Anti-UAV radar at the US embassy burned black after ‘drone attack’

Photos taken by the Associated Press on March 14 show two US embassy employees in Iraq inspecting the damage after the facility was attacked early in the morning of the same day. Next to them was a charred radar station and a shattered protective dome.

“A drone hit and destroyed the Giraffe 1X surveillance radar deployed in the US embassy campus in Baghdad,” said Archer83Able, an account specializing in analyzing open source data on social networks.

AP previously quoted two unnamed Iraqi security officials as saying “a missile hit the helicopter landing pad” on the US embassy campus in Baghdad. Photos of the scene show fires and black smoke rising from the area after the incident.

An Iraqi security source told Al Jazeera that the raid partially destroyed the air defense system at the US embassy, ​​but did not give details.

No party has claimed responsibility for causing the incident. US officials have not commented on the information.

Giraffe 1X is a lightweight multi-functional active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar developed by the Swedish corporation Saab, specializing in providing airspace and ground surveillance data at the tactical level. This complex possesses high mobility, can be deployed quickly and is suitable for small-scale units.

The main task of Giraffe 1X is to detect and classify small, slow and low flying objects, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as well as monitor activities taking place on the ground. Data from Giraffe 1X will be transferred to short-range air defense complexes to intercept targets.

Giraffe 1X has a range of 75-100 km depending on variant.

Saab Group announced in October 2025 that it had received an order worth about 46 million USD from the US Army to buy the Giraffe 1X radar, expected to be delivered early this year. Each Giraffe 1X system costs approximately $2.3 million in 2023.

The Middle East has been engulfed in war since the US and Israel launched an air campaign against Iran on February 28. Iran then retaliated by launching missiles and UAVs into Israeli territory, US bases in the Middle East and key energy infrastructure in many Gulf countries with missiles and suicide UAVs.

The US Embassy in Iraq, one of Washington’s largest diplomatic facilities in the world, has been repeatedly targeted by pro-Iranian militia groups.