The Russian military has destroyed a Soviet-made ST-68 aerial surveillance radar of Kiev forces in the Nikolaev using a Kh-35 cruise missile.
Video footage of the strike surfaced online on August 1. The radar, which was deployed close to the settlement of Polyana, was directly hit by the missile. The strike destroyed the radar as well as its command vehicle and generator. Russian media reported that some 25 Ukrainian troops were also killed or wounded.
The ST-68 is a 3D aerial surveillance radar with a range up to 150 kilometers. The radar can be used with Soviet-made air defense systems, like the S-300.
The Kh-35 is a subsonic anti-ship cruise missile with a land-attack capability. The latest version of the missile is equipped with a GLONASS-aided inertial navigation system along with an active radar homing head. It has a range of up to 260 kilometers and can cruise as low as four meters from the surface to avoid detection.
The missile can be fired from warplanes, like the Su-34 fighter bomber, a land-based multiple launch system dubbed Bal or from warships using systems like the KT-184 naval launcher.
In recent months, the Russian military began relying more on Kh-35 missiles to hit Ukrainian radars and air defenses. The high-precision, long range and stealth of the missile as well as the ability to launch it from air, land or sea made it perfect for suppression of enemy air defenses, or SEAD, operations.
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