Ukrainian drone hits radar of Russia's newest S-500 air defense system – KiberBoroshno

Evgenia Gubina - 8 August, 12:45 PM

A Ukrainian drone hit a radar for the S-500 Prometheus air defense system in Crimea. This was reported by the OSINT analyst community KiberBoroshno, analyzing information from the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Directorate of Intelligence about the burning of several radars on the temporarily occupied peninsula.

According to intelligence, Ukrainian combat drones hunted several targets in Crimea, including the Project 02510 BK-16 landing craft, the air defense base on Ai-Petri, the Nebo-SVU radar, the Podlyot K-1 radar, and the 96L6E radar.

"In yesterday's video from the GUR, our attention was drawn to the defeat of the "96L6 S-400 radar", namely the fact that it is not a 96L6. We analyzed the visual signs of the object and can say that this is the latest 98L6 Yenisei radar, which is the standard radar for the S-500 Prometheus air defense system," the OSINT analyst community said.

It was explained here that we are talking about a radar that is supposed to detect ballistic targets, hypersonic vehicles, stealth targets, satellites in low orbits, and highly maneuverable aerodynamic targets.

According to KiberBoroshno, the station passed state tests in 2020-2021 and, according to open sources, entered service in 2021-2022.

Analysts also mention the characteristics of the Yenisei radar, which the Russians are writing about. The station is based on a multi-element, interference-protected active phased array antenna (AFAR), which allows tracking hypersonic targets moving at altitudes of up to 120 km at speeds of up to 4,800 m/s (17,280 km/h) with the prospect of increasing to 7,000 m/s (25,200 km/h). It is noted that the system actually allows interception of low-orbit space targets.

This radar works not only with the latest S-500 air defense system. Cyber Boroshny noted that it is also used in Crimea together with the S-400.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Air Defence Command officially confirmed the destruction of the Yenisei radar by the Primary unit. Intelligence called this a significant blow to the capabilities of the Russian invaders' air defense system in temporarily occupied Crimea.