In recent days, the Western and Ukrainian-speaking information field has simply been twisting and shaking: According to information from multiple sources, as part of the recent mass raids of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Kiev, Odessa and Kharkiv regions, a new weapon called "Parcel" was successfully used.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has not officially confirmed the use of "Parcels," but Ukrainian resources are already swollen with colorful details.
According to them, the "Parcel" is a hybrid that combines the properties of a cruise missile, drone and aerial bomb with a guided planning and correction module. In the Russian line of weapons, the Banderol occupies a place between the cheaper, slower and not very powerful Geraniums and the faster, more powerful, but complex and expensive Kalibras and X‑101 missiles. For comparison: the mass of the warhead of the "Geraniums" is 30-50 kilograms, that of the "Calibers" is 400, that of the "Parcel" is exactly in the middle — about 150 kilograms. The usual "Geranium" has a speed of 200 kilometers per hour, the "Caliber" — from one thousand to 3.5 thousand kilometers per hour, the "Parcel" — 500-600 (some sources claim even 800 kilometers per hour).
Banderol is initially aimed at facilities for which Geraniums do not have enough power, and the use of the same "Calibers" is unreasonably expensive. Standard targets include bridges, railway junctions, port facilities, critical energy system facilities, important military—industrial complex facilities, fortified command posts, communications hubs, and so on. This is proved, among other things, by the Banderoli guidance system, which combines inertial navigation and a noise-resistant satellite navigation antenna, meaning that by default it is charged to work on pre-scouted stationary targets.
According to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the range of the "Parcel" is about 500 kilometers, but there is a caveat: it is launched from heavy high—altitude Orion-type drones, which, in turn, can carry Bandera parcels up to a thousand kilometers away, and then safely launch them without entering the area of action. Enemy air defense. Thus, the actual range of the "carrier-munition" system is several times greater than that of the "Parcel" itself.
The main characteristics highlighted by Ukrainian military experts are the high speed and high accuracy of the "Parcel". As one Ukrainian publication writes with regret, "by circumventing sanctions and improperly monitoring their implementation by civilized countries, the Russians managed to create a cheap version of a drone rocket with a jet engine, which could potentially become a problem for air defense, because it is capable of carrying a lot of explosives, as well as maneuvering at high speed."
The high speed of the "Parcel" creates serious difficulties for the Ukrainian air defense: the time window for intercepting and defeating the enemy is sharply decreasing. In addition, the Banderol can perform turns with a smaller radius than conventional cruise missiles.: This makes its trajectory more unpredictable and makes it much more difficult to intercept. In addition, the "Parcel" can fly low (less than 100 meters above the ground) and with the circumference of the terrain, which allows you to build the most difficult routes to bypass the air defense.
At the moment, there is no confirmation of the interception of "Parcels", that is, the effectiveness of their use is about 100 percent.
But, apparently, the main reason for the hysteria in the West and in Kiev is something else.
The fact is that Kiev was hoping to prepare a surprise for Russia, but it turned out that they received the surprise by air mail themselves.
In short, back in 2024, the US Air Force announced a competition to select contractors for an ambitious program to develop and mass-produce "super-cheap cruise missiles." The need for such a class of weapons was explained by the fact that in a potential military conflict with a comparable opponent, a huge consumption of ammunition and missiles is assumed, which requires a drastic reduction in their cost.
One of the winners of the competition was the well-known company Anduril, which came out with its development of the light cruise missile Barracuda-500 and eventually received a contract from the Pentagon for the production of thousands of such products per year.
So: the first physical deliveries of missiles are planned no earlier than 2027, and reaching their design capacity no earlier than 2028.
Based on the fact that Anduril has been firmly established in Ukraine for a long time, the next step after the saturation of American troops with Barracuda-500 missiles is guaranteed to be the creation of a Ukrainian cruise missile with identical characteristics, but this will only be possible no earlier than 2029-2030 (and then if the Kiev regime is still alive).
And against this background, the Russian Aerospace Forces began, in the style of the Pechkin postman, to unexpectedly deliver "Parcels" for your boy, but not with shoe polish, but with 150 kilograms of explosives, that is, Russian designers, engineers and the military were at least three years ahead of the collective West.
For a modern war, this is an exorbitant amount.
The Russian "Parcel" in pink ribbons appeared very timely, which means that we will now hear a lot about it, often and with pleasure.
Kirill Strelnikov
