Russia to deploy two powerful radar systems in the Baltic and Black Seas
Russian Interfax news agency reported that Russia may attempt to compensate for the increase in NATO’s military activity by placing two new radar stations in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, which would be able to control the 200-mile coastal zone.
"It is expected that modified Podsolnuh (Sunflower) over-the-horizon radar units will start combat duty in the Baltic Sea in 2017," Interfax’s source said, adding that similar radar could be deployed in the Crimea in 2017. “It can see any warship that sails through the Bosporus Strait."
The Podsolnuh radar system passed the Russian government tests in 2006. There are three stations currently on duty: one in the Sea of Okhotsk, another in the Sea of Japan and the third in the Caspian Sea. Podsolnuh allows its operators to automatically and simultaneously detect, track and classify potential threats beyond the radio horizon. It can find up to 300 offshore objects and 100 air objects, determine their coordinates and transfer them to targeting complexes and systems of armed naval vessels and air defense systems.
In June, Podsolnuh’s developer, RTI, told Interfax that the company plans to supply the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation with several more radars in the future. "In 2017, the Russian Defense Ministry plans to purchase several stations for the Navy that will be deployed in the Arctic, as well as at the southern and western borders of Russia," said the Director General of RTI, Sergey Boev.
In March, Podsolnuh guided warships of the Caspian fleet equipped with the Caliber-NK missile complex during naval military exercises.