New American Tempest air defense system made a positive impression on Ukrainian military with its capabilities. And just one crew during use managed to shoot down 21 russian Shahed-type strike drones, and the system itself has clearly been in Ukraine for more than one month.
This was told by fighters in a video published by Air Command Center of the Air Force of Ukraine, which earlier disclosed the fact of use. At the same time, in the footage itself one can see green grass, meaning it was clearly filmed several months ago, or at most a month and a half ago.
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The military praise the system for its good mobility, which came in handy during a night attacks in eastern Ukraine. Yes, the crew had to maneuver a lot and react quickly, but all targets were shot down.
It's quite likely that Tempest was deployed for some time near the front line, because fighters mention the threat of a strike from russian FPV drones or Lancet kamikaze UAVs. However, placement there makes sense considering the use of Shahed-type drones also for strikes on near-front objects.
Overall, an interesting situation emerges, because company V2X showed the Tempest air defense system only in October 2025 at the AUSA 2025 arms exhibition. There it was actually said that the development appeared for mobile airspace defense based on Ukrainian experience.
At first, an option comes to mind that during the presentation, someone from Ukrainian representatives noticed the system and it was quickly sent. However, this is somewhat doubtful, considering the time needed for delivery and deployment of the asset, as well as personnel training.
More realistic is the version that Tempest arrived in Ukraine secretly for potential combat testing even before showing to the general public. And either it continues to be tested, or the vehicle was left or purchased for further use as a permanent air defense asset. A similar scheme was used for the Hawkeye ultra-light 105mm SPG, which nevertheless didn't appeal to Ukrainian military and found its first customer in Kosovo. So it is quite possible that currently the Defense Forces are also testing other samples of newest American armament.
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