MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet will be reinforced by the deployment in Crimea of the Podsolnukh (Sunflower) short-range over-the-horizon surface-wave radar with 450 km target acquisition capacity, a source in the Russian Defense Ministry told TASS on Wednesday.

“The sea-based Podsolnukh radar will be deployed in Crimea that will be ‘looking’ to the Bosporus,” the source said.

The Podsolnukh will detect surface and aerial targets that are nor within line-of-sight range by means of beyond-the-horizon surveillance. The radar station can simultaneously detect, track and classify up top 300 sea and 100 aerial targets in an automatic mode.

Other high-ranking Defense Ministry source confirmed this information, saying that a sufficient group of the Air Force personnel and equipment has already been deployed in Crimea. This group includes battalions of the S-300 antiaircraft missile defense systems. “In this situation, there is no need in the deployment of the S-400 missile systems on the peninsula,” the source said.

Chief of the antiaircraft defence of the Russian Air Force Major General Viktor Gumenny said previously that Crimea was reliably protected by the antiaircraft defense means. In addition, a self-sufficient air grouping comprising fighters, attack, assault aircraft and army and transport aviation has been formed on the peninsula by the winter.