Soldiers of the 43rd Artillery Brigade named after Hetman Taras Triasylo, working together with other units, located and destroyed a Russian Buk-M1/M2 air defense missile system.
The brigade reported the successful operation on its official social media page and released video footage of the strike.
The video shows the Buk system leaving its firing position and attempting to hide in a forest to avoid detection. The movement was tracked by a Shark reconnaissance drone.
The target was then struck, likely by an M30A1 rocket with a proximity-fuse warhead fired from a HIMARS system, causing the missiles on the launcher to detonate.
M30A1 rockets, equipped with 182,000 tungsten alloy balls, are capable of effectively striking large areas containing lightly armored vehicles and personnel at ranges of up to 84 km.
The Buk-M1/M2 air defense missile system is a self-propelled, medium-range system designed to protect troops and strategic facilities from a wide range of aerial threats. Each launcher can independently detect, track, and engage targets even without a connection to a central command center.
The Buk-M1 can engage targets at ranges of up to 32–35 km and at altitudes of up to 22 km, with each launcher able to fire at only one target at a time. The more modern Buk-M2 has a firing range of up to 45–50 km and an engagement altitude of up to 25 km. In addition, thanks to its phased-array radar, the Buk-M2 is a multi-channel system capable of simultaneously engaging up to four aerial targets.
