MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/. Russia will set up a continuous radar field around its borders to early track the launches of cruise missiles, the take-offs of combat aircraft and other aerodynamic targets, the Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

"In a perspective, a continuous radar field will be set up for aerodynamic targets similar to the missile early warning system," the ministry said.

The new system will comprise Konteiner new-generation over-the-horizon radars, the first of which went on combat duty in Mordovia in the Volga area on December 1. The new radar is capable of tracking a mass take-off of combat aircraft, the launch of cruise missiles or hypersonic weapons at ranges of 2,000 km from Russia’s western and southern borders. The Russian troops thus get the time to repel a possible strike against the country’s facilities.

The next Konteiner-type radar will protect the Russian Arctic.

"Further development is possible towards control of the Arctic. This is what we are dealing with at present and this task is being actively considered," Konteiner chief designer Mikhail Petrov said.

The operation of the Konteiner radar is based on the principle of receiving radio signals reflected from the ionosphere.

By now, Russia has set up a continuous radar field of its missile early warning system. It integrates Voronezh-type radar stations, which are designated to track the launches of ballistic missiles towards Russian territory.