Lekhtusi Radar Station is an

early warning radar An early-warning radar is any radar system used primarily for the long-range detection of its targets, i.e., allowing defences to be alerted as ''early'' as possible before the intruder reaches its target, giving the air defences the maximum t ...

near Lekhtusi in

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast ( rus, Ленинградская область, Leningradskaya oblast’, lʲɪnʲɪnˈgratskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It was established on 1 August 1927, a ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It is a key part of the Russian early warning system against missile attack, going on combat duty on 11 February 2012. It is run by the

Russian Aerospace Defence Forces The Russian Aerospace Defence Forces (VVKO) ( rus, Войска воздушно-космической обороны (ВВКО), Voyska vozdushno-kosmicheskoy oborony (VVKO)) was a branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation responsi ...

. There have been a number of announcements about the introduction of this radar, the first one of the third generation

Voronezh Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the ...

series of

. It first entered testing in December 2005, experimental service a year later, service in December 2009 and finally combat duty in 2012. The station is south west of the village of Lekhtusi and north north east of

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. It is adjacent to the

A.F. Mozhaysky Military-Space Academy A.F. Mozhaysky's Military-Space Academy (russian: Федеральное государственное казённое военное образовательное учреждение высшего профессионального обр� ...

which is an officer training centre for the Aerospace Defence Forces.

Voronezh radar

Voronezh radar are highly prefabricated radars needing fewer personnel and using less energy than previous generations. The one built in Lekhtusi is described as Voronezh-M, a

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

radar with a stated range of . The radar was described by Space Forces commander

Oleg Ostapenko Oleg Nikolayevich Ostapenko ( rus, Олег Николаевич Остапенко, uk, Олег Миколайович Остапенко, born 3 May 1957) is the former director of Roscosmos, the federal space agency, retired Colonel General ...

as covering north west Russia and replacing coverage lost when the radar at

Skrunda Skrunda (; german: Schrunden) is a town in the Courland region of Latvia. It lies 150 km (95 mi) west of the capital city Riga in Kuldīga Municipality. History The historical sources first mentioned Skrunda (german: Schrunden) in th ...

in Latvia was decommissioned in 1998.

References

{{Ru missile attack Russian Space Forces Russian and Soviet military radars Military installations of Russia