AQ-400 Scythe
Country: 
UkraineManufacturer: Terminal Autonomy (ex AeroDrone)
Ukrainian low-cost long-range kamikaze drone made of plywood and composites: Terminal Autonomy's AQ-400 Scythe is designed for mass production and saturation of Russian air defences.
Ukrainian low-cost long-range kamikaze drone made of plywood and composites: Terminal Autonomy's AQ-400 Scythe is designed for mass production and saturation of Russian air defences.
Community
Data trust
- Reliability
- Unverified
- Sources
- Sources pending review
Identity
- Designation
- AQ-400 Scythe
- Alias
- Terminal Autonomy AQ-400
- Manufacturer
- Terminal Autonomy (ex AeroDrone)
- Country
- Ukraine
- Year
- 2023
- Category
- Loitering munition
- Class
- Tactical (< 600 kg)
- Status
- In service
Performance
- Range
- 750 km
- Endurance
- 6 h
- Top speed
- 144 km/h
- Service ceiling
- 3,000 m
- Propulsion
- Pistone benzina, elica traente in legno
Physical characteristics
- MTOW
- 105 kg
- Payload
- 32 kg
- Weapons
- Testata HE / frammentazione fino a 32 kg
Onboard systems
- Sensors
- GPS/inerziale anti-jamming, navigazione visiva opzionale
- Datalink / control
- Volo autonomo way-point, datalink criptato opzionale
- Launch
- Catapulta o ruote da pista corta
- Recovery
- Impatto sul bersaglio
Combat use
- ▸Deep strikes on Russian refineries and ammunition depots (2024-)
- ▸Saturation of Russian air defences in mixed packages with Liutyi and Beaver drones
Tags
Main operators
History
Developed by Terminal Autonomy (formerly AeroDrone) and unveiled in 2023, the AQ-400 Scythe targets unit costs below US$30,000 with a production goal of 500 units per month, aiming to beat the cost-efficiency ratio of Iran's Shahed-136.
The AQ-400 Scythe is one of the most studied examples of a low-cost deep-strike drone: the CNC-cut plywood and composite airframe enables distributed production in micro-factories, reducing exposure to Russian strikes on production sites.
Terminal Autonomy (the 2023 rebrand of the former AeroDrone) is one of the leading Ukrainian players in the long-range one-way attack drone segment, explicitly conceived as a 'Shahed killer' at matching unit cost.