The Ukrainian Special Operation Forces (SSO) claimed to have successfully destroyed a state-of-the-art Russian Kasta-2E2 aerial surveillance and early warning (EW) radar using a strike drone.
In a Telegram report, the SSO announced the destruction of the Kasta-2E2, and showed video captured during aerial reconnaissance in one of the operational sectors.
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“The SSO hunted down a ‘fat’ target – a powerful Russian radar,” said the caption to the published video.
This radar model is regarded as a cutting-edge weapon, designed for airspace control, coordinate determination, and identification of airborne targets, including those flying at very low altitudes.
According to the SSO report, the Russian Kasta was first detected on Ukrainian soil in 2021 in the occupied Luhansk region.
“The Russians deployed equipment to counter UAVs. Ironically, these very vehicles of the enemy station have recently become the target of SSO strike drones,” the message said.
The drone, described as “one of the newest developments” in the SSO arsenal, “inflicted fire damage” on the radar.
“Warning to the Russians from the SSO: there will be more!” the report read.
The drone footage depicted the Kasta-2E2 radar, positioned in a forest clearing, followed by a drone flying past, culminating in an explosion and thick smoke.
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Kyiv Post was unable to independently verify the date and location of the footage. Additionally, it is challenging to discern the specific type of radar system depicted in the video.
The Kasta-2E2 (NATO designation: Flat Face) is a mobile three-axis radar with 360-degree azimuth coverage, facilitating airspace control, coordinate determination, and air target recognition.
This system supposedly excels at detecting objects at extremely low altitudes, analyzing their trajectory characteristics, and transmitting their coordinates and movement parameters to the air defense control system. Its detection range extends up to 150 km.
In mid-February, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR) released a video showcasing a drone attack that disabled a Russian Kasta-2E2 along the Russian border, northeast of Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions. The strike inflicted fire damage from the drone’s bombs, rendering the Kasta-2E2 inoperable and causing losses to the radar service.
According to intelligence data, before the strike, the Russian radar system was monitoring airspace over the Kharkiv and Sumy regions of Ukraine, as well as over the Belgorod, and likely the Kursk and Voronezh regions of Russia.
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