By: Warren Gray
Copyright © 2024
“All these capabilities and utilities make the MSI-DS Terrahawk Paladin
an effective and…cost-efficient solution against such threats as Iranian-
made, Shahed loitering munitions. The Russians launch these cheap,
explosive UAVs at Ukrainian critical infrastructure and residential
areas on a regular basis.”
— Defence Express, October 11, 2023
On October 11, 2023, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (U.K. MoD) announced a new, $123-million (£100-million), military aid package for Ukraine, including an undisclosed quantity of Terrahawk Paladin palletized, 30x173mm antiaircraft gun systems, manufactured in Norwich, England, by MSI-Defence Systems (MSI-DS) Ltd., and is officially described as a Very-Short-Range, Air Defense (VSHORAD) Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) system.
Shapps stated that, “Air defence is Ukraine’s most-critical capability need, and the Terrahawk Paladin will help deliver what Ukraine needs to protect its citizens from Putin’s indiscriminate campaign of missile strikes against civilian targets…to protect Ukraine’s critical, national infrastructure.” Ukraine’s Paladins were specifically ordered through an $86-million (£70-million) contract.
The Terrahawk Paladin, first displayed in September 2022, and then upgraded in September 2023, is a self-contained system, which includes a turreted, automatic cannon, a small, digital, radar array, and its own, on-board, power source. It’s initially armed with the Northrop Grumman Mk44 Bushmaster II chain-gun autocannon in 30x173mm, currently the most powerful 30mm weapon in the world, using MK238 high-explosive, incendiary, tracer ammunition with a proximity fuze. This allows for interception of aerial targets at approximately two to three kilometers (1.25 to 1.86 miles) with programmable, air-burst ammunition, at a rate of about three rounds per second.
This same weapon is employed by the Swedish-made, CV90 armored fighting vehicle, various other ground vehicles, some U.S. naval vessels, and the U.S. Air Force’s AC-130J Ghostrider aerial gunship (as the GAU-23/A cannon), featuring a chrome-lined, 7.9-foot barrel, with a blazing muzzle velocity of 3,500 feet per second.
On the Terrahawk Paladin system, this fearsome weapon is integrated with a Polish-made, Advanced Protection Systems (APS) “SKYctrl” all-weather, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar with four small arrays, providing 360-degree coverage, and mounted on a retractable mast. It also uses a Surveillance Acquisition Targeting Optical System (SATOS), incorporating infrared imaging and low-light TV sensors, combined with a 6Hz laser rangefinder, with a range of over 6.2 miles. This system can successfully engage aerial targets as close as 660 yards, or as far as nearly two miles.
MSI-DS Terrahawk Paladin 30x173mm gun system, with Polish APS radar. Photo credit: MSI-Defence Systems
The palletized, Terrahawk Paladin gun system is mounted on a stationary, NATO-standard, Demountable Rack Offload and Pickup System (DROPS) platform, which can be easily transported almost anywhere on a large, flatbed truck, and is operated by just two people, a remote-control, target tracker, and a gunner, using a computerized aiming system. Therefore, it can be used as either a stationary or mobile (fired from its own pallet aboard a truck bed), air defense system, usually within an area network of six Paladin systems, which may be controlled from a single point, exchanging tracking data and functioning as an integrated, air defense system.
MSI-DS Terrahawk Paladin computer aiming device. Photo credit: MSI-Defence Systems
Furthermore, the Terrahawk Paladin may potentially accommodate a variety of different guns, although the Bushmaster II cannon is the current favorite, and the system may also add surface-to-air missiles or laser-guided rockets, such as the AGR-20B APKWS-II 70mm weapon, already in use by Ukrainian forces in counter-drone and surface-to surface roles. The laser-guided, Thales Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM), or Martlet, is another potential addition, with a supersonic speed of Mach 1.5 and a range of five miles. This new missile has also been used by Ukrainian forces already.
MSI-DS Terrahawk Paladin gun system, transported on a large, 8×8 truck. Photo credit: MSI-Defence Systems
While likely deployed in relatively small numbers, probably only about six to 12 units, Ukraine’s new Terrahawk Paladin gun systems are formidable, highly advanced, state-of-the-art weapons for countering Russian drone attacks against both military and civilian infrastructure and are yet another vital contribution to the prolonged war effort in that embattled nation.
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Warren Gray is a retired, U.S. Air Force intelligence officer with experience in joint special operations and counterterrorism, and is an NRA member. He served in Europe (including Eastern Europe) and the Middle East, earned Air Force and Navy parachutist wings, four college degrees, and was a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Intelligence Operations Specialist Course, and the USAF Combat Targeting School. He is currently a published author, historian, and hunter.