AQ-400 Scythe

The AQ-400 Scythe is a long-range, one-way-attack (loitering munition/kamikaze) drone developed by the Ukrainian company Terminal Autonomy, known as One Way Aerospace until its May 2023 rebrand. Founded in mid-2022 by British and Australian military veterans alongside a Ukrainian engineer, the company built the Scythe around a deliberately low-cost design philosophy, using a fuselage milled from plywood sheets sourced from civilian furniture factories rather than composite materials, in order to keep unit costs down and production scalable. Publicly reported specifications put its wingspan at 2.3 meters, all-up weight around 100 kg, and a baseline payload of 43 kg (of which roughly 32 kg is warhead, either thermobaric or configured to carry two 122mm artillery shells). Reported performance figures include a cruise speed of about 144 km/h, maximum speed around 200 km/h, an operational range of roughly 750 km, and an endurance of about 6.5 hours; the manufacturer has also described a longer-range engine variant reaching up to 900 km at reduced payload, or an increased 70 kg payload at reduced range. The drone can be launched from a catapult or a short runway. Ukrainian forces received their first confirmed batch in December 2023, and Terminal Autonomy has stated a production ramp from an initial 100 units per month toward a target of 500 units per month. As with most wartime Ukrainian systems, exact current-production specifications, unit cost, and total delivered quantities have not been independently confirmed beyond company and press statements.