ZALA Lancet attack drone. © Marina Lystseva/TASS
On November 3, two videos documenting recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian artillery positions with Lancet loitering munitions surfaced online.
The first attack destroyed a FH70 155 mm towed howitzer on an unspecified front. Some of the Ukrainian service members who were operating the howitzer were apparently wounded in the strike.
The FH70 a range of 24 kilometers or up to 30 kilometers with extended range shells. The howitzer can fire a burst of three rounds in 15 seconds thanks to a unique a semi-automatic loading system. Italy and Estonia both supplied Ukraine with an unspecified number of FH70 howitzers in May.
The second attack, which was carried out with two loitering munitions, destroyed an M777 155 mm towed howitzer and damaged another on the Nikolaev-Krivoy Rog front.
The M777 has a maximum rate of fire of seven rounds per minute with a range of up to 40 kilometers when firing Excalibur precision-guided rounds. The United States supplied 152, Canada four and Australia six M777 howitzers to Kiev forces between May and October.
The Lancet, which was developed by the ZALA Aero Group, is equipped with an elector-optical system that allows it to detect, track and lock on static and moving targets.
The recent attacks were apparently carried out with an improves version of the Lancet-3 that features a more aerodynamic design with extended X-shaped wings. This version has an endurance of a hour and is armed with a warhead weighting five kilograms.
The Russian military has been using the Lancet and several other types of loitering munitions against Kiev forces since the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine with much success. The use of these systems expanded in the last few weeks, especially against high-value targets like air defense systems, radar stations and artillery.
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