Russian air surveillance radars

This is an overview of Russian early-warning radars for air surveillance, and related design bureaus.

NNIIRT

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The Nizhny Novgorod Research Institute of Radio Engineering (Russian acronym: NNIIRT) has since 1948 developed a number of radars.[1] These were mainly radars in the VHF-band, and many of which featured developments in technology that represented "first offs" in the Soviet Union. Innovations include the first Soviet air surveillance radar with a circular scan: the P-8 Volga (NATO: KNIFE REST A) in 1950, the first 3D radar: the 5N69 Salute (NATO: BIG BACK) in 1975, and in 1982 the first VHF-band 3D-radar: the 55Zh6 Nebo (NATO: TALL RACK). Other innovations were radars with frequency hopping; the P-10 Volga A (NATO: KNIFE REST B) in 1953, radars with transmitter signal coherency and special features like moving target indicator (MTI); the P-12 Yenisei (NATO: SPOON REST) in 1955 as well as the P-70 Lena-M with chirp signal modulation in 1968[2] or the widely used P-18 Terek (NATO: SPOON REST D) in 1970.

NIIDAR

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The Dalney Radiosvyazi NII company (Russian acronym: NIIDAR) developed a number of radars from 1949 to 1959 in co-operation with the NII-20 Lianozovo electromechanical plant.[3] However, unlike the NNIIRT, this design bureau focused on higher frequency radars like the P-20, P-30, P-30M, P-35, P-32D2 and the P-50 (NATO: E/F-bands). These radars have better accuracy and faster scan rates, and are thus more suited for ground control of fighter aircraft, which complement the lower frequency radars developed by the NNIIRT design bureau. NNIDAR has in recent years expanded their product range to include innovative radar designs like the Podsolnukh-E over-the-horizon (OTH) surface-wave radar[4] and the 29B6 Konteyner.[5] The latter, while also being an OTH-radar, has separate locations for the transmitter and the receiver making it a bi-static system.

VNIIRT

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All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Radio Engineering (Russian acronym: VNIIRT)

  • 1955; P-15 1RL13 Tropa FLAT FACE A, UHF (B/C-band),
  • 1970; ST-68 (19Zh6) TIN SHIELD, E-band, Fun fact: First Soviet radar with digital coherent signal processing,
  • 1974; P-19 1RL134 Danube FLAT FACE B, UHF (B/C-band)

Summary

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Chronology of Soviet and Russian air surveillance radars
Radar NATO reporting name Radio spectrum (NATO) Developed Fun fact Design bureau
P-3 VHF 1948 The first Soviet post-World War II air surveillance radar NNIIRT
P-20 Periscope TOKEN E/F-band 1949 NIIDAR
P-50 Observatory E/F-band 1949 Stationary variant of P-20 NIIDAR
P-30 BIG MESH E/F-band 1955 NIIDAR
P-30M BIG BAR E/F-band 1959 NIIDAR
P-35 BAR LOCK E/F-band 1958 NIIDAR
P-8 Volga KNIFE REST A VHF 1950 The first Soviet radar with circular scan NNIIRT
P-10 Volga A KNIFE REST B VHF 1953 Frequency hopping NNIIRT
P-12 Yenisei SPOON REST VHF 1955 Coherent radar with MTI NNIIRT
P-15 Tropa FLAT FACE A UHF 1955 VNIIRT
P-14 Lena TALL KING VHF 1959 NNIIRT
P-35M BAR LOCK E/F-band 1961 Improved antenna layout NIIDAR
P-70 Lena-M VHF 1968 First Soviet radar with chirp NNIIRT
P-18 Terek SPOON REST D VHF 1970 NNIIRT
ST-68 TIN SHIELD E-band 1970 First Soviet radar with digital coherent signal processing VNIIRT
Sword-35 BAR LOCK E/F-band 1971 faster scanning, improved antenna, polarization filters, pulse duration/frequency modulation NIIDAR
5N84A Oborona-14 TALL KING C VHF 1974 NNIIRT
P-19 Danube FLAT FACE B UHF 1974 VNIIRT
5N69 Salute BIG BACK D-band 1975 First Soviet 3D-radar NNIIRT
44ZH6 TALL KING B VHF 1979 Stationary version of Oborona-14 NNIIRT
55ZH6 Nebo TALL RACK VHF 1982 First Soviet meter-wavelength 3D-radar NNIIRT
1L13 1982 NNIIRT
52E6 VHF 1982-1996 NNIIRT
1L13-3 Nebo-SV BOX SPRING VHF 1985 NNIIRT
55ZH6U Nebo-U TALL RACK VHF 1992 NNIIRT
1L119 Nebo-SVU VHF 1997-2006 NNIIRT
59N6-1 Protivnik-G1 D-band 1997 Average time between failures 840 hours NNIIRT
1L122 D-band 1997-2006 NNIIRT
1L121-E UHF 2011 It is able to monitor even on the Move NNIIRT
52E6MU VHF 1997-2006 NNIIRT
P-18 modernisation kits SPOON REST D VHF 1997-2006 NNIIRT
55ZH6M Nebo-M VHF/multi-band 2011 NNIIRT
Nebo-T[6] VHF 2022 Nebo-T radars are a heavy upgrade of Nebo-U radar stations NNIIRT
59N6M NNIIRT
Podsolnukh-E VHF 2000 over-the-horizon surface-wave radar NIIDAR
29B6 Container radar VHF 2000 Bi-static radar NIIDAR

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "NNIIRT". Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  2. ^ "Soviet Radars".
  3. ^ "NIIDAR". Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  4. ^ "Podsolnukh-E over-the-horizon surface-wave radar". Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  5. ^ "29B6 Konteyner Over The Horizon Radar".
  6. ^ "Russia places latest Nebo-T radars on combat alert in Volga area and Urals".