ZALA Lancet attack drone. © Marina Lystseva/TASS
The Russian military has destroyed a second American-made AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder counter-battery radar of Kiev forces with a Lancet loitering munition.
Video footage of the pinpoint strike was shared by Russian news sources on April 14. The sources didn’t reveal, however, where the radar was deployed. Footage documenting the destruction of the first AN/TPQ-37 surfaced online on April 20. Both radars were likely destroyed during the Winter.
The AN/TPQ-37 was developed to detect and track incoming artillery and rocket fire to determine the point of origin for counter-battery fire. The S-band radar can detect an artillery shell from 30 kilometers and a rocket from up to 50 kilometers.
The United States supplied an unknown number of AN/TPQ-37 radars to Kiev forces after the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine last year.
The radar was destroyed by an upgraded version of the Lancet, known as the Izdeliye-51. This version, which features extended wings, has an endurance of 40 minutes, an operational range of 40-70 kilometers and is armed with a warhead weighing three kilograms.
The loitering munition, which was developed by Russia’s ZALA Aero Group, is equipped with a GLONASS-aided inertial navigation system, a laser ranging system and an electro-optical system that can detect, track and lock on static and moving targets.
According to Lostarmour.info, a website that tracks and documents military losses, Lancet loitering munitions have destroyed or damaged 51 radar, air defense, communication and electronic warfare systems of Kiev forces since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine. The number includes only visually confirmed losses.
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