The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has published new data on the Russian Lancet and Scalpel loitering munitions, with which the Russian Federation is striking Ukraine, and named the foreign electronic components used in them.
The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has published new data on the Russian Lancet and Scalpel loitering munitions, with which the Russian Federation is striking Ukraine, and named the foreign electronic components used in them.
As «Military» writes with reference to the War&Sanctions portal, the database now contains interactive 3D models of both munitions, a list of their components, electronic components, and enterprises involved in production. This is not just a general description, but the actual «stuffing» of these systems, including navigation, communication, video transmission, and control modules.
According to GUR, the Lancet (product-51) remains one of the most popular strike UAVs of the Russian army, and its manufacturer is called Zala Aero Group, which is part of the Kalashnikov concern. The less public Scalpel was developed by Vostok Design Bureau, the device has an X-shaped wing layout and is actually called the younger analogue of the Lancet in intelligence. Both drones are still controlled by an operator in real time, but it is in the Lancet that attempts have been recorded to add elements of autonomous guidance.
The most notable detail of the update is the mention of Nvidia Jetson-based modules, which can be used for functions related to automatic target tracking. In total, 62 electronic components were identified in the two munitions. Most of them, according to Ukrainian intelligence, are of foreign origin: primarily from the USA, but also from Switzerland and China. Among the manufacturers whose solutions were found in these systems are Analog Devices, Texas Instruments, Xilinx, STMicroelectronics and u-blox.
In fact, this is a typical scheme for the Russian military-industrial complex: Western microelectronics and high-performance modules are combined with mass-produced Chinese components, which allows simultaneously to contain costs and increase the accuracy of strikes. The GUR emphasizes that such dependence on dual-purpose components shows that, despite sanctions, the Russian Federation continues to gain access to critical technologies and modernize weapons for attacks on Ukraine.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about how the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine updated the «Weapon Components» section on the War&Sanctions portal and added new data on the production cooperation of the Russian Orion drone, as well as on the electronic components of the Iranian Shahed-107 and the Russian Phoenix.
