2014 Russia-Ukraine War

AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radar in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War

Ukraine fielded partner-supplied AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder weapon-locating radars as part of its artillery reconnaissance network for detecting Russian artillery fire and enabling counterfire.

Weapon profileAN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radar
SideUkraineRoleReconnaissance & SurveillanceTargeting SupportTraining & Foreign Aid
AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radar, Long-range counter-battery radar, Electronic Warfare - 2014 Russia-Ukraine War
Image source: Wikimedia Commons AN TPQ-37 Glamoc Photo

Evidence Map

ClaimSources
Ukraine fielded AN/TPQ-37 radars supplied by partners during the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War.

Sources: RBC-Ukraine Zhuravlov Interview, Defense Express Ukraine Radar Network, Oryx Heavy Weapons Supplied to Ukraine

Ukraine's Missile Forces and Artillery Command described AN/TPQ-37 as part of a partner-supplied artillery reconnaissance network.

Sources: RBC-Ukraine Zhuravlov Interview, Defense Express Ukraine Radar Network

The network role was detecting Russian artillery fire and enabling counterfire.

Sources: RBC-Ukraine Zhuravlov Interview

Open-source aid tracking listed AN/TPQ-37 weapon-locating radars for Ukraine as delivered before April 2023.

Sources: Oryx Heavy Weapons Supplied to Ukraine

Public conflict-specific sources reviewed here do not give quantities, assigned Ukrainian units, or named counterfire incidents for AN/TPQ-37.

Sources: RBC-Ukraine Zhuravlov Interview, Defense Express Ukraine Radar Network, Oryx Heavy Weapons Supplied to Ukraine

The AN/TPQ-37 system role is long-range weapon locating for artillery, mortar, and rocket-launcher firing points.

Sources: Deagel AN/TPQ-37

Timeline

AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radar In 2014 Russia-Ukraine War

  1. U.S. delivers first AN/TPQ-family radars to Ukraine

    The U.S. Army reported the delivery of two AN/TPQ-36 counter-battery radar systems to Ukraine; this establishes early U.S. Firefinder-family radar support, not AN/TPQ-37 delivery.

    Sources: DOD Delivers Radar Systems to Ukraine

  2. AN/TPQ-37 appears in open aid inventory

    Oryx's heavy-equipment inventory listed AN/TPQ-37 weapon-locating radars for Ukraine as delivered before April 2023.

    Sources: Oryx Heavy Weapons Supplied to Ukraine

  3. Ukrainian artillery command describes AN/TPQ-37 network use

    RBC-Ukraine published Zhuravlov's statement naming AN/TPQ-37 among partner-supplied radars in Ukraine's artillery reconnaissance network for detecting enemy artillery fire and enabling counterfire.

    Sources: RBC-Ukraine Zhuravlov Interview

  4. Defense Express republishes radar-network claim

    Defense Express reported Zhuravlov's statement that Ukraine's partner-enabled artillery reconnaissance network included AN/TPQ-37 radars.

    Sources: Defense Express Ukraine Radar Network

Documented Use

Direct proof of use

Direct conflict-use evidence for the AN/TPQ-37 in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War comes from Ukrainian artillery-command reporting in December 2025. In an RBC-Ukraine interview, Colonel Andrii Zhuravlov, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Missile Forces and Artillery Command of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, described an artillery reconnaissance network enabled by partner-supplied radar systems and named the AN/TPQ-37 alongside AN/TPQ-50, AN/TPQ-36, and ARTHUR radars. He said these systems allow relatively rapid detection of enemy artillery units firing and enable counterfire.

Defense Express reported the same claim from Zhuravlov, describing the AN/TPQ-37 as one of the internationally supplied radar systems in Ukraine's artillery reconnaissance network. Oryx's public aid inventory also listed AN/TPQ-37 weapon-locating radars for Ukraine as delivered before April 2023, while treating the wider inventory as a lower-bound list because some deliveries were confidential or later uncovered.

