Russia Brings Anti-Stealth Radar to Iran

Russian Anti-Stealth Radar in Iran

By Cameron Curtis,

In a previous article, Why World War II Radars Can Detect Modern Stealth Aircraft, we pointed out that World War II vintage radars, with low frequencies and long wavelengths, were capable of detecting modern stealth aircraft, including the B-2, F-22, and F-35. Russia never stopped developing these long-wave VHF radars and has built some truly capable systems. In The Anti-Stealth Kill-Chain: Is the F-35 Untouchable? we discussed the mobile Nebo-M, which Russia has deployed to Syria. Russia has also deployed eight Rezonans-NE long-wave systems to Iran, where they form a defensive anti-stealth and anti-ballistic missile shield.

Unlike the Nebo-M, the Rezonans-NE is not mobile. Figure 1 shows the perimeter of a Rezonans-NE. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a typical Rezonans-N installation. It consists of four fixed walls of receiver antennae that make the installation look like a fort. Note the N version is supplied to Russia’s armed forces; the NE version is for export.

The four receiver arrays (the walls) give Rezonans a 360-degree azimuth coverage to fix the direction of a threat. The receiver masts determine the target’s elevation. Together, Rezonans uses these inputs to draw a three-dimensional picture of the battlespace. The Lira-VME IFF radar is a separate device for friend-or-foe identification

Notice the structure of the installation. The receiver arrays look like matrices with lots of open spaces. This becomes important when we consider damage assessment. A nearby explosion scatters shrapnel and debris in all directions – most of it will pass harmlessly through the spaces in the receiver arrays. More importantly, the blast wave will pass through the structure like through a ventilated sail. Should any part of a receiver array be hit, the remainder of the array will continue to function until the damaged section is repaired.

This video, Russian Provision of Anti-Stealth Radar to Iran, introduces Russia’s deal to provide Anti-Stealth Radar to Iran. Indeed, depending on the features restricted in the export version, Russia can choose to escalate horizontally by upgrading Iran’s Rezonans-NEs to Rezonans-Ns simply by swapping modules flown in on AN-124 heavy lift aircraft. The Rezonans-Ns probably have greater range and discrimination power.

Many analysts believe there are thousands of Russian technical specialists in Iran at this very moment, operating and working with Iranians on anti-stealth radars and S-400 missile systems. Their role is comparable to the US soldiers operating THAAD batteries in Israel.

Rezonans Capability

Figure 3 is an example of a Rezonans-NE plot. One of the tell-tale indications that we are looking at an export version is that the screen symbology is in English, not Cyrillic. If we zoom in, we see the data conveyed makes sense – frequency ranges and power levels for four 90-degree sectors of azimuth.