Ukrainian troops hit radar of Russian Buk-M3 system

A unit of the Unmanned Systems Forces hit the radar of a Buk-M3 anti-aircraft missile system in the Zaporizhzhia direction.

The press service of the Command of the Unmanned Systems Forces reported on this.

The 412th Separate Battalion of Unmanned Systems “Nemesis” conducted a successful operation, detecting a Russian Buk-M3 surface-to-air missile system and destroying its radar station RPN 9S36M.

The operators of a heavy bomber drone caught the unit while it was moving, hitting it with two free-falling bombs.

The footage captured by the drone’s thermal imaging camera does not give the possibility to accurately assess the extent of the damage. However, judging by the way the crew member got out of the vehicle, the internal compartments were damaged and could have caught fire.

The 9S36M director illuminator is a key element of the air defense system, which provides air target detection and missile guidance at long distances within the radius of the SAM.

In contrast to the destruction of launchers, the loss of such a system would severely undermine the combat capabilities of the system and air defense in the area of the frontline assigned to it.

The 412th Separate Battalion of Unmanned Systems

This is not the first Russian air defense system on the account of the 412th Battalion of the Unmanned Systems. Militarnyi previously reported that its operators had destroyed another radar and two Buk-M3 missile launchers.

In addition, the unit’s forces destroyed a Russian Osa-AKM and Tor-M2 surface-to-air missile system in eastern Ukraine.

So far, all the published footage of the unit’s combat operations shows only heavy multirotor bomber drones with free-fall bombs.

However, it has recently become known that the Asgard group, consisting of experienced operators of FPV drones, including airplane-type strike drones, had joined the unit.

Last week, the 14th Regiment of Unmanned Systems, which is subordinated to the Command of the Unmanned Systems Forces, destroyed a Russian Buk missile launcher in the Donetsk region.