The russian invasion forces deployed in Ukraine have begun to use the Italmas attack drones, otherwise known as Izdelie-54 (Object 54) on the battlefield. The first photo confirmation of this fact has been published on social media and noticed by the Vodohrai online journal.
The photo above shows Italmas in the warzone while the one below is its model presented in 2023. Evidently, the design has not actually undergone any critical changes since. The journal also includes photos of another drone previously confused with Italmas.
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The first public appearance of Italmas dates back to September 2023. Advertised as a new development by ZALA, the manufacturer of the Lancet suicide drone, Object 54 was claimed to have significantly better specifications. The appearance and launch method were described as similar to those of iranian Shahed loitering munitions.
The tests of this product reportedly started in the winter of 2023, and by October russians demonstrated Italmas in a video, soon followed by messages of first combat deployments of the new weapon.
However, the only ones to write about it were the russian so-called milbloggers, who provided no evidence to back these statements.
Among the known performance characteristics of Italmas are its range — about 200 km — and the warhead weight measured in tens of kilograms. According to russian media, the drone's systems integrate artificial intelligence.
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