Izdelie-52 Lancet - Combat
The first instance in which such a UAV was shot down by Ukrainian forces came in mid-July 2022 in Zaporozhye and posted the corresponding photos. Another Russian kamikaze drone was shot down a week later in the Nikolaev region while trying to attack a radar station. In October, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that they were able to shoot down two Lancets with the help of a fighter.
In late 2022, Russia begaun to actively use attack drones against Ukrainian troops. Videos with the successful use of "Lancets" on the battlefield in Ukraine began to appear on the telegram channels of Russian military bloggers and journalists in late October and early November. Russian media and bloggers are enthusiastically writing about the massive use of the Lancet kamikaze drone. They already call it a factor that will radically change the situation at the front.The Russian military commander of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Alexander Sladkov also uploads a daily video of the use of the Lancets. He is one of the leading Russian propagandists and, in particular, was engaged in the interrogation of Ukrainian prisoners of war. On his Telegram channel, which has more than 1 million subscribers, since the beginning of November, he had been regularly uploading videos with Russian strike drones.
The Russian telegram channel Rybar even calculated that in a month (from 13 October to 12 November 2022), the Lancets allegedly destroyed and damaged 11 Ukrainian howitzers, seven tanks, seven self-propelled artillery mounts, six armored vehicles, four air defense systems and five radars, three launchers of the S-300 system and one armored boat.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine do not have enough Western weapons to fight Russian Lancet drones, Yuriy Sak, adviser to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, said 02 July 2023. According to him, Russia began to "invest more" in the production of these UAVs, which are capable of damaging the equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and pose a danger to Ukrainian troops. Sack called the Lancet "a pretty good system." According to the Russian Defense Ministry, it was with these UAVs that the Russian military destroyed a lot of equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including Western-style ones, including the American M777 howitzer and the AN / TPQ-50 counter-battery radar, as well as the Polish-made Krab self-propelled guns. According to experts, with its statements and calls to the West to supply weapons to combat Russian Lancet drones, Kyiv actually recognized their high effectiveness in the NVO zone.
Sak, in an interview with The Telegraph newspaper, lamented the effective operation of the Russian Lancet UAVs in the NVO zone and the lack of Western weapons to fight them, after which he called on Kiev's Western supporters to contribute to the protection of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the threat posed by these unmanned aerial vehicles. devices. “Our intelligence reports that they have begun to invest more in the production of these drones ... To understand why this worries us: anything that can damage our equipment or pose a danger to our troops causes us concern ... Not praising the Russians is enough still a good system, ”the official said.
According to a representative of the Ukrainian defense ministry, one of the types of weapons that would be most effective in the fight against the Lancets is the German-made Gepard tank, which has two anti-aircraft guns. “They are mobile, they can move quickly and they have a good radar that can be integrated into the process,” said Sack. On June 24, Berlin promised to send 45 more Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns to Kiev. Earlier, Germany has already transferred 34 such ZSU to Ukraine.
In addition, to combat drones, the Ukrainian official expressed a desire to receive electronic warfare equipment from Western partners. “Modern jamming equipment is a very important aspect of our anti-drone capability. We have a serious shortage of such equipment, and we rely on our allies. I hope one day we will have more of it,” said Sak.
As the journalists of The Telegraph write, Russia is increasingly using the "deadly kamikaze drone" "Lancet" to "deter the offensive" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “A cheap UAV capable of destroying vehicles many times its size and cost has become a problem for Ukrainian troops along the front line. They (drones. - RT ) have become a real thorn in the side of Ukrainian artillerymen, and many consider them one of the main threats on the battlefield. There is no easy way to defend against drones due to their ability to maneuver,” they note.
In support of what has been said, The Telegraph cited the words of a Ukrainian soldier with the call sign Mowgli, who complains about the large number of "Lancets" in the theater and that they "create a lot of problems" for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, since the Ukrainian troops "do not have such weapons." According to journalists, the Lancets fly "low and slow", which makes them difficult to detect by radars of traditional air defense systems.
