ZALA Lancet attack drone. © Marina Lystseva/TASS
Ukrainian media has revealed more details on an upgraded version of the Lancet loitering munition that the Russian military began to field earlier this year.
ZALA Aero Group, a subsidiary of Russian defense giant Kalashnikov, produces two models 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 40 minutes and is armed with a warhead weighing three kilograms.
The Lancet 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.
On September 24, Ukrainian media revealed that the analysis of recent Lancet remains revealed that the loitering munition had been equipped with a new video transmitter and a larger antenna, allowing for stronger control links and improved performance at greater distances.
Click to see full-size image. (Telegram)
ZALA announced in July that both the navigation and targeting systems of the loitering munition received upgrades enabling artificial intelligence (AI) features and improving resistance against jamming.
Later in August, an upgraded Lancet managed to hit a Ukrainian radar more than 101 kilometers away from its launch point. This was the longest recorded strike by the system. In the same month, it became known that the PTM-3 anti-tank mine, which produces a shaped charge effect on five sides, was being used as a warhead for the upgraded loitering munition.
Earlier this month, ZALA revealed that the upgraded electro-optical Lancet was capable of recognizing carefully camouflaged targets with AI.
More recently, specifically on September 27, the company shared footage showing an upgraded Lancet hitting a Ukrainian self-propelled howitzer that was moving at a speed of 80-90 kilometers per hour. The loitering munition’s AI-powered electro-optical system maintained an automatic lock on the howitzer until impact.
The Lancet has proven to be a deadly weapon during the special military operation in Ukraine, with over 3,700 documented strikes.
The latest upgrades made the Lancet even more deadly. This is not, however, the end of the development of the loitering munition.
In fact, ZALA is already developing a completely new compact version of the Lancet, dubbed the Izdeliye-53. This version is canister-launched and relies mainly on AI for navigation and targeting with the ability to autonomsely operate as a part of swarm.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
nato fuck around and find out…before 2022 russia was a non player in drones. now, russia is world leader in drones
it would be better that all features of the lancet will be installed in geran drones, above all because geran have 50kg warhead and not 3kg
poor putler and his n@zi ruzzia, can’t occupy more than 100m per day.