Grouping of Russian reconnaissance complexes “Penicillin” in the NVO region will be doubled

MOSCOW, March 7 – RIA Novosti. An informed source told RIA Novosti that the grouping of the latest Russian sound-thermal reconnaissance systems in the “Penicillin” special military operation (SVO) zone will double.

He did not disclose the number of “Penicillin” currently used by the Russian army in Ukraine, but noted that “the complexes were used almost from the very beginning of the special operation, proving their high efficiency during hostilities. In the fight against foreign-made howitzers supplied by Ukrainian armed groups.”

As another source previously reported to RIA Novosti, at the end of 2022 another batch of Penicillin was transferred to the Armed Forces, intended for use as part of a special operation.

“Penicillin” was developed for reconnaissance of firing positions of artillery and rocket artillery, as well as anti-aircraft and tactical missiles. The complex captures acoustic and thermal waves from shots and explosions and provides the operator with the exact coordinates of the position of the enemy weapon for manual and automatic drawing on an electronic map. At the same time, the time to receive the coordinates of a single target shot does not exceed 5 seconds.

The advantage of Penicillin is that unlike the American AN/TPQ-36 counter-battery radar used by the Ukrainian troops, it does not use radio waves in its work, so it cannot be detected by radio devices and is suppressed by electronic warfare systems.

“Penicillin” was developed by the “Vector” Research Institute, which is part of “Ruselectronics”. According to the creators, the complex works effectively at any time of the day at temperatures from -40 to +50 degrees. The system is built on the KamAZ chassis, and the reconnaissance optoelectronic module is mounted on a lifting mast.