By 2030, the missile attack warning system (SPRN) of Russia will be strengthened by modernizing the Voronezh radar stations and putting new complexes on duty.

This was stated by the head of the Main Center for Warning of Missile Attacks of the Space Forces of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Colonel Sergei Suchkov.

“In the long run until 2030, the development of early warning systems provides for the modernization of a number of VZG radars (radar stations of high factory readiness. -

RT

) on combat duty in the Krasnodar Territory, Irkutsk Region, and the creation in the Leningrad Region of new means with improved tactical and technical characteristics and enhanced interference protection,” Suchkov said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

According to him, the introduction of these stations into the early warning system will ensure the completion of the rearmament of the system on a new generation radar.

“The advantage of the new stations is that Voronezh-type radars can be easily and quickly built, as well as modernized in accordance with the need for operation.

This is their significant difference from the radars of previous generations, which had a rigid static architecture, in which the design was formed during the development process and practically did not change until the end of operation, ”he explained.

Suchkov added that the Voronezh radar is much more economical and has a greater potential for modernization due to its block-modular architecture.

“This allows, if necessary, to significantly increase the information and technical characteristics of the radar,” said the head of the center.

In addition, the old stations were characterized by impressive size and extremely high power consumption, while the new radars require four to five times less energy.

The requirements for the size of the technological platform and the number of personnel working at the station have also been reduced.

“At the same time, the tactical and technical characteristics of modern radars not only did not deteriorate compared to the previous ones, but surpassed them in some parameters,” Colonel Suchkov emphasized.

The early warning system consists of two echelons: the ground one includes a network of radar stations, the space one - an orbital group that detects the launch of ballistic missiles.

Frontiers of warning

The creation of a domestic missile attack warning system was launched in the early 1960s, when a conviction was formed in military scientific circles that it was necessary to solve the problems of early detection of a missile attack and constant monitoring of the state and changes in the space situation.

In 1961-1962, the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a number of resolutions on the construction of a network of ground-based radar stations along the perimeter of the country.

Particular attention was paid to covering the northwestern part of the Soviet Union.

In the 1960s, the first generation over-the-horizon detection radars 5N15 Dnestr and 5N86 Dnepr, designed at the Radio Engineering Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, were put into service.

In the first half of the 1970s, the development of the second generation stations 5N79 / 90N6 "Daryal" started.

Already in the early 1970s, the Soviet Union managed to create a continuous radar field in the main directions.

  • Soldiers during combat duty at the command post of the radar

  • RIA News

  • © Igor Zarembo

Simultaneously with the creation of the radar network, the Moscow missile defense system, called the A-135 Amur, was successfully developed.

This unique complex also became part of the early warning system.

Since the late 1980s, the system has been protecting the Central Industrial Region, with the ability to repel a limited nuclear strike.

However, the unified system ceased to exist with the collapse of the USSR.

Then a number of unfinished facilities and seven radar stations turned out to be outside Russia: in Latvia (Skrunda), Belarus (Baranovichi), Ukraine (Mukachevo, Sevastopol), Azerbaijan (Gabala) and Kazakhstan (Balkhash, Gulshad).

Intensive restoration of early warning missile capabilities began in the 2000s.

So, in 2003, combat duty was resumed in Belarus on the second-generation 70M6 Volga radar.

In Russia, the Ministry of Defense carried out the modernization of the stations in service and placed orders for the production of Voronezh-M high-factory readiness radars developed by JSC Radio Engineering Institute named after Academician A.L.

Mints".

The first radar station of the Voronezh project took up experimental combat duty in December 2006 in the Leningrad Region.

Gradually, stations were put into operation in the Krasnodar Territory, the Kaliningrad and Irkutsk Regions, the Krasnoyarsk and Altai Territories, as well as in the Orenburg Region.

The last three radar stations went into operation in December 2017, giving Russia complete radar control of all missile-prone areas.

Voronezh-M and Voronezh-DM high-readiness radar stations are designed to detect ballistic missiles (including intercontinental ones) on flight paths, as well as to determine the type of targets.

System testing

In February 2021, it became known that the updated early warning system had passed state tests.

This was announced by the general designer of the system and the general director of the IAC "Vympel" Sergey Boev.

“We had to — and today we have solved this problem — using new technologies with high-performance computing tools to ensure the processing of this information and its transmission to the highest command posts of the military-political leadership of the country.

This task has been completed today.

At the end of December 2020, we successfully completed state tests of the PRN system in general and the command post in particular, ”Boev said on the air of the Zvezda TV channel.

Earlier, he reported that during the modernization, data transmission channels were improved, new locators and command posts were put into operation.

  • Radar of the new generation "Voronezh"

  • RIA News

  • © Igor Zarembo

Military expert, retired colonel Viktor Litovkin, in an interview with RT, noted that the new two-tier radars create a denser interception system and allow you to receive more complete information about the launch of missiles of a potential enemy.

“This creates a reliable missile attack warning system.

But you need to understand that early warning systems are only one part of missile defense, besides it, there is also a space control system and a missile defense system for the city of Moscow.

These three systems make up the missile defense system of our country.

The improvement of one of the elements of this system, which we are talking about, affects the reliability of the entire missile attack warning system, ”said the military expert.

The new high-factory readiness stations will significantly enhance the capabilities of early warning systems, Litovkin emphasized.

“These are very interesting stations that are assembled as a constructor, but they consume much less electricity compared to the old ones, and they are more reliable, more efficient,” he stressed.

Russia has all the necessary technologies to modernize the system and significantly increase its effectiveness, the military expert added.

“We have a very powerful design school in this area, a lot of experience.

We created early warning systems back in Soviet times, and even then it worked with high efficiency.

Now it is being modernized, new elements, new designs are being introduced,” Litovkin noted.

Military expert Yuri Knutov, in a conversation with RT, emphasized that the modernization of early warning systems is very relevant, especially after the dismantling of agreements on the nonproliferation of missile weapons, as well as the appearance of new strategic weapons by the United States.

“Such modernization is now very relevant, given that the Americans do not hide plans to deploy systems designed to strike at the territory of our country ... Just by 2030, the United States should begin to put all this into service.

Therefore, by this time we should already deploy our system and it should be in a combat-ready state, ”the expert noted.

The early warning system is necessary for the effective functioning of such means of intercepting intercontinental missiles as the A-235 Nudol and S-500 systems, Knutov added.

“They are capable of not only hitting blocks of intercontinental ballistic missiles, but also intercepting satellites in low orbits, again by kinetic interception.

Only two countries have such weapons - Russia and the United States.

No one else could create anything like it.

This indicates the level of technology and development of our military-industrial complex,” the expert concluded.