General Staff: Defence forces destroy Russian Nebo-M radar

The Ukrainian Defence Forces have fired ATACMS ballistic missiles at a Russian Nebo-M radar station. It is capable of detecting and intercepting airborne targets.

This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

«Units of the Missile Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine successfully struck the Russian Nebo-M radar station with ATACMS ballistic missiles.»

According to the General Staff, the Nebo-M is very difficult to strike. The radar operates in a mode that is hidden from detection, searching for airborne objects.

Currently, the Russians have only 10 operational systems of this type. Each of them costs more than $100 million. The military did not specify exactly when and where the radar station was destroyed. However, the General Staff emphasized that this will create a favorable «air corridor» for the effective use of long-range cruise missiles, including Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG.

«The destruction of the Nebo-M radar will create a favorable air corridor for the effective use of Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG cruise missiles.»

Destroying Russian radars

It’s worth noting that some Ukrainian media outlets, citing their own intelligence sources, reported that a drone from Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence attacked the Voronezh-M long-range target detection radar station in the Russian city of Orsk on 26 May. Orsk is 1,800 km from the border with Ukraine. This strike set a new record for the range of the attack. Moscow has not officially confirmed the drone attack in Orsk. On 27 May, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced the alleged destruction and interception of 12 UAVs over several regions, but the Orenburg region was not mentioned among them.

On Hromadske Radio, Defence Express editor Oleh Katkov stated that Ukraine is once again making history by attacking Russian over-the-horizon radar stations.

«This strike on the Voronezh-M surface-to-air radar near Orsk in the Orenburg region was preceded by an effective and proven strike on two Voronezh-DM surface-to-air radars near Armavir in Kuban. Ukraine is once again making history because no one has ever attacked over-the-horizon radars before. No one has used drones to attack them, and no one has done it effectively», — explained Oleg Katkov.

The Voronezh-M metre-range radar is part of Russia’s 77Y6 Voronezh family of over-the-horizon radars. The radar in the Orenburg region controls the sector from the Taklamakan Desert to the Mediterranean coast, with a viewing range of 6,000 kilometers. Since 2015, the station has been operating in test mode to track ballistic targets, and it was officially put into operation in 2017.