ZALA Lancet attack drone. © Marina Lystseva/TASS
On January 19, 24 and 25, Russian sources released footage documenting recent strikes with Lancet Loitering munitions on howitzers of Kiev forces in the special military operation zone.
The strikes targeted a Soviet-made 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled 152 mm howitzer in an unspecified part of Zaporozhye, a Soviet-made Msta self-propelled 152 mm howitzers near the settlement of Ivanivka in Donetsk and an American-made M777 towed 155 mm howitzer in the settlement of Serebryanka in the same region.
The ZALA Aero Group, a subsidiary of Russia’s defense giant Kalashnikov Concern, produces two versions of the loitering munition, the Izdeliye-52 with an endurance of 40 minutes and a three-kilogram warhead and the larger Izdeliye-51 that has an endurance of an hour and is armed with a warhead weighting five kilograms.
Both versions are equipped with an electro-optical system that allows them to detect, track and lock on static and moving targets.
The Russian military expanded the use of Lancet loitering munitions against high-value equipment of Kiev forces in the last few months. As a result, dozens of Ukrainian self-propelled and towed howitzers were destroyed or damaged.
Ukraine have been struggling to counter the Lancet and other types of Russian loitering munitions, despite receiving many electronic warfare and air defense systems from its Western allies.
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