South Front
ZALA Lancet attack drone. © Marina Lystseva/TASS
The Russian military has destroyed seven more howitzers and two multiple rocket launchers of Kiev forces in the special operation zone with Lancet loitering munitions.
On May 14 and 17, videos of the strikes surfaced online. The strikes destroyed or damaged an American-made M777 towed 155 mm howitzer, a Sovie-tmade 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled 122 mm howitzer, four Polish-made Krab self-propelled 155 mm howitzers, a Ukrainian-made Burevia 220 mm multiple rocket launcher and a Czechoslovakian-made RM-70 multiple rocket launcher.
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 40 minutes and is armed with a warhead weighting three kilograms.
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.
Lostarmour.info, a website that tracks and documents military losses, recorded 69 Lancet strikes against howitzers of Kiev forces and 12 other strikes that targeted rocket launchers. The vast majority of the strikes destroyed or damaged teh target.
Kiev received more than 800 artillery systems from the United States and other allies after the start of the Russian special military operation. Yet, its forces are still struggling to match the fire power and precision of the Russian military.
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