no wave-off. That is why many governments and analysts prefer the term one-way attack drone, and why others argue it is simply a missile.<\/p>\n\n<p>The argument matters for export controls, arms-control talks and air-defence planning, because each label implies different rules and different countermeasures. The missile specialist Fabian Hoffmann argues that under NATO&rsquo;s broad definition of a missile, a self-propelled, guided munition, long-range attack drones such as the Shahed-136 and Geran-2 already qualify, and are best understood as cheap, slow relatives of the cruise missile.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;Long-range attack drones trade capability for cost. Simpler propulsion, less sophisticated guidance, and smaller payloads considerably reduce individual lethality and survivability, but the resulting expendability and mass-producability make them well-suited to saturation attacks.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Fabian Hoffmann<\/strong> &mdash; Missile technology analyst, writing in Missile Matters, April 2026<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3ULP8yZqIhk\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n<p>In practice the categories blur. Some newer Russian Geran variants have reportedly been fitted with cameras and mesh-radio datalinks, giving them some of the in-flight control of a true loitering munition, while the largest loitering munitions such as Harop can be flown much like a long-range missile. The useful question is less what a weapon is called than whether it can search, whether a human confirms the target, and whether the attack can be called off.<\/p>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">How Loitering Munitions Are Countered<\/h2>\n\n<p>Defeating a loitering munition starts with finding it, and that is the hard part. Small electric rounds have tiny radar and thermal signatures and fly low and slow, close to the clutter of birds and terrain. Afterburner&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/how-counter-drone-system-works-detect-track-defeat-c-uas\/\">explainer on counter-drone systems<\/a> covers the detect, track and defeat chain in detail.<\/p>\n\n<p>Electronic warfare attacks the weak links. Jamming the control datalink can stop a man-in-the-loop munition from receiving its operator&rsquo;s commands, and jamming or spoofing satellite navigation can degrade designs that rely on it, although many now combine satellite and inertial navigation for this reason. Against long-range one-way attack drones, Ukraine has relied on a layered mix of radar networks, anti-aircraft guns, mobile fire teams, fighter aircraft and, increasingly, cheap interceptor drones.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AlpZf1hpQYM\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Physical protection has made a comeback as well. Metal cages and netting fitted over vehicles and artillery pieces aim to set off a small warhead before it reaches the armour. None of these measures is complete on its own, which is why the cost exchange between cheap munitions and the defences needed to stop them has become one of the defining problems of modern air defence.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Sources: AeroVironment, Israel Aerospace Industries, ZALA Aero \/ Kalashnikov Group via Army Recognition, CSIS Missile Defense Project, Janes, Congressional Research Service, US Department of Defense, Defense News, The War Zone, Airforce Technology, Army Technology, Kyiv Post, Missile Matters (Fabian Hoffmann).<\/em><\/p>\n\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"mf-photo-credits\" data-no-translation style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;font-style:italic;margin:6px 0 18px\">Header photo: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Jennessa Davey, public domain, via <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Switchblade_300_launching_(200902-M-OY155-1001).jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What is a loitering munition?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">A loitering munition is an expendable uncrewed aircraft with a built-in warhead. It is launched towards an area, searches it with a camera or other sensor, and then dives onto a target, destroying itself in the attack. Unlike a cruise missile it can wait over the area; unlike a reusable armed drone it does not return.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What is the difference between a loitering munition and a cruise missile?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">A cruise missile is fired at a target that has already been located and flies a planned route straight to it. A loitering munition can be sent to an area without a precise target, spend time searching and only then commit to an attack. Many loitering munitions also let an operator cancel the attack and search again.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How does the Switchblade loitering munition work?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The AeroVironment Switchblade is fired from the tube it is carried in, unfolds its wings and flies on an electric motor while streaming video to the operator. A man-in-the-loop arming sequence confirms the target, and a wave-off feature lets the operator cancel an attack within seconds of impact and send the munition back to search.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Is the Shahed-136 a loitering munition?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Shahed-136 is often called one, but in most reported attacks it flies a pre-programmed route to fixed coordinates with no operator searching for targets. Many governments and analysts therefore call it a one-way attack drone, and some argue it is effectively a slow, low-cost cruise missile.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How long can the IAI Harop loiter?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Israel Aerospace Industries says the Harop has up to nine hours of endurance to search a designated area with its electro-optical seeker. It is launched from canisters on trucks or ships, is supervised by a human in the loop and can be aborted if required. Defence publications report a range of about 1,000 km.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What engines do kamikaze drones use?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Small loitering munitions such as the Switchblade and Lancet mostly use electric motors, which are quiet and produce little heat. Long-range designs need more energy and use small piston engines: the Shahed-136 uses an engine of about 50 hp derived from the German Limbach L550 design, produced in Iran as the MD550.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How are loitering munitions shot down or stopped?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Defences combine radar and other sensors to find them with jammers that cut the control datalink or degrade satellite navigation, anti-aircraft guns, fighter aircraft and cheap interceptor drones. Cages and netting over vehicles can set off small warheads early. No single measure is complete, so layered defences are used.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is a loitering munition?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"A loitering munition is an expendable uncrewed aircraft with a built-in warhead. It is launched towards an area, searches it with a camera or other sensor, and then dives onto a target, destroying itself in the attack. Unlike a cruise missile it can wait over the area; unlike a reusable armed drone it does not return.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is the difference between a loitering munition and a cruise missile?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"A cruise missile is fired at a target that has already been located and flies a planned route straight to it. 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No single measure is complete, so layered defences are used.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/how-counter-drone-system-works-detect-track-defeat-c-uas\/\">How Does a Counter-Drone System Work? Detect, Track, Defeat<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/flyfocus-tasack-loitering-munition-mspo-2026\/\">TASACK: Poland\u2019s Point-and-Click Loitering Munition<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/russia-jet-powered-shahed-geran-surge-2026\/\">The Shahed Just Got a Jet Engine<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/how-cheap-drone-interceptors-work-sting-coyote-roadrunner\/\">How Cheap Drone Interceptors Work: Sting, Coyote and Roadrunner<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n<!--mfcred1-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Part reconnaissance drone, part missile: how a loitering munition launches, waits over a target area and dives, from the Switchblade and Harop to the Lancet and the disputed Shahed-136.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":32260354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32260437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How a Loitering Munition Works: Kamikaze Drones | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How a loitering munition works: launch, loiter, man-in-the-loop targeting and wave-off, with Switchblade, Harop, Lancet and Shahed-136 explained.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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