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Ukraine’s Special Forces Destroy Russian S-300 Radar in Night Raid on Occupied Crimea
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
Ukrainian special operations forces struck deep into Russian-occupied Crimea last week, destroying a key radar station tied to an S-300 air defense system, the Special Operations Forces (SOF) of Ukraine confirmed on September 1.
The raid took place overnight on August 29–30, when SOF units conducted “a series of special actions” at a military airfield in the town of Saky, located on the western coast of Crimea.
The operation destroyed a radar installation used to guide Russia’s S-300 missile batteries.
The radar is one of the most critical components of the Russian air defense system, providing surveillance and guiding missiles to their targets. The destruction of the radar renders the entire air defense system inoperable.
The S-300 radar enables the system to track and engage aerial targets with a radar cross-section as small as 0.2 square meters (2.2 sq. ft), moving at speeds of up to 1,300 meters per second (4,300 ft/s). It can engage targets at altitudes ranging from 82 feet to 89,000 feet, and is also capable of striking surface targets at ranges up to 19 miles.
Earlier, a Ukrainian strike on the Baltimore airbase in Russia’s Voronezh region knocked out an S-300 air defense division and possibly destroyed two Su-24 bombers.
