Stopping on distant frontiers

How an anti-missile radar shield is created

Belarus and Russia pursue a common security policy, where a great deal of attention is paid to air defence systems and radio intelligence. What has been done so far and what are the plans for the future?

Monitoring airspace 

First, a few words about the construction of a facility in Kaliningrad Region that has caused, if not hysteria, then something close to it in the West. This is understandable: NATO has recently been intensively building up its military grouping near the borders of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, conducting large-scale manoeuvres and striving to dominate the region from a militaristic point of view. Therefore, the North Atlantic Alliance perceives any retaliatory actions very painfully. Meanwhile, Minsk and Moscow are doing everything possible to protect our space.  

It is from this perspective that we should consider, in particular, the construction of the facility in Chernyakhovsk District of Kaliningrad Region, which is an antenna array designed for military use. Its dimensions are impressive — up to 1,600m in diameter. The OTH [over-the-horizon] radar, known as 29B6 Container, is part of a larger, integrated radar system. 

To the displeasure of NATO partners, Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovile Šakalienė told the Baltic News Service that the Kaliningrad facility is ‘not intended for espionage, but to detect aircraft and missiles in airspace several thousand kilometres away’. In other words, it will be able to monitor all of Europe, including the territory of Great Britain, at a range of up to three thousand kilometres.
NATO is very nervous about such prospects. General Christopher Donahue, Commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa and NATO Allied Land Command, said that the alliance and its allies have every opportunity to destroy Kaliningrad Region. The West is constantly raising the degree of hysteria, even going so far as to announce specific dates for the start of a new major war.

Warning time

The missile attack warning system (MAWS) is a complex of specialised technical equipment for detecting the launch of ballistic missiles, calculating their trajectory and transmitting information to the command centre, on the basis of which the fact of an attack on the state is recorded and an immediate decision is made on retaliatory actions.

Placed on combat duty

Belarus also has a MAWS facility — the Volga radar station, which is operated on the basis of a Belarusian–Russian agreement of January 6th, 1995. It is designed to detect ballistic missiles and space objects at a distance of up to 5,000km, as well as to track, identify and measure the co-ordinates of targets, and then provide information on the state of airspace to the central command and computing centre.
Its construction began in 1981, when 180 American Pershing II missiles were deployed in Germany and Italy. After their withdrawal from Europe, this construction project was mothballed, as a Daryal-type radar station was about to be launched in Latvia. However, after it was blown up in 1995, it was decided to complete the Belarusian facility. Testing of the Volga radar began on December 15th, 1999, and in 2003 it was placed on combat duty.

Increased defence effectiveness 

The construction of the over-the-horizon radar station in Kaliningrad Region will address critical security concerns of the Union State in the European region, significantly strengthening our unified air defence and anti-ballistic missile group.
In the current situation, especially against the backdrop of NATO’s intended eastward expansion, establishing close co-operation between the air defence forces of Belarus and Russia has become a priority. In April 2016, the completion of the formation of the unified regional air defence system (URADS) of our two countries was officially announced. Subsequent efforts have focused on joint combat duty, operational and combat training.
Belarus’ geostrategic position plays a key role in the defence capability of the Union State. Our country is capable of deterring a massive air attack by NATO and effectively monitoring the concentration of potential enemy aircraft on the Baltic bridgehead.

According to available estimates, the creation of URADS has increased the overall air defence effectiveness for Belarus by 1.4 to 1.6 times, and for Russia — by 1.7 times. In terms of individual indicators, the effectiveness of combat control of air defence forces has increased by 25 to 27 percent, and the combat effectiveness of the air defence system — by 33 to 35 percent.

Today, the detection and engagement ranges of air and missile attack assets of a potential adversary are significantly pushed back from the state border with Belarus far to the West, which considerably alters the balance of power in the region.
Surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems of the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defence Forces can, if necessary, strike targets over the territories of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Furthermore, SAM systems in Kaliningrad Region and Belarusian SAM systems, overlapping each other’s engagement zones, will significantly limit the access capabilities of NATO aviation to the Baltic States and their actions in this region, should the need arise.
Therefore, despite the information and psychological hysteria of the Western media, the construction and placement of the Kaliningrad-based 29B6 Container radar on combat duty is another step in improving the air defence and anti-ballistic missile systems of the Union State. To date, a continuous radar field has been set up along its borders, providing surveillance of the situation and identification of dangerous objects. All these measures lead to the Union State’s strengthened security on distant frontiers.

WHAT IS THERE, OVER THE HORIZON?

What is an over-the-horizon radar station? It is a radar station capable of observing airspace at long ranges, up to several thousand kilometres (‘over the horizon’). The first OTH radars were created in the 1950s and 1960s as part of a missile attack warning system (MAWS). The operating principle of such radars is based on the effect of radio wave reflection from the ionosphere. OTH radars use the reflection of radio waves from the Earth’s ionosphere — a kind of ‘mirror’ that allows creating a radar field far beyond the horizon.


By Aleksandr Tikhansky, military political analyst, Candidate of Sociological Sciences