MOSCOW REGION, RUSSIA – JUNE 25, 2019: A ZALA Lancet-3 attack drone developed by Kalashnikov Concern on display at the Army 2019 International Military Technical Forum at Patriot Park. Marina Lystseva/TASS
Russia’s advanced Lancet system has scored its first kill against a German-made Leopard 2, proving that the main battle tank which was regarded by the mainstream media as a Wunderwaffe is poorly protected.
Video footage showing the successful loitering munition strike was released by the Russian Ministry of Defense on June 10. The strike reportedly took place two days earlier, during Kiev forces’ ill-fated attack near the village of Orekhov in the Zaporozhye region.
The tank that was destroyed by the Lancet was not an older version of the Leopard 2, but rather one of the latest ones, the A6.
The Leopard 2A6, which is armed with the powerful Rheinmetall 120 mm L/55 smoothbore gun, is supposed to be protected with an improved armor package. Despite this, a hit from the lighter version of the Lancet, the Izdeliye-52 which is armed with a warhead weighing one kilogram only, was enough to kill the tank.
The tank did receive the hit on the side, a weaker part of its armor. However, such attacks should be expected in modern warfare. The designer of the Leopard 2, Krauss-Maffei, clearly didn’t make enough efforts to address this threat.
On the other side, the operators of the Lancet were clearly well-informed on the weak points of the tank and planned the strike in a very competent manner.
The Lancet loitering munition was developed by the ZALA Aero Group, a subsidiary of Russia’s defense giant Kalashnikov Concern.
The loitering munition flies towards the designated area with a GLONASS-aided inertial navigation system. After arriving in the area, the operator utilizes an onboard electro-optical system via a two-way data-link to detect, track and lock on the target. A laser-ranging system then controls the detonation of the warhead.
The Leopard 2 killed by the Lancet was only one of several which were destroyed by the Russian military during the last battle of Orekhov. A number of American-made Bradley M2A2 ODS infantry fighting vehicles were also destroyed during the battle.
Ukraine’s allies promised to supply the country with around 100 Leopard 2 tanks in recent months, at least 21 of which are of the A6 version. Those upgraded tanks were promised by Germany and Portugal.
The success of the Lancet against the Leopard 2 was not surprising considering that the system has scored more than 300 documented hits since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine last year.
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where is nato/ukranazis going to deploy abrams and challenger 2s? in which part of the front will they be utilized?
l’azienda che produce i patriot ha avuto un crollo in borsa quando i russi hanno distrutto il primo patriot in ucraina ( non era mai successo in nessuna parte del mondo). se le cose non cambiano sul terreno di guerra le aziende americane impediranno l’uso degli abrams, non vogiono rimetterci dei soldi, che muoiano gli ucraini.
non mi sorprende, le armi statunitensi sono prodotte per fare profitti, non per vincere i conflitti.
lol this is starting to get embarrassing. so far the leopard has proven completely ineffective even against low budget weapons.
this just in. another bradley was just destroyed in the same place where some of those other bradleys were hit. it’s unclear what it was doing there. possibly attempting to haul away some of the other destroyed equipment? it’s kind of funny that they would opt to use a bradley as a hauler but given the fact that so far it’s proven to be completely useless maybe there’s some merit to that.
i wanna see burned out abrams and challanger 2s.
presne ako aj zvyšok slobodného demokratického sveta.
“sloboda” západného sveta je ilúzia.
i am told that the houthis have offered russia their abrams killer tactics,lol.
the russians taught the iranians->houthis how to kill ambrams and challengers.
the usa and uk evil bstds will wait until the time when their depleted uranium shells can do maximum long term toxic damage.
where is armata still towed back to factory? aahahahhahahaha…
how about your topnotch polish tanks? you don’t even produce a bicycle.
so for still not necessary to use cause it just enough with 1 ruble drone toy.
taking out leopard tanks went from expectation to old news quickly.
yeah, come on challenger 2, come to the front and meet the lancet of kalashnikov, it is waiting for you.
yeah, come on t55, t64, t72, t80, t90 meet your end in ukraine just as the pathetic rashist scum coming along with them…
let’s see now, pointless comments completely unfounded on any facts, nasty insults in misspelt english…
… excellent troll-work, wojciech, you’ve got the job!
how does one penny per post sound?
just on a trial basis, you understand.
the challengers are holding a place in the line at the ferry port in dunkirk. who said the brits don’t do forward strategic thinking?
come get some pathetic nazi asshole!!
excellent work, wojciech!
there’s nothing like some good hearty ptojection to get the blood flowing, and we all know there’s no more bloodthirsty and demonic pack of nazis anywhere on the planet than the ukronazi regime in ukraine.
they even post videos on social media to prove it – and they’re proud of it!
thats much better. offering your pathetic nazi asshole to strangers is a good way for the toxic little jewkronazis to rebuild their economy and start paying some of that aid money back. 10/10.
the bit with all the burning abrams and challenger 2s.
as expected they just want to humiliated the euro country.
wert des geschrotteten leo ist 15.000€
ukr kagdsaison auf leosĺ –weidmannsheil!
