On October 11, 2023, the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom announced the allocation of more than 100 million pounds of military aid to Ukraine at the expense of the funds of the International Fund for Ukraine (IFU), led by the United Kingdom. Of this amount, about 70 million pounds will be used to finance an already signed contract for the supply to Ukraine of an unnamed number of new 30-mm Terrahawk Paladin ground-based anti-aircraft artillery systems developed and manufactured by the British company MSI-Defense Systems Ltd. (MSI-DS).
MSI-DS Terrahawk Paladin 30 mm Ground-based Anti-aircraft Artillery System (c) MSI-DS
The rest of the funds from this package of assistance to Ukraine will be used for the purchase of mine and shipping equipment and vehicles. It is reported that to date, 785 million pounds have been raised in the IFU fund for Ukraine thanks to contributions from the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Lithuania.
The MSI-DS Terrahawk Paladin anti-aircraft artillery system was first presented at the DSEI-2022 defense exhibition in London in September 2022 and is designed primarily to combat unmanned aerial vehicles. The complex is an integrated system mounted on a pallet platform transported by vehicles, remotely controlled from two remote consoles, including a UAV detection system and a remotely controlled Terrahawk LW combat module (a variant of the Seahawk LW A2 naval 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 art installations of other types of calibers from 20 to 40 mm. The detection system includes a small-sized SKYctrl radar mounted on a lifting mast with four fixed antennas with X-band FIELDctrl AFAR manufactured by the Polish company Advanced Protection Systems (APS) and the MSI-DS SATOS electro-optical round-the-clock station, including a laser rangefinder.
At the DSEI-2023 exhibition in London in September 2023, an MSI-DS representative stated that the company already has two customers for Terrahawk Paladin complexes, one of which is "from the Middle East". Regarding the second customer, it was already suggested in the media at that time that it was Ukraine.
MSI-DS Terrahawk Paladin 30 mm Ground-based Anti-aircraft Artillery System (c) MSI-DS