Direct proof of use
The AN/TPQ-53 is documented in Ukrainian service during the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War through reporting on U.S. security assistance and Ukrainian battlefield use. In 2019, Defense News reported comments from Col. Andrii Ordynovych, Ukraine's military attache in Washington, that Ukraine received 20 Lockheed Martin AN/TPQ-53 radar systems in 2015 and used them to track incoming mortar and short-range artillery fire. The same report attributed a lower casualty rate in equipped units to the early-warning value of those radars.
Later sources document additional AN/TPQ-53 support after Russia's February 24, 2022 full-scale invasion. A U.S. Department of Defense Ukraine security-assistance infographic listed a $372 million October 2022 Lockheed Martin contract award for AN/TPQ-53 Radar System replacement procurement. USAspending identifies delivery order W56KGY23F0001 under contract W56KGY22D0001 as a Ukraine letter contract for sixteen AN/TPQ-53 radar systems, two DDREX system modifications, and related supplies and services. SIPRI's arms-transfer database records a U.S.-to-Ukraine TPQ-53 artillery-locating radar transfer ordered in 2022 and delivered across 2023-2024.
Sources: Defense News Ukraine Aid Package, DoD Ukraine Security Assistance Infographic, USAspending AN/TPQ-53 Ukraine Delivery Order, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database
Timeline
The earliest public claim in this record is the 2015 delivery and use described by Defense News in 2019. That account places AN/TPQ-53 systems with Ukrainian units in the Donbas phase of the war and describes their role as warning against mortar and short-range artillery fire rather than as a munition-firing weapon.
The post-2022 record is clearer as procurement and transfer evidence than as a dated battlefield incident log. U.S. contracting data and DoD industrial-base reporting show a major October 2022 AN/TPQ-53 award connected to Ukraine, while SIPRI lists TPQ-53 artillery-locating radar delivery to Ukraine in 2023-2024. Those sources support additional fielding to Ukraine, but they do not identify individual Ukrainian units, exact deployment locations, or particular counterfire engagements.
Sources: Defense News Ukraine Aid Package, DoD Ukraine Security Assistance Infographic, USAspending AN/TPQ-53 Ukraine Delivery Order, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database
Operational role
In this conflict, the AN/TPQ-53 appears as a counterfire and force-protection sensor. Lockheed Martin describes the Q-53 as a radar that detects, classifies, tracks, and locates enemy indirect fire in either 90-degree or 360-degree modes. That mission matches the Ukraine reporting, which describes the system as an early-warning radar against mortar and short-range artillery fire.
The evidence supports Ukrainian possession, operation, and later resupply of AN/TPQ-53-family radars. It does not support a precise count of systems operational at any one time, a complete delivery schedule, or attribution of specific Ukrainian counter-battery strikes to the radar.
Sources: Lockheed Martin AN/TPQ-53 Radar System, Defense News Ukraine Aid Package, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database
