Russia develops new long-range mobile radar


Russian scientists have developed and tested a new mobile radar which will soon become part of the country’s aerospace defenses.



The new radar, dubbed 55Zh6ME, is capable of detecting targets at the distance of up to 1,800 kilometers and an altitude of up to 1,200 km.



“The radar has been developed for the Russian Armed Forces, especially for aerospace defenses,” a spokesman for the Nizhniy Novgorod Research Institute of Radio Engineering (NNIIRT) said on Monday.



“The deliveries of the first batch of new radars to the [Russian] military are expected soon,” the official said, adding that the product has strong export potential.



Russia is planning to set up a unified strategic aerospace defense command that would integrate existing air defense and missile defense networks, early warning systems and aerospace monitoring systems.

http://www.en.ria.ru/mlitary_news/20111017/167774318.html

This change in force structure might have an effect right here in this forum as it seems the Strategic Rocket Forces and the Space Forces are likely to split, while the PVO or Air Defence Forces of the Air Force is also likely to split and the two merged to form the Space and Air Defence Force.

It will combine AEW duties looking for space junk and incoming space threats like ICBM and SLBM warheads, with the in air defence forces responsible for the airspace above Russia.

This combined force will have the role of watching the airspace and above over Russia, using land, Sea, Air, and Space based assets... this mobile radar will likely replace a few of the older systems, plus aircraft like the A-100 and Mig-31 and Su-27s of the former PVO forces, plus space based radars and optical sensors will be looking for threats on or above Russia and perhaps also around the world.

It will be interesting to see who controls it... it is unlikely to be split into 4 chunks for the 4 military districts, but will provide data to Navy, Army, and Air Force.

This will be very effective in dealing with LO targets at long range , the only thing they need to add is a Bi-Static Radar like Barrier-E , Passive Radar Detection Kit and Passive EO system.

Technically any radar system can simply listen and be used in the passive radar mode.

The system would need to operate with other similar systems so one radar emits radar waves scanning for targets while the other radars simply listen... tricky to do without a C4IR system.

This way the radars will act as passive radars and also as bi static radars.

I am just wondering if Russia managed to detect a B-2 aircraft so far ?

Do you think the US would fly their B-2s close to Russia to let them test their radar equipment against them?

Would the Russians reveal that they could detect a B-2 if they did?

A British team detected a B-2 at the Farnborough Airshow with EO/Thermal equipment for the Rapier 2000 system, and the Aussies claim to have detected a B-2 with their OTH-B radar at Jindalee.

I don't think everyone but the Russians will be detecting B-2s...

Offcourse they can detect it...question is at what range.


Zoltan Dani's crew claim they could detect the B-2 with their modified P-18 radar. In the book about the war he says it left a similar signal on the radar screen as the F-117 (very faint and different from regular aircraft) but it was clear that it was a much larger aircraft.

Yes, detection with longer wave radars is one thing, but most engagement and tracking radars use higher frequencies that these stealth aircraft are less visible to.

A bit like the Early 1960s with the U-2... detecting it is not enough, you need something that can go up and kill it too to be a proper air defence.

Certainly even an Su-25 could be used to intercept either the B-2 or F-117 let alone a real fighter, but the problem is what if it turns out to be an F-22?

The solution is obviously coming with the S-400, Su-35S, and PAK FA.

This radar however is an important piece in that finding the target and following its movements and passing that info to S-400 batteries and flights of Flankers and PAK FAs is the first part of a successful interception.

Well if we go by the latest Almaz Antey marketing material they can detect the B-2

That would be very interesting if he truly managed to detect the presense of B-2 , most certainly he managed to track and beat a F-117.

What chance have the Russians of tracking B-2s when American marketing and propaganda are so strong?

I am sure the Russians are not dumb and they must be worked out or atleast tried to work out tactics to detect a B-2 as they represent a real threat to them.

Only as a first strike weapon are they a threat.

And in a first strike you can't send up air support as that would give away the surprise.

We hear about how this stealth plane has a radar signature of a tennis ball or that stealth plane has the radar signature of a small bug.

The Russians track paint chips in space.

There are not that many tennis balls or insects for that matter that fly at 12,000m at 700km/h.

OTH radars actually have several advantages in finding stealth aircraft... their low frequency plus the fact that they bounce off the atmosphere around the curvature of the earth means they likely wont hit the stealth aircraft front on, but from the top or bottom... angles from which they are not so stealthy.

Let put the question this way , Do you think the Russians have any thing in their inventory that can detect a B-2 even if it flew close to Russia ?

Their BMEW radars would detect them for the same reason the Aussie OTH-B radars detected them. All Russian fighters have IRSTs and IR guided missiles and cannon.

The Rapier system EO detecting a B-2 is no big deal becuase it over flew it in the airshow , it knew where and what to look at and they pointed the EO towards it.

The B-2 stood out clear as day in the IR system, the Russians have optical tracking systems in addition to radar systems too you know.

I would say B-2 strategic bombers represent a far bigger challenge to RVSN or Strategic Forces then any Minuteman or Ohio does when it comes to first strike.

I disagree. With Humint resources within NATO and the US as I said a B-2 would be incredibly vulnerable to even an old fighter like a Mig-21 let along a more modern one like a Mig-29 or Su-27 or Mig-31.

An SS-18 is less interceptable than a B-2... there is no chance that a B-2 strike could wipe out Russians entire nuclear forces or even weaken it to the point that a retaliation could be survivable.

It would just be one way to start the end of the world... despite their price they offer no silver bullet that the US can use to make demands or hold over the Russians.

The Mathematics of stealth were created by a Russian and while the processing power of computers has increased enormously the maths hasn't changed much at all.

The difference between the F-117 and the B-2 is that the B-2 has curves thanks to super computers processing power and manufacturing methods that can produce products to the level of accuracy required.

If there were 100 B-2s then they might make a difference but there being only 20, and their locations being pretty much known and monitored they are not the threat in real terms you seem to think they are.

Can we have a list of Russian air-force radars in use?

These are what I've found in imagery, which in no way implies that these are the only systems deployed:

P-12/18 SPOON REST
P-14 TALL KING
P-19 THIN SKIN
P-35/37 BAR LOCK
P-80 BACK NET
22Zh6 TIN TRAP
36D6 TIN SHIELD
55Zh6 TALL RACK

Those are only the radars that I've conclusively ID'ed at dedicated EW/GCI sites. SAM-related radars like the 64N6 aren't included.

I've recently located 59N6 radars, you can add those to the list. I'm also rechecking placemarks to ID individual radars. The numbers are going into a spreadsheet, I'll post the final totals of each radar when I get through everything.

Russia Turns on New Missile Warning Radar

Lekhtusi, St.Petersburg
Armavir, Krasnodar
Pionersky, Kaliningrad
Mishelevka, Irkutsk

4 locations till now