come on tomsawyer, i thought you said western equipments are divine. look at them now, total humiliation, don’t make me vomit 🤢 🤮
hey, wait until you see the australian f-18’s they’re now sending to ukraine.
that should be a real barrel of laughs – if they even get off the ground.
congratulations for this beautiful bull’s eye.
leopard is losing a lot of money.
to be fair that is most likely just reactive armour exploding…
posádka si isto musela meniť slipy. ha, ha, ha …
then, as apertures were open, the ears of the crew are most likely gone, and electronics destroyed ..
penetrating hit on autoloader ammo rack, probably caused ammo cook-off (the white smoke), but not catastrophically. the survivors of the crew were possibly in sufficient shape to drive the tank home, which is far different from the death-trap design of the t-72 / t-90.
incidentally, one explanation for the gross discrepancy in ukrainian (2) and russian claims of ukrainian (8, 30, whatever) losses is that the russians didn’t control the field after they busted ukrainian tanks. the ukrainians very well could have towed back their damaged tanks and tried to repair them.
if the tanks didn’t drive away, the ukrainians could just have scrubbed the dead ukrainian off the tank, repaired the machinery the best they could, then put the tank back into service.
if the ukrainians were losing the kill ratio on defense, did they really expect to win the kill rato on offense? or even come remotely close?
i’m no military genius, but i’d figure it’s a whole lot easier to kill more troops when you’re in a defensive position then an attacking.
the ukrainians are always winning the kill ratio, because the ukrainian media campaign successfully controls the narrative in the west.
that said, perhaps zelenskyy is deliberately trying to get his western equipment destroyed so he can climb down from the “i’m taking back all of ukraine” maximalist line, and presumably move to ceasefire negotiations.
perhaps the real point is that the russian bottom line has always been “if we lose, we nuke”, with uncertainty as to whether it’s merely a bluff. to date, i’ve thought the ukrainians wanted to try to call putin’s bluff, but perhaps the ukrainians aren’t that ballsy and are going to accept the loss of much of kherson, zaphorizhiya, luhansk, and donetsk.
the russian ultimate aim has always been to bring ukraine back into its diplomatic orbit; their design is not on ukrainian sovereignty, but suzerainty. it’s unlike the russians will settle for territory, as opposed to disarmament, and there’s a lot more ukrainian military equipment to go before that happens.
perfektná práca operátora. treba biť tie banderovské fašistické svine čo sa dá. donbas musí byť slobodný a spolu s ním aj zvyšok ukrajiny.
plný súhlas …
straight to the ammo depot in the rear turret, perfect hit. not a crappy tank, but still vulnerable.
i love the smell of burning leopards in the morning.
it was only a hit on smoke screen grenats, the leo2 has lost one of his chains – waiting for a pick up.
assuming you know it, let us know when the ukranians fix that chain, or tow the vehicle out.
a 6 million dollar leopard 2a6 (i call it cat 2a6) is destroyed by $40,000 lancet drone. this is why russia is able to defeat the military supplies from nato. it is not how much billions you spend on military aggression, it is how smartly you spend the money for defense. russia has shown that with less money spent it is able to resist nato aggression.
actually much more, because the newest german goverment order to km ist worth some 500 million euro, for only 30 tanks leo2a7. ok, included full ammo, spare parts and support, but anyway a insane price.
same damn thing applies to t-90s, except due to the t-90s’ medium-tank design (greater mobility, lower logistical overhead, less armor), it’s more likely to just explode catastrophically.
it looks like neither the russians nor the ukrainians can make significant headway without sacrificing lots of lives or pushing out overwhelming firepower; armor, western or russian, is no longer survivable against current anti-tank weapons.
if you check recent russian reports of destroyed ukrainian tanks, it feels like the ukrainians have either taken a pause or called off the offensive. but they’ve taken a few towns on the route to mariupol. the smart thing for the ukrainians to do would be to hunker down and fortify them, because the russians will likely either launch a tactical counteroffensive or a strategic one toward them.
a one kilogram russian warhead taking out a 73tons german tank is priceless.
our inferior hillbilly technology is feared by antifa
that tank went up in smoke super quick. i’ll take ten, for bonfire night. this ukrainian ‘war’ is going to ruin reputations. i guess that future sales of western military weapons will tank. pun intended.
the first is always special.
lol burning german cardboard tanks…i thought i saw it all but nope…
and still the german as well the whole other western mainstream media spreading the ashamefull bullshit around that the russians didt hit or destroy any leo2 but only harverting machines, still ignoring all that newest clips absolutle showing clearly and the leo2a6 and bradleys. lets see how long they can stand with theyr ongoing lies.
uke tank go boom. lol
they burn like a paper hahahaha
maybe lancet is upgraded with more “ummpff”. before it was a small firecracker.
i just built a scenario modelling the advance towards staromlynivka and whilst it appeared close, the ukranians totally lost. it takes 3 hours so you might want to canncel anything important you have going on so you can watch it, 3 1 hour vids simulating todays war. dont miss out.
you tube video lickva32ofi
fuck yeah!!!
if russia takes out usa satellites, then usa takes out russia satellites, that leaves russia with its drone and electronic surveillance, that leaves ukraine virtually blind, as ukraine drones do not seem to be doing much.