NEW YORK, September 15. /TASS/. Russia’s Lancet loitering munitions significantly restrict the maneuverability of Ukrainian artillery, Ukrainian armed forces’ Main rocket and artillery directorate officer Yuri Patskan admits.
"We can’t use our maneuverability," Patskan said, according to Defense One. He noted that the use of the Lancets "negates a major advantage in today’s conflict" and forces the Ukrainian military to hide their guns from Russian drones.
According to the report, the operation of the Ukrainian artillery is complicated by the diversity of guns, shipped to Kiev by Western states. Although all Western-made howitzers use the same 155-mm ammunition, they use munitions with different parameters, which, in some cases, leads to shells not even fitting in the gun, the website says. The report cites a Ukrainian serviceman who said that he had to cut off the fins from a French-made shell in order to fire it from an Italian-made mortar.
The Lancet drone is produced by ZALA Aero (part of Rostec’s Kalashnikov Concern). It is equipped with various targeting systems and a television communication channel transmitting the target’s image. The loitering munition can hit targets up to 40 km away, its maximum takeoff mass is 12 kg.