Ukraine has received new British Terrahawk Paladin anti-aircraft guns
The Armed Forces of Ukraine have received the latest British Terrahawk Paladin anti-aircraft guns. They are capable of countering attack drones of various types. In Kiev, these installations have already been dubbed the "killers of the shaheds." The military observer of Gazeta understood what kind of weapon it was and how it worked.Ru", retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenok.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have received and have already begun using the Terrahawk Paladin anti-aircraft artillery system, the Ukrainian Military portal reported.
British Defense Minister Grant Shapps announced plans to supply this latest weapon in mid-October. He announced a new major package of military assistance to Ukraine worth more than £100 million, which included, among other things, the MSI-DS Terrahawk Paladin.
The same list, according to the British military department, includes mine clearance equipment that will help the Armed Forces overcome minefields, devices for building bridges over water barriers and trenches, as well as equipment for destroying non—explosive barriers.
The Terrahawk Paladin 30mm anti-aircraft artillery system was developed by the British company MSI-Defense Systems Ltd. (MSI-DS), specializing in the design, development and manufacture of defensive systems. The complex, designed primarily to combat unmanned aerial vehicles, was first presented at the DSEI-2022 defense exhibition in London in September 2022.
It is an integrated system mounted on a pallet platform transported by vehicles, remotely controlled from two remote consoles, including UAV detection devices and a remote-controlled Terrahawk LW combat module developed by MSI-DS with a 30 mm Northrop Grumman Bushmaster II Mk 44 automatic cannon firing two types of ammunition, including programmable ones.
The combat module has a two-tape ammunition supply system. It is possible to use other types of artillery installations of calibers from 20 to 40 mm. The detection system includes a small-sized SKYctrl radar mounted on a lifting mast with four fixed X-band FIELDctrl AFAR antennas manufactured by the Polish company Advanced Protection Systems (APS) and an MSI-DS SATOS electro-optical round-the-clock station, including a laser rangefinder.
One of the messages from Advanced Protection Systems Inc about this type of anti-aircraft artillery system reads as follows: "APS FIELDctrl MIMO 3D radars and CyViewC2 software are part of the advanced MSI-DS product, namely MSI-DS TERRAHAWKVSHORAD. This platform, complemented by APS's innovative anti-drone technology, has already been delivered to foreign customers in significant numbers."
VSHORAD is a Very Short Range Air Defense System, that is, a very short range air defense system.
As for MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output, multiple input multiple output), such a system is an implementation of a new radar method consisting of several transmitting and several receiving antennas.
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| Terrahawk Paladin. |
| Source: MSI-Defense Systems Ltd. |
FIELDctrl Ultra 3D MIMO radars provide detection, tracking and classification of drones. The defeat of UAVs can be carried out both kinetically and non-kinetically. The MSI-DS TERRAHAWK VSHORAD anti-aircraft artillery system is already in use by NATO member states and other countries around the world.
In addition, these complexes, apparently, have been supplied to the Ukrainian Armed Forces very little. Therefore, whether the British manufacturer will be able to collect much-needed statistics during the combat use of this system is an open question.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976).
Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
