Russia offers India Voronezh-M radar with 6,000-km range for Chitradurga

India and Russia's defence partnership has reached a new and significant point. Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered India not just Su-57 stealth fighter jets, the S-400 missile system and Akula-class nuclear submarines, but also the Voronezh-M strategic early warning radar system, considered one of the most powerful in Russia's arsenal. In defence circles, the system is regarded as a key asset of Russian air defence, as it can detect enemy movement from thousands of kilometres away.

An agreement to install the radar, built by Russian company Almaz-Antey, in Chitradurga, Karnataka, is at an advanced stage of negotiation. The deal is worth around 4 billion dollars, and if finalised, would give India a powerful capability to detect threats from space and from above in advance.

The radar's real strength lies in its advanced phased-array technology. Older-generation systems such as Dnepr or Daryal required large mechanical equipment. The Voronezh system can sweep its coverage across all directions within fractions of a second using electronic beams. The radar is compact in size, consumes less power and can be set up quickly. Its biggest feature is its range of 6,000 to 8,000 kilometres. It can track hundreds of targets simultaneously, whether satellites in space, high altitude ballistic missiles or low flying cruise missiles, detecting them within moments.

According to an analysis by Vijayendra K. Thakur, a former Indian Air Force pilot and aviation expert, if the Voronezh radar system is installed in Chitradurga in southern India, it would still bring the entire airspace of Pakistan and more than half of China's territory under its surveillance. India would get advance warning, by a few minutes, of any sudden ballistic or hypersonic missile attacks from China or Pakistan. This would give India's S-400 and the indigenous Advanced Air Defence (AAD) missile systems enough time to destroy an enemy missile in the air. The system would also help India keep close watch on maritime activity in the Indian Ocean, similar to the role of the United States' PAVE PAWS system.