Ukraine destroyed a rare Russian Arctic air defense system for the first time
Ukrainian artillery destroyed a rare Russian TOR-M2DT air defense system for the first time in the entire history of the platform’s service, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reports.
Ukrainian gunners fired at the TOR-M2DT after the drone scouted the location of the complex.
The Arctic TOR-M2DT air defense system became the star of russian television when it was sent to Ukraine. But soon a Ukrainian drone introduced it to Ukrainian gunners.
It burned brightly, the fire extinguisher did not help. pic.twitter.com/12ze4kj6sl— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) February 2, 2023
‘Arctic air defense system TOR-M2DT became a star of Russian television when it was sent to Ukraine.’ It was burning brightly, a fire extinguisher will not help,’ said the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
The second TOR-M2DT was destroyed on Friday, according to Ukraine Weapons Tracker, an open-source intelligence project by Caliber Obscura. It claimed that these incidents were the first confirmed cases of systems being destroyed.
#Ukraine: The second ever destruction (in as many days) of the extremely rare Russian 9A331MDT Tor-M2DT air defense system, intended for use in the Arctic.
It was again destroyed using M982 Excalibur guided projectiles in #Kherson Oblast. pic.twitter.com/8FrubQC64K
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) February 3, 2023
The project stated that both Tor-M2DTs were destroyed in Kherson by M982 Excalibur guided projectiles. The Excalibur projectiles are 155mm GPS-guided projectiles that were provided to Ukraine as part of US defense packages.
Tor-M2DT is the Arctic version of the Tor-M2 anti-aircraft missile system. Tor-M2 is designed to intercept attacks by cruise missiles that plan bombs, planes, helicopters and drones. It has a range of 12 km and an altitude range of 10 km.