Russia to build new radar station in Crimea, boosting cover of its southwest
Moscow is set to start building a new cutting-edge radar station in Crimea in place of a deprecated Soviet-era one. The facility will significantly boost Russia’s capabilities in detecting and tracking missiles and other objects.
“The place and time for deployment of the new station is already set: its construction is expected to begin next year outside Sevastopol, where the old ‘Dniepr’ radar is located,” chief designer of the missile attack early warning system, Sergey Boev, told Interfax, confirming long-rumored plans of construction of a Voronezh-class radar in Crimea.
The Dniepr station, which fell to the hands of Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union, had been leased to Russia for a period of time. The lease agreement, however, fell apart and the facility was abandoned for more than 10 years, decaying and ultimately becoming non-operational.
The new facility “will significantly surpass the Dniepr station, which covered, among others, the Middle East region and was able to ‘see’ launches of ballistic missiles up to 3,500 kilometers away,” he added.
Several Voronezh-class radar stations have been constructed across Russia over the past decade, replacing ageing facilities and the radars, lost with the fall of the Soviet Union. Depending on its location, the modern radar station can detect missile launches and other flying objects as far as 6,000 kilometers away.
The Voronezh-class radars proved to be – relatively – easy to construct, as they are assembled from factory-prefabs. While older fixed radars took years to construct, the Voronezh-class facility can be assembled in just 12 months.
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