MINSK, August 16. /TASS/. An advanced Russian medium- and long-range air surveillance radar station, Protivnik-GE, has arrived for a radio-technical unit of the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense troops, the republic’s Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.
"A possibility will now appear to detect and track ballistic targets, as well as to increase the range of aerial target detection, increase the mobility of the automated grouping and cut expenses on the radar’s operation through the use of modern technologies," the Belarusian Defense Ministry said.
As Chief of the Belarusian General Staff, First Deputy Defense Minister Major-General Oleg Belokonev said, the radar delivery is an historic moment for radio-technical troops and the troops’ switchover to "a new qualitative level for ensuring national security, helping to increase combat capabilities considerably and raise their mobility."
Air Force and Air Defense Commander Major-General Oleg Dvigalyov said that another radar station would enter service early next year and Belarus would receive a total of seven such radars by 2020.
According to data of the Belarusian Defense Ministry, the mobile three-dimensional radar station Protivnik-GE is designed to detect, determine coordinates and track strategic and tactical aircraft, airborne missiles, ballistic targets, small-size, low-speed aircraft amid intensive jamming, and also to issue radar data to command post automated systems. The small number of transport vehicles and the automated antenna elevation system help quickly deploy (displace) the radar on unprepared terrain within slightly over 30 minutes.