This is a notable step even when compared to relatively recent models of barrage munitions.
Russian designers, who created the victorious “banner” of the special operation in Ukraine in the form of Lancet barrage munitions, not only continue to produce updated UAVs with enviable regularity and dark envy of the armed forces of foreign countries, but also achieved cardinal superiority over the old models by presenting a completely new version of the famous kamikaze drone. Now the Z-53, or as it is called in production documents, “Product 53”, is assigned to dominate the battlefields.
A completely new “bird”, developed by the same design department that invented the previous “Products”, but has new capabilities compared to the classic “Lancet”.
According to experts, the Z-53 is distinguished by a guidance system with integrated artificial intelligence, which uses an automated guidance system that can recognise a significant number of targets without the involvement of a human operator. Moreover, such solutions were not found among the early samples of ZALA.
The prospective UAV boasts increased accuracy and range.
Moreover, the internal qualities perfectly co-exist with external changes, where the advanced model does not have the classic X-shaped layout of the usual “Lancet” – the four wings are in front, and for compactness in the non-activated form they are tightly pressed against the body of the air shell. The wings come into the combat position when fired from the launch catapult and automatically unfold in flight. The hunter is propelled by a rear-mounted propeller, and the search for targets is carried out by a high-quality camera integrated into the head part of the drone.
But the time of surprise is not over yet – the drone is designed with group hunting in mind, where a 5kg combat pack is used as an impact part. According to the inventors’ idea, a swarm of such UAVs is intended to cover in one go the positions of MLRS and anti-aircraft batteries, or armoured columns on the march.
Previous versions of the Lancet were not able to do this. In addition, to facilitate launching, special launchers in the form of launch tubes are used as catapults, reducing the time for deployment.
For the first time such samples “shone” at the exhibition “Army-2023”, and on the front line began to be used on 21 October, and in a secret order – by means of group attacks, “training” the neural network of the attack drone.
Izdelie-53 TG-channel