Attack on Russian radar is a significant escalation

On May 23 drones launched from Ukraine hit a Russian strategic radar station in Armavir, Russia. This is not the first time that nuclear facilities in Russia have been targeted and hit, but it represents a significant escalation that could trigger Russian retaliation on NATO suppliers or even a nuclear response by Russia. The core of Russian angst about Ukraine is that the country would become a NATO base for nuclear missiles.

It isn’t clear if the attack was entirely on Ukraine’s initiative or whether Ukraine’s NATO partners were involved.

Armavir consists of two long-range phased-array radars for warning of a nuclear attack. This site is in southern Russia in Krasnodar, Krai, and is on the grounds of the Baranovsky Air Base situated there. One of the radars covers the southwest and the other faces southeast. This radar site replaces earlier strategic radar sites in Ukraine that were abandoned around 2012, and another one no longer operational in Azerbaijan.

Officially the radar is listed as UHF, which means either 1ghz or below in frequency and which includes L Band at 1 Ghz. L Band radars offer a means of detecting stealth aircraft. Stealth platforms are optimized to have a reduced radar signature in the X-band frequency range.

These radars also can detect small objects that fly low to avoid radar detection, such as US-Tomahawk cruise missiles.

US B-2 bombers, F-22 and F-35 aircraft, and the new long-range B-3 strike bomber are stealth platforms and all are nuclear mission capable.

Russia has 10 strategic radars to protect the country. These radars date from 2017. They have a range of 6,000 km (3,728 miles) and are known as Voronezh-DM. The radars are designed to detect cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and attacks