The American portal 19FortyFive published an article 17 June 2023 by military expert Peter Suciu, who believes that Lancet drones allow Russian troops to successfully repel attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the special operation zone. It should be noted that thanks to the use of the Lancet UAV, Russian military personnel regularly disable military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including Western ones. So, only in June, with the help of these drones, including the Gvozdika self-propelled artillery mount (ACS) in the Kherson direction, the Ukrainian reconnaissance radar station , the American M777 howitzer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Vuhledar, the Polish-made Krab self-propelled guns in the South Donetsk direction, MLRS "Grad" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the right bank of the Dnieper, three mortar crews in Avdiivka and the American AN / TPQ-50 counter-battery radar.
As RISI expert Sergei Ermakov noted in an interview with RT, with statements about the Lancet UAV and calls for the West to send weapons to fight them, Kiev actually recognized the high effectiveness of these Russian drones in the NVO zone. “The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine announced the good characteristics of the Lancets, against which it is really difficult to find an effective antidote due to the fact that they are quite difficult to shoot down and counteract them with electronic warfare,” the analyst said.
At the same time, Ermakov drew attention to another problem that the Lancets create for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Ukraine's Western partners. “Often, the means to counter these drones are much more expensive than the UAVs themselves, so it is extremely difficult to saturate the defense line with such protective weapons,” the expert explained. In addition, according to the analyst, increasing the efficiency of the use of drones is ensured by linking them into a single network.
“The use of UAVs is one of the most powerful new factors in warfare. Through the use of the so-called UAV swarm tactics, our troops manage to inflict significant damage on the enemy. While the Kyiv regime, like the West, does not have any magical and super-efficient weapons that would allow them to fight it. For this reason, against the backdrop of promises to Western partners to conduct a counteroffensive, Kyiv is sounding the alarm, because it sees that Russia is quickly adapting to the situation and is increasing the production of UAVs and their use in the NVO zone, ”said Yermakov.
A similar opinion is shared by the director of the Center for Military-Political Research at MGIMO Alexei Podberyozkin. In a conversation with RT, the expert emphasized that recently the RF Armed Forces have indeed begun to use UAVs, including the Lancets, against the Armed Forces of Ukraine more actively, which helps Russian military personnel successfully complete their tasks during a special operation.
At the same time, according to Podberyozkin, the German ZSU Gepard, which Kyiv relies on in the fight against Russian Lancet UAVs, cannot be effectively used to destroy these drones. “It’s like shooting a UAV with a shotgun: sometimes you will hit, but not often. In this case, electronic warfare systems are certainly more effective, but they are not a panacea either: it all depends on the altitude at which the Lancet flies, how many of these UAVs are, and what air defense systems are available to repel their attacks. The experience of the SVO has shown that in order to repel an attack by such drones, the air defense system must be layered and include short, medium and long-range MANPADS. And with this, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have serious problems, ”the analyst stated.
According to Podberyozkin, countering Russian drones is becoming an increasing concern for Kyiv, as Russia has established the production of not only Lancets, but also other drones of “different spectrums of action.” The expert said “We are talking about a very wide range of UAVs, including powerful strike and reconnaissance ones. The trend is that these drones in large enough volumes can be produced not only by large companies, but also by small commercial firms”.
At the same time, those UAVs that the West supplied to Kyiv over the past year, for the most part, have already been destroyed by the RF Armed Forces, recalled Podberyozkin. “Judging by the latest statements by the Kiev authorities, against the backdrop of the long-awaited counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, they are experiencing a shortage of not only UAVs and weapons against drones, but also ammunition, air defense systems, heavy artillery and other weapons. And Kiev has already recognized that such a deficit does not affect the assessment of the prospects for a counteroffensive for the better, ”the expert concluded.
The Ukrainian armed forces can do nothing against Russian Lancet drones that destroy everything in their path, former US intelligence officer Scott Ritter said in an interview with journalist Garland Nixon on his YouTube blog 13 July 2023. "Ukrainians have nothing to drown it out or shoot it down. <...> These drones flooded the battlefield, they surround and simply destroy everything," he said. According to him, the Russian army is increasingly using the Lancets against the Armed Forces of Ukraine, destroying not only equipment, but also manpower. The use of these drones, according to Ritter, has led to a massive shortage of combat vehicles in the ranks of the Ukrainian forces. “The Russians are dominating the battlefield with drones, this technology is changing everything,” he concluded.
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