The Don-2N radar (,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

: 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 array antenna in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the an ...

radar outside

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, and a key part of the Russian

A-135 anti-ballistic missile system The A-135 (renamed to A-235) (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 entere ...

designed for the defense of the capital against ballistic missiles. Located near

Sofrino Sofrino (russian: Софрино) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Pushkinsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental countr ...

Pushkinsky District Pushkinsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia: *Pushkinsky District, Moscow Oblast, an administrative and municipal district of Moscow Oblast * Pushkinsky District, Saint Petersburg, an administrative ...

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast ( rus, Моско́вская о́бласть, r=Moskovskaya oblast', p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ), or Podmoskovye ( rus, Подмоско́вье, p=pədmɐˈskovʲjə, literally "under Moscow"), is a federal subject of Rus ...

, it is a quadrangular

frustum In geometry, a (from the Latin for "morsel"; plural: ''frusta'' or ''frustums'') is the portion of a solid (normally a pyramid or a cone) that lies between two parallel planes cutting this solid. In the case of a pyramid, the base faces are ...

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 to ...

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 (ABM Treaty or ABMT) (1972–2002) 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 ballis ...

both the United States and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

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 Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or en ...

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 ( rus, Сары-Шаган; kz, Сарышаған) 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 ...

test site in

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, location .

References

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