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
The Russian military has targeted a German-Made MARS II multiple rocket launcher of Kiev forces using a Lancet loitering munition.
It is unclear when or where exactly the rocket launcher was targeted. Video footage of the strike was first posted on social networks on March 26. At the time, the target was not identified. The video surfaced again on April 23, but this time the target was mentioned. The launcher received a direct hit. However, there were no secondary blasts, possibly because it was not loaded at the time.
The Lancet was developed by the ZALA Aero Group, a subsidiary of Russia’s defense giant Kalashnikov Concern. The company produces two versions of the loitering munition, the Izdeliye-52 with an endurance of 30 minutes and a one-kilogram warhead and the larger Izdeliye-51 that has an endurance of around 40 minutes and is armed with a warhead weighting three kilograms.
Both versions are equipped with an elector-optical system and a two-way data-link. This allows them to detect, track and lock on static and moving targets.
The MARS II is the German copy of the American M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) system. The United Kingdom, Norway, France and Germany supplied at least 16 MLRS and MARS II launchers to Kiev forces after the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.
Each MARS II or MLRS launcher can be armed with up to 12 M30/M31 series GMLRS GPS-guided rockets, which have a range of more than 70 kilometers, or two MGM-140 ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles, which have a range from 165 to 300 depending on the version, in two separate pods.
The Russian military has already destroyed or damaged many of Ukraine’s MARS II and MLRS systems as well as several of around 40 M142 HIMARS -a lighter, wheeled system that fires the same types of projectiles- which were delivered to Ukraine by the United States over the last two years.
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