KUB-BLA / KUB-2
Light X-wing kamikaze drone against personnel, launch sites and light armour
Small loitering munition from ZALA Aero (Kalashnikov Concern), the Lancet's sibling. The original KUB-BLA was presented at IDEX in February 2019 and has been used in Ukraine since 2022; the KUB-2 is its successor with a thermobaric warhead, which Kalashnikov says is in service with the Russian armed forces. At Tsentr-2026 the Russian Ministry of Defence cited a Kub-2 with a range of more than 60 km. Specifications come from the manufacturer (export versions) and have not been independently confirmed.
Learn more in the Drone Academy →Dimensionsfor imagery analysis
- Drone (L × span)
- KUB-BLA: 1.21 × 0.95 m, height 0.165 m
- Max. take-off weight
- KUB-BLA 8 kg · KUB-2E 14.5 kg
- Dimension source
- US Army TRADOC Worldwide Equipment Guide (ODIN)
Key data
- Manufacturer
- ZALA Aero Group, Kalashnikov Concern (Rostec)
- KUB-BLA (2019)
- X-wing, 1.21 m span, 3 kg payload, 80–130 km/h, ~30 min endurance
- KUB-2-1E (export)
- 12 kg take-off mass, 3.9 kg thermobaric warhead, up to 150 km/h, > 20 min, > 20 km
- KUB-2-2E (export)
- 14.5 kg take-off mass, 4.6 kg thermobaric warhead, ~150 km/h, > 25 min, > 40 km; ceiling ~2,000 m
- Guidance
- Pre-set GNSS coordinates or a target designated on the operator's video
Employment
- Ukraine
- Since 2022: wreckage near Kyiv, footage of an attack on an M777 howitzer (May 2022); according to Wikipedia at least 44 documented uses by Dec. 2023. In Jan. 2025 the KUB-2 appeared at the front, including footage of a Ukrainian drone intercepting one
- Targets (manufacturer)
- Personnel, drone launch sites, depots, aircraft shelters and unarmoured or lightly armoured equipment
- Tsentr-2026 (claim, Oct. 2026)
- Kub-2 with a thermobaric warhead and a range of more than 60 km used in the exercise, alongside Supercam-S350 reconnaissance — source: Krasnaya Zvezda, RU Mil Tracker e-20261006-s04; Russian state source, not independently confirmed
- Production
- In Dec. 2025 Kalashnikov reported large new contracts for the KUB-2 and the KUB-10 (successor with > 100 km range, presented Feb. 2026)
Relevance
- Comparison
- Lighter and cheaper than the Lancet, smaller warhead; mainly for soft targets
- Countermeasure
- Slow and low enough for interceptor drones, small-arms fire and EW; GNSS-guided strikes are vulnerable to jamming and spoofing
- Source
- Wikipedia (ZALA Kub-BLA), Janes / EDR Magazine (IDEX 2025), RU Mil Tracker e-20261006-s04
- See also
- The Lancet-1 / Lancet-3 card (same manufacturer)
News archive 1
Analysed reports from the RU Mil Tracker about this system, newest first. Archive since 2026-07-17.
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«От тактики роевого применения дронов до атак безэкипажных танков» (Krasnaya Zvezda: From swarm drone tactics to uncrewed tank attacks — Tsentr-2026 wrap-up)
Krasnaya Zvezda, the Russian Defence Ministry's newspaper, published an overview of the main phase of the strategic command-staff exercise Tsentr-2026, which ended on 2 October at the Central Military District's 255th Chebarkul range, watched by President Putin and with Defence Minister Belousov reporting. According to the paper, more than 6,000 troops took…