The video shows the Russian Lancet drone attacking the side of the $5 million Stryker armored vehicle that the US provides aid to Ukraine.
According to The Drive, after months of “silent silence”, the Stryker armored vehicle first appeared in the Ukrainian war. The video posted by a channel specializing in monitoring the Russian-Ukrainian war is considered the first image on the battlefield of a $5 million armored vehicle.
The US was supposed to send the Stryker to Ukraine earlier this year, but the weapon has never been seen in combat. Ukraine seems to want to keep this armor in preparation for a large-scale counterattack.
According to the account that posted the video, this is the moment the Russian Osman task force launched the Lancet UAV to destroy the Stryker in Zaporizhia. The Ukrainian armor can be seen moving at a fairly high speed before the Lancet rushes forward, striking Stryker in the side for about 2 seconds.
The specific damage to the armor is unclear as the video does not show the aftermath of the attack.
An expert told The Drive that the US$5 million US armored vehicle provided to Ukraine may have been destroyed. According to him, based on the size of the explosion, it can be seen that this is an attack that causes great damage. The fire may have directly affected the crew and soldiers on the vehicle.
Meanwhile, retired US colonel Brad Duplessis said that Stryker’s damage could not be concluded.
Developed by General Dynamics, the Stryker armored personnel carrier has been in service with the US Army since 2002. With a payload of up to 20 tons, the Stryker can carry 9 soldiers and a crew of 2. People.
The armor of the Stryker infantry fighting vehicle is designed with a configuration of 14.5x114mm, thereby helping the soldiers in the vehicle to be well protected against the destructive power of the enemy’s light weapons.
The vehicle is also equipped with an M2 machine gun and a Mk19 grenade launcher to increase the firepower of this vehicle.
With a unit price of about 5 million USD each, the Stryker combat vehicle has become one of the main armored personnel carriers of the US Army and joins this force to fight in many different battlefields. According to statistics, the US military owns more than 4,400 armored vehicles of this type.
Stryker has an impressive moving speed, at about 100km/h, very fast for an armored vehicle. However, the expert pointed out something strange in the video when Ukraine let this armor move alone in broad daylight in a relatively empty front area making it vulnerable to attack.
“I think Ukraine was expecting the high speed of the Stryker to help this armor escape from the Russian UAV,” an anonymous expert told The Drive.
However, the Lancet has an impressive speed of about 110km / h, the ability to carry a warhead weighing up to 3kg along with an integrated satellite navigation system.
The Lancet is considered to be able to cause great damage to the enemy’s military equipment. This UAV can hit targets within 40km and has a maximum take-off weight of 12kg (including explosives).
