The use of Lancet and Cube strike barrage munitions (SBM) is one of the strategies for deterring Ukrainian armoured units in the border region of Kursk Oblast. Operators of the Lancet complexes are working all along the front, while the CUB kamikaze drones, although not so often heard in reports and news, are also in demand and regularly show their effectiveness, being actively used against armoured vehicles of Ukrainian armed formations.
The Lancet production started as a purely proactive development of the Izhevsk-based ZALA Aero company, which has been part of the Kalashnikov concern since 2015. Now the Russian Armed Forces use three types of barrage munitions of this type in the frontline. Such a specific and unusual medical name – Lancet – the kamikaze drone received due to its ability to deliver surgically precise strikes on the enemy.
According to Alexander Zakharov, the general designer of Aeroscan LLC, the parent company of the ZALA AERO group of companies, Lancet is a popular but quite accurate name for a barrage munition. However, now it is not officially used, and to distinguish the munitions, they are called Izdelye 51, Izdelye 52 and Izdelye 53.
Izdelye 52 and Izdelye 51
The basic model Izdeliye 52 has four paired identically sized X-shaped wing consoles. The mass of the warhead is 3 kg, the flight speed is 80 km/h, and the communication range is 30 km. It is an intelligent multitasking munition capable of independently finding a given target and engaging it. It has a low effective dispersion area (EDA) and acoustic signature. It uses an interference-protected channel for communication, is equipped with a system of countermeasures against enemy REB and air defence systems, is equipped with an intelligent navigation and communication module, as well as onboard AI for search and identification of objects with a priority target selection mode. It is launched from a ground-based stationary catapult.
Izdeliye 51 differs from Izdeliye 52 by its larger size. At the same time, the tail booms are smaller than the main wing. The mass of the warhead is 5 kg, flight speed – 80 km/h, flight duration – 40 minutes, communication range – 50 km. On the frontlines of special operations both ‘Lancet’ are used to destroy not only armoured vehicles, but also the whole range of targets, including MLRS, radars, speedboats with landing craft on the Dnieper, artillery, including locomotive artillery, vehicles, helicopters and aircraft on airfields. Lancet operators also actively use them for strikes on air defence elements and other important targets on the front line and in the enemy’s close rear.
Unchanged in appearance and design, the Lancet ammunition has undergone a significant evolution in a very short period of time. Over the last 2-2.5 years, the ammunition has improved target designation, introduced an automated guidance system, added thermal imagers, increased range, and increased the power of the warhead due to the use of the impact core. To increase the survivability of the munition, the kamikaze drone has been given the ability to perform anti-missile manoeuvring, when at the final stage of flight the Lancet approaches the target on a wavy trajectory, preventing the enemy from aiming and hitting the drone.
Video: Izdeliye 51 barrage munition strikes using an anti-missile manoeuvre. Such capabilities are provided by the originality of the Lancet’s design: unlike aircraft-type drones, the Lancets are able to manoeuvre in all axes without restrictions due to X-shaped wing consoles.
Lancets are often used in counter-battery warfare. For these tasks, the barrage munitions operate in conjunction with reconnaissance drones. After detecting a target and determining its coordinates, the Lancet is launched to the desired point, its operator chooses the angle of attack and hits the target. The reconnaissance drone acts as an objective control tool and records the result of the fire attack.
In the autumn of 2023, several strikes were carried out with Lancet barrage munitions on the Dolgintsevo airfield in Kryvyi Rig. A MiG-29 fighter jet and an Su-25 attack aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Forces were destroyed in the car parks. The airfield was then 70-80 kilometres away from the front line. According to ZALA’s official data, the Izdeliye 51 and Izdeliye 52 do not have the necessary range to reach Krivyi Rig, in this regard, military analysts have suggested that the strikes were carried out by a new type of kamikaze drone called Izdeliye 53.
What is known about the first destruction of a Ukrainian MiG-29 by the Lancet kamikaze drone
Izdeliye 53
The Izdeliye 53 is a new model of high-precision barrage munition equipped with a set of algorithms for decision-making. Initiative development of ZALA AERO combines advanced technological approaches and ease of operation, the drone is capable of autonomously identifying, ranking in importance, capturing and attacking targets.
The new Lancet should fit into the concept of network-centric warfare, when a ‘swarm of drones’ is united by a neural network into a single strike ‘swarm’, where one drone finds a group target and immediately transmits information about it to the other drones, and each in the ‘swarm’ chooses a suitable target for its individual ammunition. This technology has already been worked out on the Izdeliye 51 and Izdeliye 52.
