X marks the spot as Ukrainians keep Russian armour at a distance with Virtus drone

The Virtus loitering munition is proving to be deadly to Russian tanks and other armoured vehicles in Ukraine.

The drone is built by German tech company Stark, which has supplied an undisclosed number to Ukraine.

It's been designed specifically to defeat enemy threats at far greater distances than conventional man-portable air defence systems like the Javelin and NLAW.

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Virtus takes off and lands vertically, is armed with a 5kg warhead and can hit targets up to 100km away.

The operator plots a route, using waypoints and giving the munition instructions on where it needs to go and what it needs to look for.

On spotting a likely target, the operator can then command it to attack - or abort.

Virtus, the company says, is also resistant to Russian attempts to jam the drone as it uses AI algorithms that work entirely without GPS.