One Drone Patiently Patrols. Another Strikes. This Is How Ukraine Is Wiping Out Russian Air Defenses.
Bulava and Leleka drones make deadly teams.
The Lancet loitering munition is one of Russia’s most dangerous battlefield drones. Circling over the front line—or deep behind it—for nearly an hour, the propeller-driven drone with its distinctive cruciform wings relays a top-down view to its remote operator, who steers it to a strike with a 10-pound warhead.
Bigger, farther-flying and more destructive than a first-person-view quadcopter but smaller and cheaper than a Shahed deep strike drone, the Lancet prowls the crucial zone between the wide no-man’s-land and the Ukrainian rear area. It’s in that zone that the Ukrainians concentrate their front-line air defenses, artillery and battlefield logistics.
It took two years, but Ukraine has finally copied the Lancet—and widely deployed this clone. The Bulava, a product of Ukrainian firm Deviro, is absolutely massacring Russian air defenses near the front line. One observer tallied no fewer than six Bulava strikes on Russian air defense vehicles—Buks, Tors, Strelas and ZU-23s—this month. (See video at top.)
