SOF Destroys Buk Air Defense System Protecting Rare Russian MLRS

The 3rd Separate Special Purpose Regiment destroyed a Russian Buk air defense system, creating an opportunity to launch a missile strike on enemy artillery.

Footage of the equipment being hit was published on the official accounts of the Ukrainian SOF.

The Honey Badgers Tactical Group, part of the 3rd Separate Special Purpose Regiment, detected the deployment of an enemy Uragan multiple rocket launcher system, along with a nearby vehicle from the Buk-M3 air defense system that was covering it.

First, the special forces disabled the enemy air defense system to open the way for a neighboring missile unit to operate — a strike drone was used against the target, hitting it and causing a massive detonation of its ammunition.

Immediately afterward, several strike drones were launched at the enemy multiple launch rocket system, and a missile strike — likely from a HIMARS system — was adjusted accordingly.

#Ukraine’s SOF destroyed advanced russian Buk-M3 missile system and Uragan-1 Uragan-1 multicaliber 220/300mm MLRS using loitering munitions. Special operators spotted both advanced pieces of russian military hardware during a special reconnaissance mission. pic.twitter.com/Qnv7IyBZQg

— SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES OF UKRAINE (@SOF_UKR) May 13, 2025

As a result of the joint efforts of the special forces from the 3rd Regiment and missile units, two important Russian combat vehicles were completely destroyed.

It is worth noting that the targeted enemy MLRS is a rather rare Russian system that only began entering service at the end of 2023.

Like the original Soviet-era system, this vehicle uses the same artillery component with 12 launch tubes of 220 mm caliber. The key difference lies in the new BAZ-69092 truck chassis with an armored cab and updated navigation equipment.

During the Russo-Ukrainian war, the loss of several such vehicles has been confirmed, which is explained by their limited distribution among the artillery units of the Russian Armed Forces. In those units, the majority of systems of this caliber are still older Soviet-era launchers mounted on ZIL-135 chassis.

In addition, the vehicle’s armored cab has significantly increased its survivability on the battlefield, withstanding numerous fragment impacts.

In particular, there have been documented cases of this system withstanding strikes from high-precision GMLRS missiles equipped with shrapnel warheads containing tungsten balls.