At the end of autumn last year, information appeared in the press about the upcoming start of full-scale work on a new promising project. It was reported that in the coming years, the domestic armed forces will receive a new electronic intelligence system with a wide range of capabilities. In addition, it was argued that the new system surpasses in its characteristics all intelligence systems available in the army.
Messages about the new complex appeared in Izvestia, where it was designated as MRIS (Multi-position reconnaissance and information system). Since almost all information on this project has not yet been officially published, the publication had to contact an unnamed source in the Ministry of Defense, who told some of the details of the project. The MRIS system is a set of equipment capable of receiving various radio signals and processing them. As a result, without emitting any waves, the electronic intelligence system can collect a variety of information.
The possibility of the so-called. passive location. By receiving radio waves emitted or reflected by an object, the MRIS can calculate its location. Thus, even a simple radio altimeter can produce an aircraft. The information received by the MRIS is suitable for use for target designation in air defense. According to the Izvestia source, the installation of the MRIS requires a site of several tens of square meters. It houses all antenna assemblies, as well as the hardware complex. So far there is no information about the options for the implementation of the system, but there is every reason to assume the possibility of creating an electronic intelligence station on a vehicle chassis.
According to the source, by now MRIS has "learned" to recognize several types of radio signals and classify their source. In addition, back in 2009, one of the prototypes of the system during tests showed its high potential. It is alleged that during test use, the prototype MRIS, installed at a test site in the Moscow region, was able to detect and track several aircraft flying over the Barents Sea. Comparison of data from the electronic intelligence system and radar stations showed an error of only a few meters. Thus, when operating at a long range, the MRIS has at least no less efficiency than existing radars.
The main part of the MRIS project can be recognized as computational algorithms, thanks to which the station's equipment can select from all the noise in the radio range the signals it needs and interpret them correctly. As a result, even significantly weakened signals from communication systems, radars or other elements of aircraft equipment are sufficient for reliable detection and identification. In theory, an electronic reconnaissance station, which has passive location capabilities, is capable of detecting even inconspicuous aircraft.
It should be noted that such systems of electronic intelligence and passive location are not something revolutionary new. For example, since the end of the eighties, the Kolchuga radio-technical reconnaissance station has been used in the Soviet and then in the Russian army. Its capabilities make it possible to find aircraft by their radiation at ranges of up to 750-800 kilometers (depending on the specific type and a number of conditions). Thus, MRIS does not have any fundamental differences from its predecessors. Nevertheless, a promising reconnaissance system has a characteristic feature: a long range. If the Izvestia source told the truth, then it is possible to draw approximate conclusions about the sensitivity of the receiving equipment. There are about 1800 kilometers between the nearest points of the Moscow Region and the Barents Sea. Thus, the new MRIS is capable of "seeing" air targets at a distance more than twice the range of the older "Kolchuga".
Of particular interest is the term "multi-position" used in the name of the MRIS. Among other things, it can mean the possibility of pairing the reconnaissance station with third-party receiving devices. Foreign countries have already conducted successful experiments in connecting intelligence systems to various military and civilian antennas. For example, an electronic intelligence station can be connected to a cell tower, which, with a certain additional configuration of the systems, will increase the amount of information received. In addition, the use of several receiving antennas spaced apart from each other makes it possible to determine the location of the detected object with greater accuracy. According to experts, the main obstacle to increasing the efficiency of passive location systems of this architecture is gaining access to the appropriate antennas.
A good impetus for the further development of systems like MRIS can be their use for civilian purposes. Passive radars, with a detection accuracy comparable to conventional radars, consume significantly less energy and, because of this, may be of interest to aerodrome operators. At the same time, there is every reason to believe that such a development of events may be quite real: civil aircraft never observe radio silence, and this will greatly help passive radars to determine their location. However, such use of electronic intelligence systems for peaceful purposes applies at least to the next five to seven years. Currently, passive locators have a number of characteristic problems that impede the immediate commencement of the operation of such equipment in air traffic control.
It is quite clear that for the practical application of the MRIS, the work on it should be finished first. According to a Izvestia source, as of late autumn and early winter last year, the Ministry of Defense was finalizing the approval of technical and financial documentation for the MRIS project. Thus, the source summed up, the use of the new system in the troops can be started by the end of the current 2013. Since there are only a few months left until this date, in the very near future, official information about the new multi-position reconnaissance information system may appear.