Sources: RBC-Ukraine Zhuravlov Interview, Defense Express Ukraine Radar Network, Oryx Heavy Weapons Supplied to Ukraine

Timeline

The public chronology separates early U.S. counter-battery radar assistance from later AN/TPQ-37 identification. The U.S. Army reported that two AN/TPQ-36 radar systems were delivered to Ukraine on November 14, 2015, after Ukraine requested the systems as part of U.S. non-lethal assistance. That source supports the start of U.S. AN/TPQ-family radar support to Ukraine, not AN/TPQ-37 delivery specifically.

By Oryx's April 2023 update window, AN/TPQ-37 weapon-locating radars appeared in the public inventory of heavy equipment supplied to Ukraine. The strongest operational statement arrived on December 23, 2025, when Zhuravlov described the AN/TPQ-37 as part of Ukraine's partner-supplied artillery reconnaissance network during the war.

Sources: DOD Delivers Radar Systems to Ukraine, Oryx Heavy Weapons Supplied to Ukraine, RBC-Ukraine Zhuravlov Interview

Operational role

In Ukrainian service, the AN/TPQ-37 appears as a sensor and targeting-support system rather than a weapon that fires munitions. The Firefinder radar is built to track incoming artillery and rocket fire, calculate firing points, and pass coordinates for counter-battery response. Deagel describes the AN/TPQ-37 as a long-range S-band Firefinder radar able to report artillery, mortar, and rocket-launcher sites at ranges up to 50 kilometers, with howitzer-location range listed at up to 30 kilometers.

The available conflict-specific sources do not identify Ukrainian unit assignments, quantities, exact delivery batches, or particular counterfire incidents involving a named AN/TPQ-37 radar. They do support a narrower claim: Ukrainian forces fielded AN/TPQ-37 radars supplied by partners, and Ukrainian artillery command connected those radars to detecting Russian artillery fire and enabling counterfire within a broader reconnaissance-strike network.

Sources: RBC-Ukraine Zhuravlov Interview, Defense Express Ukraine Radar Network, Deagel AN/TPQ-37

Related Weapons by Role

AN/TPQ-53 multimission radar, Mobile multimission counterfire and air-surveillance radar, Electronic WarfareElectronic WarfareAN/TPQ-53 multimission radarMobile multimission counterfire and air-surveillance radarThe AN/TPQ-53, commonly called Q-53, is a Lockheed Martin mobile active electronically scanned array radar that began as the Army's counterfire replacement for AN/TPQ-36 and AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radars. Its baseline mission is to detect, classify, track, and locate mortar, artillery, and rocket launches in 90-degree or 360-degree modes, while software and open-architecture upgrades have extended the same family into counter-UAS, air-surveillance, and wider multimission radar roles.
ARTHUR, Weapon locating / artillery locating radar, Electronic WarfareElectronic WarfareARTHURWeapon locating / artillery locating radarARTHUR is Saab's mobile weapon locating radar family for counter-battery work: it detects artillery, mortar, and rocket projectiles in flight, calculates firing and impact points, and feeds counter-fire or warning networks. UK defence sources documented MAMBA, the British ARTHUR designation, supporting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Ukrainian artillery-reconnaissance troops were later documented operating British MAMBA/ARTHUR in 2022.
Naval Tactical Data System, Shipboard combat information and weapon-direction data system, Naval SystemsNaval SystemsNaval Tactical Data SystemShipboard combat information and weapon-direction data systemThe Naval Tactical Data System was a U.S. Navy real-time shipboard command-and-control system developed in the 1950s to automate tactical data processing for missile-era fleet air defense. Built around militarized UNIVAC unit computers, Hughes display equipment, and Collins digital communications links, NTDS fused radar, sonar, communications, and ship-to-ship data into a shared tactical picture for combat information centers and weapon-direction support. Direct conflict-use accounts place NTDS-equipped ships in Vietnam War PIRAZ air-defense control and in Gulf War coalition airspace coordination.
2 more weapons
Back to AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radarBrowse 2014 Russia-Ukraine War

Sources