Jordan confirms Terrahawk acquisition

The Terrahawk with the mast-mounted radar during Exercise ‘Sky Shield'. (Jordanian Armed Forces)

The Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) is operating the Terrahawk Paladin anti-aircraft gun system made by British company MSI Defence Systems (MSI-DS), it was revealed during the Jordanian Armed Forces' (JAF's) Exercise ‘Sky Shield'.

The Jordanian media reported that King Abdullah II attended an air-defence exercise on 29 September, but there was little coverage until the JAF released a 16-minute video on 14 October.

In his briefing to the king, Brigadier General Suleiman al-Humaidah, thedirector of the JAF's Royal Field Air Defence, said the Terrahawk had been acquired as part of a wider modernisation of the kingdom's air defences.

The coverage appeared to show two Terrahawks were deployed for the exercise, held near the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan Training City east of Al-Zarqa. The commentator said the Terrahawk was operated by RJAF air-defence personnel rather than one of the Royal Field Air Defence's units, which are part of the JAF's ground forces, and credited it with shooting down a class one unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

The Terrahawks were also used against simulated ground targets alongside the Royal Field Air Defence's ZSU-23-4 Shilka and M163 Vulcan self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.

Unveiled in 2022, the baseline Terrahawk is essentially MSI-DS's Seahawk Lightweight remotely operated naval weapon station with a 30 mm Mk 44 Bushmaster II cannon mounted on a NATO-standard deployable pallet with the company's Surveillance Acquisition Targeting Optical System (SATOS) and mast-mounted FIELDctrl radars supplied by Polish company Advanced Protection Systems (APS). According to MSI-DS, it is effective against low-cost UAVs at ranges up to 2 km when using programmable air-bursting ammunition.