Direct proof of use
The Gunner Collimator K-1 is documented in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War through photos credited to the Ukrainian Armed Forces' 47th Artillery Brigade. Defense Express reported on February 13, 2024 that the brigade had published detailed photos of a 2S22 Bohdana 155 mm self-propelled howitzer and identified one separate device in the photo set as a Gunner Collimator K-1.
The source places the K-1 with a Ukrainian artillery unit and a Ukrainian Bohdana howitzer during the full-scale phase of the war. It supports a sighting and artillery-laying role, not an independent firing role: the collimator is an aiming-reference instrument used by the gun crew rather than a weapon that launches a munition.
Sources: Defense Express Bohdana K-1 photo
Documented role
Defense Express described the K-1 as enabling horizontal laying of guns or mortars in conditions such as smoke, snow, rain, forest cover, or the absence of natural light. Opticoelectron's product literature separately describes the K-1 as a gunner collimator for aiming different artillery guns, usable with PG-1M and MUM sights, and equipped with illumination for dusk or night operation.
For the war record, this means the documented Ukrainian use is best treated as targeting-support equipment for an artillery crew. The available direct evidence does not identify a specific target, firing mission, or location for the photographed Bohdana; it shows the K-1 in the sighting-equipment context of a Ukrainian artillery system.
Sources: Defense Express Bohdana K-1 photo, Opticoelectron K-1
Bohdana context
The K-1 photo appeared in reporting focused on the 2S22 Bohdana's loading mechanism and crew positions. Defense Express credited the Bohdana and K-1 photos to the 47th Artillery Brigade, while a separate archival image in the same article showed a Bohdana firing at Russian positions in autumn 2023.
The K-1 detail therefore belongs to the supporting-equipment layer around Ukrainian self-propelled artillery. It helps explain how a gun crew can maintain a reference for laying the weapon when normal distant aiming points are unavailable or visibility is poor.
Sources: Defense Express Bohdana K-1 photo
