Russian Air Defenses Take Triple Hit as Ukraine Destroys Rare Anti Stealth Radar for First Time

Ukrainian Armed Forces have destroyed a Russian P-18-2 “Prima” radar for the first time since the system entered service, marking a significant breakthrough in Ukraine’s campaign against Russia’s air-defense network, according to video footage released by USF commander Robert “Madyar” Brovdi on January 12.

The strike was carried out by operators of the 412th Brigade of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (USF), known as “Nemesis.”

According to Brovdi, the radar was hit using the brigade’s “Middle Strike” drone systems at a depth of more than 100 kilometers behind the front line. The attack drones carried warheads weighing over 10 kilograms, a payload sufficient to disable or even destroy lightly armored but high-value air-defense assets.

In addition to the P-18-2 radar, Ukrainian drone operators also struck two other Russian air-defense systems on January 12, destroying a Tor-M2 surface-to-air missile system and a Tunguska gun-missile air-defense system in the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk directions.

“This makes the ninth, tenth, and eleventh enemy radar and air-defense systems destroyed between January 1 and January 12—parasites from the opponent’s air-defense network,” Brovdi said.

According to Ukrainian defense outlet Militarnyi, the P-18-2 “Prima” radar was first unveiled at Russia’s Army-2019 international military forum and is a modernized successor to the Soviet-era P-18 “Terek.”

The system is a highly mobile, two-coordinate surveillance and target-designation radar operating in the meter wavelength band. It is designed to detect and track aerial targets, including aircraft employing stealth technology, and to determine their coordinates while also identifying sources of active electronic jamming.

Mounted on a high-mobility wheeled chassis, the P-18-2 integrates all equipment on a single vehicle. Deployment and shutdown are fully automated and take no more than five minutes. Due to its high level of automation, the system requires a crew of just two operators, who can work either from the onboard cabin or from remote workstations.

Militarnyi notes that Russian specifications claim the radar can detect an aerial target with a radar cross-section of 2.6 square meters with an 80 percent probability under no-jamming conditions at the following ranges:

• at 3,000 meters altitude: at least 130 kilometers;

• at 10,000 meters altitude: at least 230 kilometers;

• at 20,000 meters altitude: at least 320 kilometers.

Earlier, a Ukrainian drone operated by the 412th NEMESIS Brigade has reportedly struck and disabled a rare Russian radar system, the 9S32M1, which forms a core component of the S-300V surface-to-air missile system.

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