Russia brought “defective” drones “Cube” to IDEX 2023, but did not praise “Lancets”

Russia presented the export shock aircraft “KUB-BLA” from Zala Group at the IDEX and NAVDEX exhibitions in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates). The Defense News edition talked about what was wrong with them.

Analysts state that Russia exhibited much more military products than expected, given the international sanctions on the invasion of Ukraine. In a separate pavilion, 7 Russian manufacturers placed a large amount of equipment. Among them, the KUB export model from the Zala Group of Companies, which is part of the Kalashnikov state defense concern, was chosen.

Samuel Bendett, an expert at the U.S. Center for Naval Studies, noted that Russian troops use the KUB much less often than the more famous Lancet kamikaze drone. It is the latter that “dominates” the headlines and is presented by the Russians as an effective weapon. But “KUB” repeatedly humiliated its makers, even at the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The network posted images of how these drones missed targets or crashed into residential areas from the explosion.

In a Defense News commentary, a Kalashnikov spokesperson said they chose KUB for the show because the Lancet is larger and more difficult to deliver on a short-term exhibition. The publication suggests that Russia came to the UAE to strengthen its ties with countries that did not impose sanctions on it. It is also not even listed as an official participating state on the conference website.

Ukraine is also participating in the IDEX 2023 exhibition in 2023. Ukrainian enterprises UkrspecsystemsOLTEX and the National Defense Industry Association of Ukraine brought in battle-proven unmanned aerial vehicles, including models RAM II and Leleka-100.

In December, they wrote that the Russian Lancet kamikaze drone failed to pass the camouflage net for the tank of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. After the collision, the aircraft simply broke into two pieces.