Watch: Ukrainian Howitzer Destroyed By Russian ‘Kamikaze’ Suicide Drone – Dramatic video footage shared online this week shows a Ukrainian 2S3 Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer being destroyed by a Russian loitering munition, or “suicide drone.”
The video shows the attack from several perspectives, including from the perspective of the drone itself.
The video starts by showing the Ukrainian howitzer from above, recorded by another drone, before switching to the view of the attack drone.
The attack drone’s view shows the target getting closer, before the video cuts to the overhead shot again, this time showing the fixed-wing attack drone flying straight into the military vehicle.
As the drone strikes, the vehicle immediately begins to emit smoke and a fire begins – signifying that onboard ammunition may have combusted upon impact.
The video was shared on Twitter by popular war-tracking Twitter account Ukraine Weapons Tracker.
“A Ukrainian 2S3 Akatsiya 152mm self-propelled howitzer was destroyed by a Russian Lancet loitering munition. The location is currently unknown,” the accompanying post reads.
You can watch the full video here.
What Is the Lancet?
Russia’s ZALA Lancet unmanned aerial vehicle was developed by ZALA Aero Group for military purposes. Unveiled in 2019, the attack drone is one of the more modern pieces of equipment being used on the front lines by the Russians.
The fixed-wing drone, which features eight wings total, can be armed with high-explosive or high-explosive-fragmentation warheads. The drone is also fitted with a camera, allowing it to be used for reconnaissance.
The camera fitted at the front offers operators a high-resolution view from the air, and that footage can be fed back to operators until milliseconds before impact.
More of these Russian drones are being deployed in Ukraine, following months of shortages and after Russia procured more Shahed loitering munitions from Iran.
Lancets were not deployed in large numbers earlier in the war primarily because Russia did not expect there to be as strong a Ukrainian resistance as we’ve seen so far.
It could suggest, according to Russian defense expert Samuel Bendett, that not enough of the drones were ordered by the Russian Ministry of Defense ahead of time.
“Lancets may not have been employed in large numbers earlier because Russia’s initial invasion plans and the opening weeks and months of the war did not anticipate massive Ukrainian resistance and therefore the MOD may not have placed enough orders for these to be manufactured in large numbers,” Samuel Bendett told Forbes.
Now, though, more Lancet drones are being used by Russian troops on the battlefield.
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Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
Image Info: The image is of a TB2 drone flown by Ukraine.
