Against the background of increased activity of foreign intelligence near the borders of Russia and the development of aerospace attack assets of other states, "a reasonable and logical response to these challenges is the creation of an advanced echelon of the radar reconnaissance system," said Major General Andrei Koban, chief of the radio engineering forces of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

“At present, the first node of a unified over-the-horizon radar reconnaissance network has been formed,” he told the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

According to the commander, the "first object" was the unique "Container" over-the-horizon detection radar put on alert at the end of last year.

She "is capable of conducting operational-strategic reconnaissance of aircraft (including hypersonic) vehicles at a distance of more than 1,500 km from the state border and at various altitudes."

"The station is designed to notify the military command and control bodies of the Aerospace Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation about the actions of aerospace attack weapons of foreign states, revealing the facts of mass launches of cruise missiles, flights of all types of aviation," said Koban.

According to him, thanks to the capabilities of the station, the military can "control the airspace of Eastern and most of Western and Northern Europe, a number of countries in the Middle East region, including Syria."

“Foreign countries (USA, Great Britain, France, China, Australia) have similar systems.

The main difference between our station is its ability not only to conduct radar reconnaissance, but also to accumulate information, on the basis of which it can reveal the nature of the activity of the potential enemy's aviation groupings, ”Koban said.

As the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation previously reported, the country's first over-the-horizon radar "Container" "provides daily detection and tracking of about 10,000 air targets, including combat and reconnaissance aircraft of various countries."

As specified in the department, it is planned to create several more similar over-the-horizon detection radars "to monitor the air and surface situations in various directions."

In addition, the Ministry of Defense noted that in the future, a continuous radar field for aerodynamic targets will be created, similar to the field of the Missile Attack Warning System (EWS).

  • Radar "Container"

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

According to Major General Andrei Koban, it is also planned to increase the ability to control the airspace in the South and East strategic aerospace directions.

"Scientific research is underway on the possibility of over-the-horizon detection of air objects in the Arctic zone," he added.

"A rare and difficult type of equipment"

According to Ivan Konovalov, a military expert and development director of the 21st Century Technology Assistance Fund, for Russia "it is extremely important to create an advanced echelon of radar reconnaissance systems and a unified over-the-horizon radar reconnaissance network."

“This is necessary for protection, because in a potential war, opposition in the air plays a decisive role.

And this aspect needs to be given special attention, "the analyst explained in a conversation with RT.

According to Konovalov, "now the Russian Federation possesses some of the world's best air and missile defense systems, and deeply echeloned."

“Now the task is to create a unified field of radar reconnaissance, as an early warning system, so that there is full coverage of any targets: both aerodynamic and ballistic,” the analyst said.

As a military expert, senior researcher at the Higher School of Economics Vasily Kashin explained in a commentary to RT, over-the-horizon radars are a special type of radar that "allows you to detect low-flying targets at great distances."

“This is a rather rare and rather difficult type of technique.

They are necessary for early detection of aircraft and other aerodynamic targets approaching the Russian borders.

The "Container" radar put into service with echeloned defense increases the readiness of the Russian Aerospace Forces to repel an attack from a potential enemy, since it allows better tracking of the activity of reconnaissance aircraft, "the analyst said.

Military expert, retired colonel Mikhail Khodarenok, in turn, noted in an interview with RT that "information about possible actions of a potential enemy will come extremely quickly" due to the long range of the Container radar.

According to Khodarenko, the use of the Container radar "allows the troops to achieve good results," in particular, to detect air and water targets at a considerable distance from the station's location.

Vasily Kashin called "a huge advantage" that the over-the-horizon radar does not have the same limitations as a conventional radar station.

“Due to the curvature of the earth, a traditional radar no longer sees low-flying targets at a relatively short distance.

The over-the-horizon station has no problems with this - there the signal goes from above, reflected from the ionosphere, ”he explained.

Empowerment

As analysts note, the development of the over-the-horizon radar system is part of the efforts of the radio-technical troops of the Aerospace Forces of Russia in the framework of radar reconnaissance in general.

To build up the capabilities "to control the use of airspace" of Russia, the latest models of radar weapons have been created and are already being used, in particular, the "Observer FSR and KVP" complex, said the head of the radio technical troops of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

"The complex of automatic means of observation and processing of information about the air situation" Observer FSR and KVP "is designed to control the use of airspace, to ensure flights of aircraft and is the first system in the history of the radio technical troops, which includes automatic radar modules that do not require the participation of operators" , - Andrey Koban noted.

  • Russian servicemen of radio-technical troops at the exercises

  • RIA News

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

According to the Major General, "the capabilities of each radar module allow automatic radar reconnaissance within a radius of up to 450 km."

“The radar complex can include up to 20 modules, which allows automatic control of aircraft flights over an area of ​​up to 300 thousand square meters.

km.

The use of the "Observer FSR and KVP" complex together with the "VKAO-M" information processing system allows to significantly increase the level of automation of the airspace control processes in the Russian Federation, "he said, adding that such complexes have already been" deployed within the borders of the Central industrial region of the country, where the air traffic intensity is the highest. "

In addition, Koban said that "work continues to strengthen airspace control in the Arctic zone and in the East of the country."

“In this region, RTV units equipped with modern complexes of automation equipment“ Fundament-M ”and radar stations for duty and combat modes, such as“ Sky-M ”,“ Podlet ”,“ Kasta-2-2 ”,“ Sopka ”are on alert and others, ”the Major General noted.

Earlier, the Ministry of Defense reported that two radio-technical regiments of the Air Force and Air Defense Association of the Central Military District received this year the modernized P-18RT Terek mobile radar station.

As the defense department clarified, the radar "allows you to automatically detect a target, track its coordinates, and also take direction finding jamming devices, determine their tactical and technical characteristics and issue information to the command post."

At the end of 2019, the 19Zh6P radar station was received by the radio technical troops of the Air Force and Air Defense Association of the Eastern Military District.

"This radar is designed to detect, identify and track air targets, including cruise missiles, when exposed to active and passive interference, as well as reflections from the earth's surface and meteorological formations," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

It was also noted that in the new station, among other things, the detection range of air objects was increased, new modes of operation were introduced, the processes of tracking, initialization and target tracking were automated.

According to Ivan Konovalov, Russia has all the means and know-how to create an echeloned defense system.

“The Russian Aerospace Forces and radio-technical forces in particular are among the most equipped in the world with radar reconnaissance and radar warfare systems,” the expert said.

Mikhail Khodarenok, in turn, added that in the future, the all-aspect radar field will be provided precisely by over-the-horizon detection stations.

“This will significantly increase the capabilities of the radio-technical troops, including for conducting radar reconnaissance,” he concluded.