South Front
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 eight more howitzers of Kiev forces in the special military operation zone using Lancet loitering munitions.
Videos that surfaced online between May 15 and 25 showed the pinpoint strikes that damaged or destroyed three Soviet-made 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled 122 mm howitzers, two Soviet-made 2A36 Giatsint-B towed 152 mm howitzers, an American-made M777 towed 155 mm howitzer, a British-made L119 towed 105 mm howitzer and an American-made M101 towed 105 mm howitzer.
The Lancet loitering munition 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. Both versions are equipped with a GLONASS-aided inertial navigation system, a laser ranging system and an electro-optical system that can detect, track and lock on static and moving targets.
According to Lostarmour.info, a website that tracks and documents military losses, Lancet loitering munitions have destroyed or damaged 74 towed and self-propelled howitzers of Kiev forces since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine last year.
The threat posed by the Lance forced Kiev forces to deploy their howitzers in fortified posts with protective cages and camouflage nets. These protective measures restricted the movement of the howitzers and failed to stop the loitering munition, which led to an increase in losses in the last few months.
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