BUSINESS IRAN: Russia Readies New Radar Station, Missiles Against U.S.-NATO Shield

Russia Readies New Radar Station, Missiles Against U.S.-NATO Shield

http://en.rian.ru/world/20111125/169029488.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
November 25, 2011

Russia's Baltic radar to monitor missile launches across Europe, Atlantic

MOSCOW: Russia's radar station in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad will monitor missile launches from the North Atlantic, as well as the future European missile defense system, the Aerospace Defense Forces chief said on Friday.

"We will be able to control the entire European continent and the Atlantic, including the European missile defense system," Lt. Gen. Oleg Ostapenko said.

The radar station is ready to go into operation as part of the national missile early warning attack system, he said.

In addition, Iskander tactical missiles will be deployed in the Kaliningrad region "in the near future," the general said.

Russia's air defense system will have the capability to intercept any type of missiles, any targets at any speed, including hypersonic ones, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Tuesday.

The new system, comprising air defense, missile defense, missile early warning attack and space control systems, should be up and running by December 1.

Ostapenko's remarks come after President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday that Russia would move "advanced offensive weapon systems" to its European borders in response to a planned U.S.-backed NATO missile shield if talks on the project fail.

Moscow is seeking written, legally binding guarantees that the shield will not be directed against it. Washington, however, has refused to put its verbal assurances in writing.

Washington responded by saying it would not alter its plans for a European missile defense project, despite increasingly tough rhetoric from Moscow.

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http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?pg=7&id=290085

Interfax
November 25, 2011

Kaliningrad missile early warning radar able to monitor Europe, North Atlantic - commander

MOSCOW: A radar station built in the Kaliningrad region will seriously enhance the information capabilities of Russia's missile early warning system, Russian Aerospace Defense Force Commander Lieut. Gen. Oleg Ostapenko told journalists on Friday.

"It will allow us to efficiently monitor missile launches over the entire European continent, as well as from the North Atlantic area, including the functioning and systems of the European missile defense shield," he said.

All efforts to build the radar in Kaliningrad and to put it into operation have already been completed, Ostapenko said.

"Specialists have already been trained and licensed to operate the station. We are prepared today to add this station to the general missile early warning system as soon as the supreme commander-in-chief issues such an order," he said.

The Kaliningrad-based radar has unprecedented qualities, he said.

"It will seriously expand the range of information gathering, enabling the country's supreme leadership to subsequently make decisions," the commander said.

The radar's technical and tactical features allow it to stand out among previous- generation radars. It is an ultra high frequency radar, which can measure parameters with a higher degree of accuracy.

"It consumes far less power, and the volume of its technological equipment is much smaller," Ostapenko said.

Such radars' new-generation advanced equipment has made it possible to seriously optimize their maintenance and cut personnel servicing them on a day-to-day basis, as compared with Dnepr-, Daryal- and Volga-type radars, he said.

"The results of this radar's preliminary trials showed that its main characteristics meet with required targets," the commander said.

High operational compatibility radars are built within a very short period of time, he said.

"This technology allows us to improve the station's technical capabilities of target detection, should such a need arise," Ostepenko said.

Russia's Voronezh-DM ultra high frequency, over-the-horizon long-range high operational compatibility radar has been deployed in the village of Pionerskoye in the Kaliningrad region. The radar is capable of detecting ballistic targets within a range of 4,000 kilometers to 6,000 kilometers.