Click to see full-size image. (Telegram)
Ukraine has received the Tempest short-range air defense system from the United States, according to footage released by the country’s air force on January 10.
The Ukrainian Air Force’ Command Center published a video that shows the Tempest repelling an attack in a new year’s post, without announcing or identifying the system. Later, a photo emerged online suggesting that the country may have gotten at least two such systems.
The Tempest was first unveiled last October by American defense company V2X at the Association of the United States Army, AUSA, 2025 exposition. No plans to deliver the system to Ukraine were made prior, and it is very likely that the Ukrainian Air Force got some examples of it just to test it in real combat conditions.
Click to see full-size image. (Telegram)
The system is built around a lightweight, high-mobility buggy, possibly derived from the commercially-available Can-Am Maverick X3.
The main armament of the Tempest is two side-mounted AGM-114L Hellfire Longbow missiles. The AGM-114L, which has a range of around eight kilometers and carries a nine kilogram warhead, is guided via equipped with millimeter-wave active radar homing seeker.
V2X designed the Tempest especially to engage drones, helicopters, and low-flying aircraft in all weather conditions. While the AGM-114L was mainly developed as an anti-tank weapon, its guidance system makes it very suitable for taking down such aerial targets.
For first control, the Tempest is equipped with a forward-looking active electronically scanned array radar from RADA Technologies, most likely from the Multi-Mission Hemispheric Radar, MHR, series, which can detect a medium sized drone from up to 25 kilometers.
The lightweight, highly-mobile Tempest could be very effective in certain scenarios, like special operations close to the front. However, as a general short-range air defense system it has many problems, the first of which is the high cost of the AGM-114L, which is reportedly to be well over $100,000. That’s much more expensive than the average drone deployed by the Russian military in the special operation zone.
Another problem is the fact that the missile launchers and the radar are fixed. This means that the system can’t track aerial targets for long while static, and on top of this it is unclear if it could launch its missile while on the move.
All in all, the system will not be making any real impact. Its surprise appearance in Ukraine goes to show that the country has now turned into a testing ground for Western weapon manufacturers, especially smaller companies testing unorthodox concepts and risky technologies.
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recent months saw a large u.s. military build up in the caribbean, with socom deploying assists in puerto rico and near trinidad and tobago…………………………… https://psee.io/8jqu9r
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fuck the kike censor on south front
this whole war is a testing ground for both sides.
totally true and confirmed, as president putin still refuses to bring a swift end to this war by toppling the kiev regime
a nod buggy. in the name of kane.
lol! too funny and true
non importa cosa mandano in ucraina, a noi importa una sola cosa devi piegare l’ucraina sino adesso noi siete capaci quindi tacere e combattete bene perché sino adesso avete dimostrato di essere degli incompetenti disastrosi