The Don-2N radar (,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

: Pill Box) is a large missile defense and early warning

active electronically scanned array An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is a type of phased array antenna, which is a computer-controlled antenna array in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the a ...

radar outside

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, and a key part of the Russian

A-135 anti-ballistic missile system The A-135 (NATO reporting name, NATO: ABM-4 Gorgon) is a Russian anti-ballistic missile system deployed around Moscow to intercept incoming warheads targeting the city or its surrounding areas. The system was designed in the Soviet Union and enter ...

designed for the defense of the capital against

ballistic missiles A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are powered only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) typica ...

. Located near Sofrino in

Pushkinsky District Pushkinsky District (Russian language, Russian: Пу́шкинский райо́н) is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia: *Pushkinsky District, Moscow Oblast, an administrative and municipal district of Moscow ...

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...

, it is a quadrangular

frustum In geometry, a ; (: frusta or frustums) is the portion of a polyhedron, solid (normally a pyramid (geometry), pyramid or a cone (geometry), cone) that lies between two parallel planes cutting the solid. In the case of a pyramid, the base faces a ...

tall with sides long at the bottom, and long at the top. Each of its four faces has an diameter

Super high frequency Super high frequency (SHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies (RF) in the range between 3 and 30 gigahertz (GHz). This band of frequencies is also known as the centimetre band or centimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one ...

band radar giving 360 degree coverage. To the right of each circular search and track array, separated by a vertical structure for shielding, is a square antenna array (edge length 10 m) for guiding the interceptor missile by data link. The system is run by an Elbrus-2 () supercomputer. It has a range of 3,700 km for targets the size of a typical ICBM warhead. Under the 1972

Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, also known as the ABM Treaty or ABMT, was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against ball ...

both the United States and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

had to designate one area to protect from missile attack. The USA chose North Dakota and the Soviet Union chose Moscow. The Don-2N radar is designed to be the control centre of the system and can operate autonomously if connection is lost to its command and control centre. The 1998 SIOP targeted this radar facility with 69 consecutive nuclear weapons.Bret Lortie, "A Do It Yourself SIOP," ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'', July/August, 57/4, (2001): p 29, http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2968/057004008

Don prototype

The prototype Don radar, called Don-2NP (, NATO: Horse Leg) is in

Sary Shagan Sary Shagan (; ) is an anti-ballistic missile testing range located in Kazakhstan. On 17 August 1956 the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union authorized plans for an experimental facility for missile defence located at Sary Shagan, on the w ...

test site in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

, location .

References

{{Soviet Radar Russian Space Forces Russian military radars Soviet military radars Military installations of Russia Military equipment introduced in the 1980s

Don prototype

See also

References