Direct proof of use
The AQ-400 Scythe is documented in Ukrainian service through December 2023 reporting that Terminal Autonomy had delivered the first batch of the long-range one-way attack UAV to the Ukrainian military. Euromaidan Press reported the delivery as part of procurement for battle deployment of the AQ-400 system, while RBC-Ukraine described the same procurement as supporting combat deployment in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Terminal Autonomy's current public material describes the AQ-400 as a long-range strike UAV and lists it as mass-produced and actively deployed in combat operations. The available public sources support fielding and combat-deployment context, but they do not identify a specific AQ-400 strike by date and target.
Sources: Ukraine Starts Mass Production of 750 km Range Kamikaze Drones, Defense Forces Receive New Drones Capable of Striking Deep Into Russia, AQ 400 SCYTHE
Timeline
The public AQ-400 record moved from product disclosure to Ukrainian fielding in late 2023. sUAS News published a manufacturer-supplied AQ-400 description in October 2023, framing the aircraft as a Ukrainian-built disposable payload-delivery system with a 750 km range. On December 17, 2023, Euromaidan Press reported that Ukraine's military had received its first AQ-400 Scythe drones and that Terminal Autonomy was producing 100 units monthly with plans to scale production.
On December 18, 2023, RBC-Ukraine reported the same first-batch delivery and stated that the procurement supported combat deployment of the AQ-400 system in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Two days after the initial delivery reporting, The War Zone placed the Scythe in Ukraine's wider effort to build long-range strike mass against targets deep inside Russia, while noting that it was one of several Ukrainian long-range one-way drone types.
Sources: One Way Aerospace AQ 400 Scythe, Ukraine Starts Mass Production of 750 km Range Kamikaze Drones, Defense Forces Receive New Drones Capable of Striking Deep Into Russia, Ukraine's Scythe Drone Is All About Striking Far Away As Cheaply As Possible
Narrative
The AQ-400 Scythe entered the catalog's Russia-Ukraine War record as a Ukrainian domestic long-range strike UAV rather than as a foreign transfer. Terminal Autonomy, formerly One Way Aerospace, presented the aircraft as a low-cost disposable system built and tested in Ukraine, and later described the current AQ-400 as using visual and terrain-data aided autonomous guidance without relying on GPS or communications links during the mission.
Its documented conflict role is long-range one-way strike. Public reporting in December 2023 described a 750 km range, launch from short runways or catapults, and a payload in the 32 kg class, with Terminal Autonomy and later reporting emphasizing production scale as part of Ukraine's wartime drone-industrial base. The War Zone described the AQ-400 as part of Ukraine's effort to gain long-range strike mass, while RBC-Ukraine wrote that its range enabled strikes hundreds of kilometers deep into Russia.
The sources do not provide an independently verified incident log for specific AQ-400 attacks. For this record, the supported claims are that Terminal Autonomy delivered the system to Ukrainian forces, that the procurement was tied to battle or combat deployment, and that the system's intended and manufacturer-described role was long-range strike in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War.
Sources: One Way Aerospace AQ 400 Scythe, AQ 400 SCYTHE, Ukraine Starts Mass Production of 750 km Range Kamikaze Drones, Defense Forces Receive New Drones Capable of Striking Deep Into Russia, Ukraine's Scythe Drone Is All About Striking Far Away As Cheaply As Possible