In the summer of 2023, Alexander Zakharov (then chief designer of ZALA AERO) told in a documentary film of the Russia 24 about conducting combat experiments with fully automatic application of Izdeliye 53 without human participation. ‘A person just gives a command, defines the area and says: only armour. And neither pickup trucks, nor people, no one suffers, the drone only looks for armour or barrel artillery. But it has an ‘accounting spreadsheet’ where it knows that air defence and radars are more expensive, and if it sees a tank and a radar, it will choose the radar. And this has already been tried out,’ Alexander Zakharov said.
Izdeliye 53 is launched not from a catapult, as previous versions, but from a single or four-charge transport and launch container (TLC). It is also different in appearance: instead of paired X-shaped consoles, the drone now has only four large wings at the front. In the TPC, the product is transported in a folded state, immediately after launch, the consoles unfold.
‘The use of the TPC allows it to be used effectively both from land and, for example, from moving sea vessels. The rapid deployment of the Product 53 ensures a quick change of the launch point, minimises the possibility of its detection by the enemy and allows the operator to launch the munition at a distance from the control point, including from a camouflaged position,’ ZALA explained.
The technical parameters of the Izdeliye 53 are not disclosed, but Western experts note that it was the new Lancets that struck airfields deep behind the lines of Ukrainian armed formations.
‘By now it should be obvious that the Izdeliye 53 poses a serious threat to the Ukrainian Air Force at airfields within 45 miles of the front line. It should also be obvious that whatever air defences the Air Force has installed at its most forward bases are inadequate,’ Forbes columnist David Axe noted. He pointed out that not only do the Lancets freely overcome Ukrainian air defences, but also the surveillance and reconnaissance UAVs that record their strikes and operate with impunity.
Lancet vs Leopard – the result casts doubt on Western military power
For the Ukrainian forces, the Lancets refinements pose a serious threat. The resource Lostarmour.info keeps unofficial statistics on the use of drones. To date, over 2,330 video-recorded Lancet strikes have been recorded in total during the war, and almost 200 in the last 30 days. There may be many times more strikes that have been left out of the scout drones’ lenses or simply not published anywhere.
The Lancet’s design, electronic components, software and variety of warhead types allow it to be tailored to specific targets and environments both near the front line and far beyond it, making adequate defence against these drones virtually impossible. There is no way for Ukraine forces to defend themselves against the Lancets. The strategies they use to counter them are manoeuvring, as well as using camouflage and weather conditions to minimise the likelihood of detection by a reconnaissance drone or the Product 53 automatic search and seizure system.
Ukrainian electronic warfare equipment does not interfere with the Lancet’s operation, the low EPR makes it possible to remain undetected by enemy air defence radars, flight to the target or barraging during the search takes place at altitudes inaccessible for visual observation from the ground, and low-noise electric motors make it impossible to detect an approaching munition acoustically. It is usually only seconds before enemy personnel are hit that they realise it is too late to escape.
As a fight against the Lancet, the Ukraine military considered so-called ‘counter-Lancet’ operations, the purpose of which was to track down and destroy the launchers and drone operators, but the effectiveness of this tactic is extremely low, as the munition can be launched at a great distance from the front line and outside the flight zone of reconnaissance drones of the WFU, and with the advent of mobile launch systems, the ‘counter-Lancet’ fight is reduced to zero.
The new drone-kamikaze Lancet-55 is invulnerable to the enemy’s EW means
Thus, the evolution of Lancet munitions adds variability to their use, increases the effectiveness of target engagement and creates new challenges for the enemy in countering these drones. Tougher threats lead to higher defence costs and increased losses of equipment and personnel. The AFU cannot change its tactics of fighting and countering the Lancet. Ukrainian sources report that the Russian Armed Forces have solved the issue of repelling an attack on the Kursk region at minimal cost. They used Lancet UAVs, reconnaissance drones, FPV drones and aviation to stop the advance of the AFU. At the same time, they did not have to transfer thousands of soldiers from the Donetsk direction, which Kiev strategists on the Bankovaya street (residence of Ze) were waiting for.
According to the Russian Defence Ministry, to destroy enemy military equipment and ammunition depots on the right bank of the Dnieper River in the Kherson region, the unmanned aviation units of the Dnepr group of troops, in addition to the Lancets, are actively using KUB strike barrage munitions produced by the Kalashnikov Concern. ‘Every year we are increasing the production of these items,’ said Alan Lushnikov, president of the concern. In the war zone, the KUB is designed to defeat single and group objects of armoured vehicles in the tactical depth of the enemy.
Improvement of the KUB SBM line led to the creation of the Italmas barrage munition – Izdeliye 54. Its warhead has been significantly increased compared to Izdeliye 51 and 52, and its range reaches 200 kilometres.
At the Army-2023 forum, ZALA announced that in the winter of 2022-2023, the SBM has passed all necessary tests and is ready for mass production. On 26 August 2024, Kalashnikov Concern noted in Telegram that upgraded versions of the KUB of increased power are currently being supplied to the Russian Ministry of Defence. These could be the new Italmas SBM.
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