Big concern for Putin, THIS is Poland’s most powerful weapon, can strike enemies within minutes, range is…, name is…
Poland showcased a new cruise missile program called Lanca during a recent defense expo. This program is regarded as the first cruise missile designed by Poland, breaking from the country’s previous dependence on foreign countries to provide weaponry.
Lanca is designed for use from containerized launchers and can be used from both road-mobile trucks and from naval vessels. The missile consists of a relatively small body with folding wings. The missile will have an initial solid-fuel booster to provide altitude and speed. Once the solid-fuel booster has burned out, the cruise missile is designed to sustain the main flight with a turbojet engine, as reported by News18 Hindi. Specific technical details have not yet been released, but Lanca is designed to be a medium-range cruise missile with a low-altitude flight profile.
When did Poland unveil the Lanca missile, and when will it enter service?
Lanca’s design reportedly changes basing options. Because of its containerized nature, the missile can be concealed almost anywhere. Mounting the missile on trucks makes it easy to move, and it could also be launched from a naval platform. This should increase targeting difficulty for a potential adversary. The ability to fold the wings provides an acceptable means for storage and transport.
How fast can the missile reach its target once launched?
Using a booster for initial velocity and a turbojet engine for power is quite common but still effective. The air intake appears to be located on the underside of the design. Most prominently, the missile could possibly utilize some interchangeable types of seekers with their incorporated recesses in the nose design. The report further mentions that the ability to fly at low altitude should allow reduced levels of radar detection.
What is the range and flight capability of Lanca?
No official details have been made public, but analysts put the potential operational range of the missile between 500–800 kilometers, as reported by News18 Hindi. The missile is projected to be subsonic, with a speed of around Mach 0.8 to 0.9. The missiles will rely mostly on GPS and INS for in-flight guidance, but in a counter-terrorism role, when it is denied, they could insert additional systems such as TERCOM or image-matching, the report further mentioned.
The Lanca will also use a modular warhead weighing an estimated 200-450 kg that will be usable for strikes against hardened targets such as concrete targets or bunkers. With that payload and its projected range, the missile could reach as far as the Russian border.
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