ZALA Z-16 / 421-08
Tactical reconnaissance, now with autonomous interceptor evasion
Electric-powered reconnaissance drones from ZALA Aero (Kalashnikov). The Z-16 was recently upgraded with AI to automatically evade when a Ukrainian interceptor drone approaches.
Learn more in the Drone Academy →Key data
- Z-16
- 10.5 kg MTOW · 2,815 mm wingspan · flying-wing configuration
- 421-08
- 9 kg · micro-ISR for front-line reconnaissance
- Z-20 (2023, heavier variant)
- ~18 kg · >100 km range · 6 h endurance; used to cue Lancet strikes
Relevance
- AI upgrade
- Autonomous evasive manoeuvres against approaching interceptors — see also Chapter 9.1 (autonomy)
- Role
- ISR/target designation, unarmed
- Z-20 record intercept
- Downed at 6,400 m altitude by Lasar's Group — source: Militarnyi, RU Mil Tracker
News archive 9
Analysed reports from the RU Mil Tracker about this system, newest first. Archive since 2026-07-17.
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Russian unit fired ~100 Lancets in three months for only three hits, pro-Russian figure Gubarev claims
A Russian drone team fired about 100 Lancet loitering munitions over roughly three months from mid-June and hit only three targets, according to pro-Russian militant Pavel Gubarev, the self-declared 2014 'people's governor' of Donetsk who now comments on the war on social media. Defence Blog reports his account via the Ukrainian outlet Militarnyi. Gubarev s…
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«Ланцети», «Орлани» і «Князь»: Пілоти Signum за ніч знищили 25 російських безпілотників різних типів (ArmyInform: Lancets, Orlans and 'Knyaz' – Signum pilots destroyed 25 Russian drones of various types overnight)
Ukrainian state outlet ArmyInform reports that drone pilots of the Signum unit of the 57th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade shot down 25 Russian UAVs of various types during one night of 'air patrol' over Ukrainian territory, and released video of the engagements. The list given is eight Zala, four Lancet, five Supercam, four 'KVO', one Merlin, two Orlan…
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«„Мста-С“ против „Богданы“» (Krasnaya Zvezda: 'Msta-S versus Bogdana')
Krasnaya Zvezda, the newspaper of the Russian Ministry of Defence, reports that a 152 mm 2S19 Msta-S self-propelled howitzer crew destroyed a Ukrainian Bogdana wheeled self-propelled gun on the Kupiansk axis. The crew belongs to the 236th Guards Artillery Brigade of the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army (Group of Forces 'West'), and its gun commander is a guar…
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«На висоті 5500 метрів: «Маямі» з 92-ї бригади збив російський Supercam» (ArmyInform: At an altitude of 5,500 metres: 'Miami' of the 92nd Brigade shoots down a Russian Supercam)
According to the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade named after Koshovyi Otaman Ivan Sirko, a soldier with the call sign 'Miami' from the brigade's interceptor-drone battery 'Stervyatnyky' ('Vultures') shot down a Russian Supercam reconnaissance UAV at an altitude of 5.5 km. The interception was made with a Ukrainian interceptor drone, i.e. a drone used to destr…
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ZALA «Ланцет»: точно в цель! Сентябрь 2026
A post by manufacturer ZALA, reposted by the milblogger channel Dva Mayora, sums up September 2026 for the Lancet reconnaissance-strike complex (RUK) in the 'special military operation' zone. According to the post, Lancet crews concentrated on vehicles on Ukrainian logistics routes: pickups, armoured vehicles, special-purpose vehicles and supply trucks, whi…
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«Усі їхні тактики вже вивчені»: у 115-й бригаді розповіли про полювання на ворожі БПЛА
ArmyInform relays an interview given to Suspilne by Chief Sergeant "Hector" of a drone-interception battery in Ukraine's 115th Brigade. The unit counters Russian reconnaissance drones (Zala, Orlan, Supercam) and attack drones (Shaheds, Gerbers, Molniya).
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Ukraine's 3rd Army Corps says its air defence forced Russian Rubicon unit to relocate
According to Militarnyi, the air-defence commander of Ukraine's 3rd Army Corps says the Russian unmanned-systems unit Rubicon has been 'almost entirely' redeployed to another front sector because its reconnaissance and strike drones ceased to be effective. Russia had sent additional reconnaissance and strike drone crews to the area, and Ukrainian intelligen…
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Russia markets 'combat-proven' weapons for export at Egypt's El Alamein Airshow, claims new Su-57E deals
Ahead of the El Alamein International Airshow (EIA 2026, Egypt, 8–10 September), Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport and the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) mounted a sales push built around systems Moscow calls "combat-proven" in Ukraine. Rosoboronexport CEO Alexander Mikheyev said on 7 September that Russia has signed new export contracts for t…
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IRIS-T ВСУ уничтожен расчетом РУК ZALA «Ланцет» с расстояния почти 200 км
On 1 September 2026 the Russian Telegram channel "Два майора" (Dva Majora) published a post — forwarded from the manufacturer ZALA — headlined "a Ukrainian IRIS-T destroyed by a ZALA «Lancet» reconnaissance-strike-complex crew from a range of almost 200 km". The post states that a crew of that complex, attributed to the 50th separate brigade "Varyag", struc…