Direct proof of use
Open-source reporting placed the 1RL239 family in the war from the conflict's first year. Foreign Policy reported in November 2014 that a 1RL239 "Lynx" appeared with Russian-backed forces near Donetsk, and The Interpreter later summarized Russia's November 2014 supply of 1RL232 "Leopard" and 1RL239 "Lynx" radar systems to forces in Donbas. InformNapalm separately identified the ARK-1 "Lynx" / GRAU 1RL239 as a Soviet artillery radar system for reconnaissance and ground-artillery fire adjustment seen on roads in Ukraine at the end of 2014.
Later sources document the system during the full-scale invasion phase. ANNA News identified an ARK-1M counter-battery radar on an MT-LBu chassis used by an artillery-reconnaissance unit from Russia's Eastern Military District, citing NTV footage from the Ukraine front. WarSpotting lists a Russian 1RL239(-1M) ARK-1(M) Rys as visually confirmed destroyed near Zavodivka in Kakhovka raion on February 24, 2023, while Militarnyi reported that Ukrainian forces hit a Russian ARK-1 Rys in the same area on February 22, 2023.
Sources: Foreign Policy 2014 Donetsk 1RL239 Sighting, Interpreter 2014 Russian Equipment Summary, InformNapalm 2015 Leopard and Lynx Report, ANNA News 2023 ARK-1M Combat Use, NTV 2022 Eastern Military District Radar Report, WarSpotting 2023 Zavodivka 1RL239 Loss, Militarnyi 2023 Kherson ARK-1 Report
Timeline
The first dated public material used for this record is the November 2014 Donetsk-area reporting, which connected a 1RL239 "Lynx" sighting with Russian-backed forces and with a wider pattern of Russian-supplied specialist equipment in Donbas. InformNapalm's February 2015 report treated the ARK-1 / 1RL239 appearance as one of several Russian military equipment indicators from the previous year.
During the full-scale invasion, NTV published a December 22, 2022 report on Russian Eastern Military District artillery reconnaissance at the Ukraine front. ANNA News followed on January 9, 2023, identifying the radar in that reporting as an ARK-1M and describing it as a counter-battery station used for reconnaissance and artillery fire correction. In February 2023, Ukrainian and OSINT sources documented a Russian ARK-1 / 1RL239 loss near Zavodivka in Kherson Oblast.
Sources: Foreign Policy 2014 Donetsk 1RL239 Sighting, InformNapalm 2015 Leopard and Lynx Report, NTV 2022 Eastern Military District Radar Report, ANNA News 2023 ARK-1M Combat Use, Militarnyi 2023 Kherson ARK-1 Report, WarSpotting 2023 Zavodivka 1RL239 Loss
Battlefield role
The documented role was reconnaissance and targeting support, not direct fire. The ARK-1 family is described by technical sources as a radar complex for locating enemy artillery, mortar, rocket-artillery, and tactical-missile firing positions and for adjusting friendly artillery fire. The NTV and ANNA News reports describe a front-line Russian radar crew using trajectory observation to calculate firing positions, pass coordinates, and move repeatedly because radar vehicles were high-value targets.
Militarnyi reported that Soviet-inherited ARK-1 / 1RL239 radars passed to both Russian and Ukrainian forces and that Ukrainian artillery units began combat operations in 2014 with this equipment. The same report said the start of the war exposed limitations in older Soviet analog radars, especially integration with newer automated artillery fire-control systems. For Russian or Russian-backed forces, the strongest direct public evidence is the 2014 Donetsk-area sighting and the 2022-2023 Russian crew and loss reporting.
Sources: ArmForc ARK-1 1RL239 Rys, ANNA News 2023 ARK-1M Combat Use, NTV 2022 Eastern Military District Radar Report, Militarnyi 2023 Kherson ARK-1 Report, Foreign Policy 2014 Donetsk 1RL239 Sighting, WarSpotting 2023 Zavodivka 1RL239 Loss
