December 2011 The space forces of the Russian Federation will immediately receive two newest Voronezh-DM radars, which are part of the unified missile launch early warning system. One of them will serve in Armavir, the other in Kaliningrad. As the Russian Defense Ministry officials point out, it is the Kaliningrad station that will ensure domestic nuclear parity in the event of a final decision to deploy a European missile defense system. In 2012, an object similar in technical characteristics will be put into operation in the Irkutsk region.
In the period up to 1991. in the Soviet Union, a unique system of strategic missile and space defense (MSS) of the state was created and reliably operated as part of an integrated missile attack warning system (SPRN), space control (SKKP), anti-space defense (ASD), and anti-missile defense (PRO). The main element of this complex of systems is powerful radar stations (radars) designed for remote detection, most of which have by now exhausted their calculated and objective technical resources. The radars of the early warning missile systems, PKO and SKKP operating at the present time have been improved and are capable of operating normally for quite a long time.
With the introduction of two new Voronezh-DM stations into service, an integral radar warning field for the remote launch of missiles, destroyed with the collapse of the USSR, will be restored.
Voronezh-DM is part of an integral complex two-echelon system. The first echelon - ground-based radars of the Dnepr, Daryal and Volga types. The second is cosmic. These are directly tracking satellites, recording the very fact of the launch of ballistic missiles.
In terms of its performance characteristics, the Voronezh-DM radar is not inferior to the existing stations of the Daryal and Dnepr-M type. With an effective target detection range of 4, 5 thousand kilometers, it has the technical ability to increase it to 6 thousand kilometers. The power consumption of the Voronezh-DM radar does not exceed 0.7 MW, the cost of creation is about 1.5 billion rubles. For example: the radar station "Dnepr" in 2005 prices is estimated at 5 billion rubles, "Daryal" - about 20 billion rubles. The new Voronezh-DM radar differs from the Daryal and Dnepr stations, which constitute the foundation of the over-the-horizon location of the early warning system, by its extremely short deployment time, autonomy and high reliability, 40% lower operating costs and, as the developers indicate, compactness.
These stations, upon receiving an alarm signal from satellites, detect missiles launched from launch sites of various bases, determine the given direction of their flight and the estimated coordinates of the fall of the head units with nuclear charges. The area of responsibility of the Voronezh-DM radar station covers the territory from the North Pole to the northern coast of Africa. The data collected by the station goes to the complexes that are part of the missile defense system.
In total, eight such stations were erected in the USSR along the perimeter of the state. Three objects on the territory of Russia - near Moscow, Irkutsk and Olenegorsk. The other five are in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Baltic States and Ukraine.
Today, out of eight, only four are fully functional. From leasing Ukrainian - in Sevastopol and Mukachevo - Russia refused on its own initiative. The station in the Baltic Skrunda was blown up under pressure from the United States and the new Latvian authorities. The solution was found in the creation of a completely new network of stations "Voronezh-DM".
The first of these stations was deployed near the northern capital - St. Petersburg, in the small village of Lekhtusi. The Voronezh radar station in Lekhtusi provides constant monitoring of missile launches at the Scandinavian Anne (Norway) and Kiruna (Sweden) test ranges, as well as of helicopters and aircraft in its area of responsibility.
According to data voiced by the Space Forces, only in 2010. more than 30 launches of foreign and domestic space and ballistic missiles were detected by means of warning of a possible missile attack and information technical means of the air defense system. This confirmed the high reliability and efficiency of the reconstructed early warning radar system of a possible missile attack.
