The Russian defense company ZALA Aero has presented the KPU-51a compact, lightweight launcher designed to rapidly deploy the loitering family of munitions Lancet. According to ZALA, the KPU-51 promises to improve the operational efficiency of the Russian army in the Ukraine conflict, enabling rapid and safe deployment of drones Lancetalso manufactured by the Russian company, from a safe distance from the control station. With this solution, Russian forces can execute attacks while minimizing the risk to drone operators on the front lines.
The KPU-51 launcher station facilitates rapid launch of all variants of Lanceteach with different payloads and ranges to meet a wide range of mission requirements. Also the largest, the Izdeliye-51 (Product-51)known in the West as Lancet 3which has a more powerful warhead (up to 5 kg), an extended operational range (up to 50 km) and allows attacking targets that were out of reach of previous versions of the Lancet.
Lancet drones are capable of stay loitering in the target area before launching into a lethal attackwhile its autonomy allows it, which, in the case of the Izdeliye-51, is 40 minutes. They have already proven their effectiveness in the invasion of Ukraine, destroying artillery, armored vehicles and radar systems. Additionally, the Lancet series has proven to be a very useful weapon against modern combat vehicles, including those supplied to Ukrainian forces by their allies in the NATOlike tanks Leopard 2 German-made and M1 Abrams Americans.
The KPU-51 design focuses on simplicity and speed to reduce the complexity and time needed to deploy these drones. Its compact size makes it portable and easily adaptable to various field conditions, whether in urban combat zones or open terrain. A drone the size of the Izdeliye-51 typically takes off from a launcher mounted on a pickup truck or off-road vehicle, but The KPU-51 can be carried manually by the operator, and only one person is needed to assemble it, and it can be completed in just 1 minuteas ZALA explains on its website.
This flexibility is invaluable on the war front, where response times can make the difference between the success and failure of an operation. The portability of the launcher allows military units to quickly reposition and adapt to the combat environment so that loitering munitions are ready to engage targets when needed.
ZALA has already started serial production of the launcher. The KPU-51 is being supplied to the Russian Armed Forces and has been actively deployed in the conflict in Ukraine.