Dunay radar

Dunay-3M

The Dunay-3M, an upgrade of the Dunay-2, was located in Kubinka, Moscow and became operational in 1968. After an extensive upgrade in 1978 it was redesignated Dunay-3M as part of the A-35M ABM system. Its transmitter and receiver buildings were separated by 2.5 km.

The transmitter covered two sectors with an array 200 m long and 30 m high. The receiver building contained two passive electronically scanned array radars and the A-35 command and control centre. The radar had a range of 2500 km and functioned until a fire on 8 May 1988.

Dunay-3U

The Dunay-3U was built in 1978 for the upgraded A-35M system and is located in Chekhov. Structurally similar to the Dunay-3M, it had separate transmitter and receiver buildings 2.7 km apart and two sectors. It could identify launches of Pershing II missiles from West Germany. In 1995 the A-35M was replaced by the A-135 system using the Don-2N radar.

One sector was decommissioned and abandoned; the other remains in use for low Earth orbit satellite surveillance. As a UHF radar it detects objects 15–40 cm in size, smaller than VHF radars like Daryal and Dnepr. Commissioned in May 1978 with a 12-year lifespan later extended by ten years, sector 62 was decommissioned in 1998.

Sector 61 had its service life extended in 2001 and 2005, the last extension lasting until December 2009, though it may have been extended again. In 2012 the Russian Ministry of Defense issued a tender for demolition of sector 62. Before 2003 the transmitter had 30 waveguides each excited by a transmitter; since 2003 it operates at reduced power with 12 of 24 transmitters. The radar is chirped and uses 10 K340 computers.

Did You Know?

• The Dunay-2 had separate transmitter and receiver complexes 1 km apart, a power of 100 kW, and a range of 1200 km.