Even the pilots were blinded: what capabilities Russia lost with the Nebo-SVU radar

They even turned a blind eye to the pilots: what capabilities Russia lost with the Nebo-SVU radar Angela Figin

On January 18, the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed the Russian 1L119 Nebo-SBU radar station in the temporarily occupied part of the Kherson region. The attack was carried out using only three drones.

The Russians were left without their new and rather scarce radar station thanks to the successful work of the Defense Forces. Retired Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, pilot-instructor and military expert Roman Svitan explained to Channel 24 what capabilities the Russians lost with the Nebo-SVU radar.

How the destruction of the radar will affect the capabilities of the Russian army

The Nebo-SVU is one of the newest Russian meter-wave range radars for air defense forces. It takes 0.1 square meters in effective reflection area at ranges over 100 kilometers.

One enemy radio eye was covered by three Ukrainian drones, which the much-hyped Russian radar station did not see. This shows that there is a mechanism for destroying them. Perhaps we already have stealth drones, – noted Svitan.

The detection range of a target such as a fighter at an altitude of 20 kilometers is up to 380 kilometers, and at an altitude of 500 meters – up to 65 kilometers. In general, this is a large combat detection radius, especially since information can be transmitted even to pilots of Russian aircraft through the tactical communications system.

This is also important for us, to close the eyes of the pilots, – added the military expert.

The radar has a short deployment time – up to 30 minutes, it is serviced by 4 people. It is stated that it has high cross-country ability and can be deployed in unprepared positions.

Reference. In general, the defeat of the Nebo type radar occurs far from the first time. The destruction of the Nebo-SVU radar became known on April 9, 2023, but there is no information about where and when this happened. In April 2024, the SBU destroyed a long-range radar in the Bryansk region of Russia, which controlled the sky 700 kilometers deep into Ukraine. In October 2024, it became known that the Nebo M radar station was hit by ATACMS missiles.

According to estimates, there are only 10 such stations left in Russia. The cost of one is from 100 million dollars. By the way, the Nebo-SVU is in service with Iran.

Note that on January 16, the Ukrainian Defense Forces destroyed the occupiers' radar equipment in the Belgorod region of Russia.