Vostok-D Radar Placed on Combat Duty

The Vostok-D radar has been placed on combat duty in the 49th Signals Intelligence Brigade, North-Western Operational-Tactical Command, Belarusian Air Force and Air Defence (AFAD).

Developed by Belarusian company KB Radar under the state armament programme, in November 2013 the 2D digital Vostok-D radar officially entered service with the Belarusian SIGINT Troops.

Before entering the inventory the radar had been undergoing state trials for several years. For the first time the Vostok-D’s capabilities and specifications were tested by the Belarusian military during field firing exercises at the Ashuluk range in 2009.

The fielding of Vostok-D allows the SIGINT Troops to significantly update its materiel.

The radar features a number of advantages – enhanced passive jamming resistance, low power loss while sending probing signals in meteorological atmosphere, ineffectiveness of the stealth and similar technologies. The Vostok-D effectively detects low-altitude aerial objects and UAVs.

The radar has a detection range of up to 360 km depending on the target’s altitude.

Compared to previous radars, the Vostok-D is more compact, reliable and mobile. Its deployment/displacement time is no more than 8 minutes. The Vostok-D is a stand-by radar, i.e., it detects and tracks all types of air targets, it enjoys high reliability and low power consumption. If necessary, the system can operate autonomously using its own power supply generator.

Among the radar’s advantages is a smaller crew required.

The radar joins the line-up of the new and upgraded radars in service with the Belarusian military, such as the Rosa-RB and improved P-18BM and PRV-16BM.

The Rosa-RB radar was developed by KB Radar, too. It is designed to detect low-altitude targets. Operating in automatic mode, it can detect and identify air targets at an altitude of one metre at a range of 50 km, detecting not only piloted aircraft, but UAVs as well.

Featuring up-to-date technical solutions, the improved P-18BM and PRV-16BM radars have higher accuracy, a higher level of protection against active and passive jamming and enhanced reliability. Almost all upgrades are carried out by Belarus’ companies.

Having received the new and upgraded weapons, AFAD will strongly improve the capabilities of its units to carry out AD combat duty.