Ukraine Bolsters Air Defenses With Soviet Radars

Ukrainian defense electronics group Aerotechnica (Hall 2 Stand C28b) has been at the forefront of the urgent effort to modernize the country’s air defenses in response to the military standoff with Russian-backed separatists. It specializes in replacing dated radar hardware, such as vacuum-tube modules and traveling wave-guide tubes with solid-state components. The company has successfully performed this upgrade with numerous radar sets, most notably the P-18. The firm has also performed upgrades on older-model S-75 Vega (SA-5), S-125 Pechora (SA-3) and the 2K12 Kub (SA-6) air defense systems for both domestic and export customers.

“By the time we finish with an upgrade of one of these Soviet-era radar stations, about the only piece of equipment that remains is the antenna itself,” an Aerotechnica marketing executive told AIN. “Almost all of the rest of the entire system is of both our design and manufacture.” The workstations that the radar operators use are also upgraded with new multicolor, multifunctional displays that tie together radar feeds from multiple sources of input.

In fact, the radars proved their worth in the 2008 conflict in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The systems helped Georgian air defense units to shoot down several Russian warplanes during that campaign and the Ukrainians are now tapping similar equipment to guard against aerial attacks.