Russia has declared its intention to boost the production of the 152mm Krasnopol-M2 laser-guided artillery munitions while addressing the round's suboptimal performance in adverse weather conditions, reported by the British Intelligence.
The Krasnopol has been effectively employed by Russian artillery to precisely target individual Ukrainian vehicles. Given the insufficient production of conventional munitions in Russia's defense industry, the planned increase in Krasnopol manufacturing appears to be a strategy to enhance production efficiency. To guide Krasnopol, Russia employs unmanned aerial vehicles to illuminate targets with a laser beam.
"However, low cloud has been the key limiting factor in the round’s performance because its laser detector does not have time to spot the laser energy and manoeuvre for striking".
As stated in the report, as winter weather closes in, it is likely that Russia’s access to improved precision munitions will be one of the key factors in its operational performance in Ukraine.