Ukrainian Armed Forces destroy Russian Zoopark-M1 radar
29 August, 2024 Russian Zoopark-M1 counter-battery radar in Zaporizhzhia, August 2024. Photo credits: 15th Artillery Reconnaissance Brigade The guided missileman destroyed a Russian Zoopark-M1 counter-battery radar station that was locating Ukrainian artillery.
The 15th Brigade's press service released a video of the incident. Operators of the Shark reconnaissance drone from the 15th Artillery Reconnaissance Brigade "Black Forest" discovered a Russian counter-battery station 1L260 Zoopark-M1 in the Zaporizhzhia region. The soldiers adjusted their fire, after which they struck the object with high-precision weapons.
A GMLRS shell destroyed the enemy installation with a direct hit. Counter-battery radars are designed to locate enemy artillery remotely.
They detect a missile or projectile in flight and calculate its trajectory using several points, determining both the location of the enemy's firing position and the place where the projectile fell. Once the approximate coordinates are identified, a reconnaissance drone is deployed to the likely location of the target to conduct additional reconnaissance of the target and adjust fire on it. According to the Oryx resource, the Ukrainian military has destroyed or disabled at least 13 confirmed 1L260 units since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
The unit shown above is supposed to be the fourteenth. The Zoopark-M1 is a fairly rare system: the last time the Defense Forces hit a system of this type was in March last year. Similar systems of the previous generation, Zoopark-1, which the Russian army inherited from the Soviet Union, are more often used on the battlefield.
Since the beginning of the year alone, the Russians have lost three (1, 2) of these systems. In addition to them, the introduction of a new promising Russian counter-battery system, 1K148 "Yastreb-AV," was also spotted on the battlefield.
1L260 Zoopark-1M
Zoopark-1M is a Russian reconnaissance and fire control radar system developed by the Tula-based Strelka Design Bureau, which was first introduced to the public in 2013. The system is equipped with a phased array antenna.
It is designed to effectively combat enemy cannon artillery and missile systems by detecting their positions while firing mines, shells, or missiles. The system can also be used to adjust the fire of one's own artillery. According to the manufacturer, Zoopark-1M can detect the location of 152/155-mm howitzers at a distance of up to 23 km with an error of up to 40 m and multiple launch rocket systems at a distance of no more than 45 km with an error of up to 50 m.
1L261 vehicle of the Russian 1L260 Zoopark-1M radar system.
2015, Russia.
Photo: Russian media
The 1L261 radar system's chassis is mounted on a GM-5955 universal armored tracked chassis manufactured by the Mytishchi Machine-Building Plant.
The system's crew consists of three people: a driver, a radar operator, and a vehicle commander.