Ukrainian forces destroy Russian Predel-E radar station: what does it mean?

Defense Express reports that the station itself was destroyed in the area of Zaliznyi Port, with the missile detonated from the air and coming from the sea.

It has not yet been possible to identify this precision-guided weapon. But it is quite possible that the same missile was used to destroy the Predel-E that recently hit the S-400 air defense system at Cape Tarkhankut. And all that is known for certain is that it is a new Ukrainian development.

"An alternative, of course, is the AGM-88 HARM, for which the Predel-E is no different from any other radar it was designed to destroy. At the same time, if it was an air attack, it was made possible by the destruction of the Russian S-400, which in theory was supposed to cover this area from high-altitude air targets," the company writes. 

Not only should the missile be scrutinized, but so should the fact that the attack was captured on video by a drone, which once again conducted reconnaissance and transmitted photographs directly over enemy positions in the rear. At least 50 kilometers from the current frontline in this situation.

There could be only one piece of the Predel-E

At the same time, according to a report from the Ukrainian Defense Forces, the Predel-E was only displayed this year in maximum secrecy mode. However, images from the Army-2017 display and the Naval Salon in St. Petersburg show that the Predel-E SLBM has been openly demonstrated in Russia since at least 2017. It was also actively exhibited in the years that followed.

But the characteristics of the station itself remain secret. The Predel-E works by "anomalous propagation of radio waves occurring directly in the driving layer of the atmosphere in the so-called "evaporation waveguide", with a range of 400 km being the alleged minimum.

"At the same time, the actual detection range using an evaporation waveguide is highly dependent on weather conditions. That is why the declared range of target detection of 10-15 times the radio range is more of a "laboratory" than a real one," Defense Express reports. 

The fact that there are so few of them in Russia suggests that the 400-kilometer range is more likely the product of a coincidence of weather circumstances and the accuracy of the Predel-E radar settings. In Russia, there was no aggressive public relations for this station, simply the fact that Russian border guards were "interested" in it. As a result, it is very possible that Predel-E existed in a single copy.

• The Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed a Russian Predel-E mobile radar station and an electronic warfare system in the Kherson region.