Combat Deployment of new Russian Hypersonic Missile-hunting Radar in March

Russia is planning the combat deployment of its new Rezonans-N radar that can spot hypersonic missiles next month.

“The radar will enter service no sooner than mid-March 2020,” Ivan Nazarenko, CEO of Rezonans Research Center, was quoted as saying by TASS on Wednesday.

He added that two-week training of military personnel had begun. “Today marks the commencement of two-week training of some of our military personnel in the basics of the proper operation and combat employment of the Rezonans-N radar,” he added.

Upon the completion of the training on March 12, all the trainees will receive certificates giving validating their operation of the radar. “After this, the officers will be immediately sent to the Northern Fleet for manning the radar on Novaya Zemlya and other similar stations in the Arctic. Therefore, the Rezonans-N radar on Novaya Zemlya can go on combat duty no sooner than mid-March,” Nazarenko explained.

The radar can detect stealth aircraft and hypersonic targets flying at speeds of upto Mach 2.0. It can detect ballistic missiles flying at an altitude of 100km from 1,200km away.

The announcement has come just a few days after Raytheon built the first radar antenna array for the US Army's Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS). The LTAMDS is a next-generation radar that will defeat advanced threats like hypersonic weapons.