The Russian military has struck a Ukrainian Gyruza-M-class patrol boat using its sophisticated Lancet loitering munition.
Russian news agency RIA Novosti shared a video on Telegram of what appears to be a direct hit on one of the Ukrainian Navy’s few remaining patrol boats.
Although the location of the attack was not indicated in the footage, a former officer in the Russian Navy claimed that the incident happened in the waters of the Kakhovsky Reservoir.
#war Video of the defeat of the 🇺🇦Ukrainian armored Gyurza-class gunboat by a 🇷🇺Russian kamikaze drone(probably a Lancet UAV) . The source claims that the incident occurred in the water area of the Kakhovsky reservoir(the Dnieper River). pic.twitter.com/B0iD1NCd1E
— Capt(N) (@Capt_Navy) November 4, 2022
It is not clear if the vessel was damaged or destroyed.
At a length of 75 feet (22.86 meters), the Gyurza-M class armored patrol boat is designed for riverine and littoral missions and accommodates a crew of five.
The boat is armed with BM-5M.01 Katran-M remote-controlled module guns and 30-millimeter ZTM-1 automatic cannons.
Kyiv initially operated seven Gyruza-M-class patrol boats, but four were captured during Russia’s invasion.
The Lancet Drone
Manufactured by Zala and Kalashnikov, the Lancet-3 is a lightweight loitering munition with a three-kilogram (6.6-pound) warhead.
It has a take-off weight of 12 kilograms (26.4 pounds) and can be launched with a rail-mounted catapult system.
The Kamikaze drone can strike targets at a range of 40 kilometers and has an endurance of 40 minutes.
According to RIA Novosti, the Lancet that struck the Gyruza-M-class patrol boat is a new version featuring an 11-pound (4.9-kilogram) warhead.
The previous versions of the loitering munition had two sets of large cruciform wings, while the newest variant only has one, as is shown in the video.
