Penicillin (1B75)

A Russian counter-battery system that finds enemy guns without a radar — it just listens and watches. By fusing sound, ground vibration and the thermal flash of a muzzle, the 1B75 Penicillin fixes a firing position in seconds while emitting nothing of its own. That silence is the whole idea: unlike the counter-battery radars it complements, it cannot be detected by radio-direction-finding or jammed by electronic warfare — a small, sharp example of the transparent battlefield made emission-free.

Overview

The 1B75 Penicillin (Пенициллин; AZTK, "automated sound-thermal complex") is a Russian passive counter-battery and artillery-reconnaissance system that locates enemy guns, mortars, rockets and missile-firing positions by listening and watching rather than by radar. It fuses seismic and acoustic sensing with an electro-optical/thermal head on a telescoping mast: the EO/IR head catches the muzzle flash for bearing while dispersed ground sensors time the blast wave for range, and the computer fixes coordinates in about five seconds to hand to friendly artillery. For BattlePolicy it is a pointed thesis example — hyper-dense sensing with zero emissions. Because it radiates nothing, it is effectively immune to the jamming and radio-direction-finding that can locate and kill emitting counter-battery radars. It belongs in the Space & EW domain alongside Russia's active jammer Krasukha-4 and the counter-space Tirada-2 — but as the passive counterpoint to both.

Development

Penicillin was developed by the Vector Research Institute, part of Ruselectronics within Rostec. It completed state trials in December 2018, with first deliveries (via the Vega Concern) in January 2021 to the 631st Training Centre at Saratov, and entered service around 2020. It has been used in Ukraine since 2022, frequently paired with artillery such as the 2S5 Giatsint to close the find-and-strike loop. (A note on sourcing: much of the public detail traces to Rostec/TASS marketing echoed by pro-Russian outlets; the spine here leans on Janes and Western analysis where possible.)

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