WASHINGTON is set to send 100 drones to Ukraine as part of a massive military aid package, it was confirmed on Wednesday.

Republican senator Mike McCaul revealed the details of the shipment to the House foreign affairs committee.

According to a fact sheet, the drones are referred to as “100 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems.” 

The US produces two types of the deadly weapon: the Switchblade 300, which launches pinpoint strikes targeting individuals; and the larger 600, which has the capability of destroying tanks and armoured vehicles.

It is not clear which variant will be sent to Kiev.

Known as the “kamikaze” drone, the Switchblade device crashes into its targets, exploding on impact. It can target positions from 25 miles away.

Until now, Ukrainian forces have been reliant on the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone, which has been used against invading Russian forces.

So popular has it proved to be that a lemur born in Kiev zoo earlier this month was named Bayraktar in its honour, mayor Vitaly Klitschko confirmed.

Bayraktar drones are able to remain airborne for 27 hours at a time, at a maximum altitude of 25,000 feet.

But Ukraine only has around 20 units at present, which is not enough to stop the advance of Russian armoured vehicles.

The TB2 unmanned aerial vehicle has been used in conflict zones across the world and has been credited with tipping the balance of wars in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh.

The company, owned by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-law, is working on a new high-tech TB3 drone which it plans to unveil later this year.

The company exported $644 million-worth of armed and unarmed drones last year alone as Turkey positions itself as “a drone superpower.”

As reported in the Morning Star last year, Britain supplies Turkey with the hornet bomb rack, an integral component of the TB2, made by EDO-MBM in Brighton.

Turkish drones have been used in strikes against civilians, the Makhmour refugee camp and in what have been described as the “extrajudicial executions” of political leaders and activists in northern Syrian and Iraqi Kurdistan.

Similarly US drones have been used indiscriminately, most recently in a deadly attack that wiped out 10 people, including seven children last August as missiles struck their vehicle on the outskirts of the Afghan capital Kabul.