GEOINT | Geospatial Analysis of Russian Early Warning Radar Systems

By RussianForces.Org The Russian Early Warning Radar System that are traditionally considered part of strategic defense -- missi...

By RussianForces.Org

The Russian Early Warning Radar System that are traditionally considered part of strategic defense -- missile defense, the early-warning system, space surveillance and anti-satellite systems -- are currently included in the Air and Space Defense Forces, a separate branch of Russia's Armed Forces, subordinated directly to the General Staff.

Till February 2015, Russia had no operational early-warning satellites.

Two last satellites on the highly-elliptical orbit--Cosmos-2422 (HEO, launched 21 July 2006, NORAD catalog number 29260) and Cosmos-2446 (HEO, 2 December 2008, 33447) -- stopped operations in the fall of 2014. These were first-generation satellites of the 73D6 type that were built for the US-KS system (also known as Oko). This system was designed to detect launches of ballistic missiles from the U.S. territory and cannot detect missiles launched from sea or other regions.

The last geostationary satellite of the US-KMO system, Cosmos-2479 (GEO, 30 March 2012, 38101), stopped operations in April 2014.

The early-warning satellites were transmitting information in real time to the Western command centers at Serpukhov-15 (near Kurilovo, Kaluga oblast) and Eastern center near Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The information is processed there and transmitted to the command center in Solnechnogorsk.

Radars

As of January 2015, the land-based component of the early-warning system included the following radars:

In addition to the dedicated early-warning radars, the Don-2N radar of the Moscow missile defense system and the Dunay-3U radar near Chekhov are also used for early-warning and space surveillance.

Missile Defense

The Moscow missile defense system A-135 is operated by a missile defense division. The main command center of the system and the battle-management radar are located in Sofrino (Moscow oblast). The command center of the system and its radar are undergoing a software upgrade.

The system includes the Don-2N battle-management phased-array radar, command center, and 68 short-range interceptors of the 53T6 (Gazelle) type. The 32 long-range 51T6 (Gorgon) interceptors have been removed from the system. The short-range interceptors are deployed at five sites -- Lyt-karino (16 interceptors), Sofrino (12), Korolev (12) Skhodnya (16), and Vnukovo (12). Long-range missiles used to be deployed with two units with headquarters in Naro-Fominsk-10 and Sergiyev Posad-15. The system was accepted for service in 1995.

Space Surveillance

Space surveillance system is operated by the Main space-surveillance command center. To monitor objects on low earth orbits and determines parameters of their orbits, the system uses the the early-warning radar network.

The space surveillance network also includes the Krona system at Zelenchukskaya in the North Caucasus, which includes dedicated X-band space surveillance radars. Another system of this type is being deployed near Nakhodka on the Far East.

To monitor objects on high-altitude orbits, the space-surveillance system uses optical observations. The main optical observation station, Okno, is located in Nurek, Tajikistan. Its telescopes allow de-tection of object at altitudes of up to 40,000 km. The station began operations in 1999. Space-surveillance tasks are also assigned to observatories of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

This particular analysis is provided by RussianForces.Org Team