Destroyed Russian Predel-E radar system. Photo, Screengrab from Ukraine defense ministry.
August 30, 2023.
Defense forces of Ukraine destroyed a rather rare russian radar on the territory of the temporarily occupied part of the Kherson region. The russians call this radar ambitiously and pompously: the Predel-E mobile coastal radar station of over-the-horizon detection with increased stealth.
The station itself was destroyed near the resort village of Zaliznyi Port along the Black Sea coast, while the missile, as seen in the video, carried out an aerial detonation moving from the sea.
Defense forces of Ukraine destroyed a rather rare russian radar on the territory of the temporarily occupied part of the Kherson region. The russians call this radar ambitiously and pompously: the Predel-E mobile coastal radar station of over-the-horizon detection with increased stealth.
The station itself was destroyed near the resort village of Zaliznyi Port along the Black Sea coast, while the missile, as seen in the video, carried out an aerial detonation moving from the sea.
An alternative could be the AGM-88 HARM missile as it was especially created to destroy targets like this Russian the Predel-E radar station. At the same time, if it was an attack from the air, it became possible due to the destruction of the russian S-400 SAM system, which in theory was supposed to cover this area from high-altitude air targets.
Also, attention should be paid not only to the missile itself, but also to the fact that the process of defeating the russian radar was recorded with the help of a drone that was conducting reconnaissance with image transmission directly above the enemy positions in the deep rear of the russian troops – at least 50 km from the current front line:
At the same time, the message of a representative of Security and Defense Forces of the South of Ukraine who is the source of the video, contains information that the Predel-E radar system was demonstrated in the mode of increased stealth only this year.
However, the Predel-E system has been publicly demonstrated in the russian federation since at least 2017 – this is evidenced by a photo from the Army-2017 exhibition as well as the Nternational Naval Salon in St. Petersburg. This system was actively demonstrated in the following years too.
However, it should be noted that the characteristics of the Predel-E radar system remain confidential. It was possible to find only a description of this system and the principle of its operation presented in a propaganda style. In particular, russian propagandists note that the Predel-E radar system works due to “anomalous propagation of radio waves, which occurs directly in the driving layer of the atmosphere in the so-called “evaporation waveguide”, while the range of 400 km is, allegedly, minimal.
At the same time, the actual detection range due to the use of the evaporation waveguide is highly dependent on weather conditions. And that is why the declared target detection range, which is 10-15 times greater than the radio horizon, is more likely “laboratory” than real.
This can be evidenced by the postscript, which informs that “to achieve such parameters, it is necessary to take into account the conditions of propagation of the narrow beam of the phased antenna array of the radar at the required angle” and it will work only in the seas in the middle and southern latitudes.
It is also known that there were not many customers for the Predel-E radar. In particular, it was reported that russian border guards were “interested” in this station. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that the Predel-E radar could have been produced only in a single copy.