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Monday 14 January 2013

Status of the Russian early-warning radar network

Construction of new early-warning radars in Russia has really taken off in the last few years. With new radars coming online and some retiring, the shape of the radar network has changed quite dramatically since the last update. Also, some new good information has come out - for example, this story that described a visit to the Main Space Situational Awareness Center has a nice photo of a chart that lists early-warning and space surveillance assets that were operational in September 2011 (thanks to AS for this and other tips).
Key characteristics of the radars that are involved in early warning are in the table below. The ranges apparently assume some standard radar cross-section of a target - in the space surveillance context this would be a satellite. It would be different (smaller) against warheads.
Station
Radar
Range
Altitudes
Elevations
Azimuths
Inclinations
Olenegorsk
Dnepr
250-4600
100-3400
5.5-34.5
280-340
60-72
Pechora
Daryal
30-7200
100-6600
2-55
305-55
73.5-84.3
Mishelevka
Dnepr
250-4600
100-3400
5.5-34.5
41-219
46.9-52.9
Voronezh-VP


2-70
70-110

Lekhtusi
Voronezh-M
100-4200
150-4000
2-70
245-355
53-127
Armavir Voronezh-DM 100-4200
150-4000
2-60
165-295
34.5-145.5
Armavir Voronezh-DM 100-4200
150-4000
2-60
55-185

Kaliningrad Voronezh-DM 100-4200
150-4000
2-60
187.5-292.5

Eniseysk





Barnaul Voronezh-DM




Balkhash
Dnepr
385-4600
100-340
5.5-34.5
91-151
41.4-26.8
Gabala
Daryal
300-7200
100-6600
2-55
115-205
30-150
Baranovichi Volga 300-6500
100-4320
3-80
190-310
43.6-136.4
Pushkino
Don-2N
120-3700
100-3000
1-90
0-360
45-135
Chekhov
Dunay-3U
300-4500
50-3900
1-49
257-305
52.9-51.1

In addition to the radars listed in the original chart, the table has information about radars that are not listed there - second Voronezh-DM in Armavir, Voronezh-DM in Kaliningrad and Voronezh-VP in Mishelevka. The radars in Armavir and Kaliningrad are assumed to be similar to the first Armavir radar. Orientation of the East-facing Armavir radar can be seen at Kosmosnimki.ru. The Kaliningrad radar is seen on Google Earth. The Voronezh-VP radar in Mishelevka is expected to be more powerful than Voronezh-M deployed in Lekhtusi - VP stands for "high potential" - so its range is probably larger than 4200 km. The radar is not yet seen on Google Earth, so its exact orientation is not known, but the radar fan can be seen on this photo, published in Novosti Kosmonavtiki. 

Russia has recently discontinued the use of the Daryal radar in Gabala, but I kept it in the table, if only because it was mentioned in the context of potential U.S.-Russian cooperation.

With so many radars in operation, making a reasonable map of coverage is not that easy. I did, however, put together a Google Earth file that shows the radar fans. You could download it here. The photo above gives a sense of what's in the file.

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