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Voronezh High Depot Readiness (HDR)

The Voronezh radars are described as highly prefabricated meaning that they have a set up time of months rather than years and need fewer personnel than previous generations. They are also modular so that a radar can be brought into (partial) operation whilst being incomplete. Russia has used the launch of these new radars to raise its concerns about US missile defence in Europe. At the launch of the Kaliningrad radar in November 2011 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was quoted as saying "I expect that this step [the launch of the radar] will be seen by our partners as the first signal of our country's readiness to make an adequate response to the threats which the missile shield poses for our strategic nuclear forces."

All operating radar stations (radars) of the "Dnepr", "Daryal" and "Volga" types will be replaced with new radars of the "Voronezh" type. This was announced by Colonel Andrei Revenok, head of the Main Center for Missile Attack Warning of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces. "In the future, it is planned to replace all the existing stations of the Dnepr, Daryal and Volga types with new Voronezh-type radars," Revenok said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper 15 February 2021. The missile attack warning system stations solve the problem of receiving and issuing data on missile launches and missile trajectories to warn about a strike at points of state and military control. They also provide data on space objects to control outer space. The basis of the ground echelon radar systems of the missile attack warning system of Russia are radar stations of the new generation of the Voronezh type. February 15 marked the 50th anniversary of the first intercession of the forces and means of over-the-horizon detection of the Missile Attack Warning System.

The Voronezh-type radar has capabilities similar to its predecessors, the Dnepr and Daryal, which are currently deployed outside Russia, but uses less energy and is more environmentally friendly. Kommersant daily reported that Voronezh-DM needs only 0.7 MWt of power for its operations, while Dnepr and Daryal consume 2 MWt and 50 MWt respectively. Some sources credit the Voronezh-DM class radars with a range of 6,000 kilometers, while other sources cite an effective range of 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles). The construction of a new radar costs about 1.5 billion rubles, while the creation of "Daryal" in 2005 was estimated at almost 20 billion rubles. At the same time, both stations have similar technical characteristics. The range of action in both "Daryal" and "Voronezh" - up to 6 thousand kilometers.

Depending on the tasks and the evolving situation, these radars should provide for their rapid relocation and rapid deployment in new areas of deployment, the possibility of increasing combat capabilities and selecting the necessary modification from a number of similar stations, performed in accordance with a single design documentation, but differing in the main parameters. In view of these requirements, the concept of new radars was developed based on the principles of high factory readiness (VZG) and open architecture.

The air defense forces of the Russian Federation had all the capabilities to fulfill the president's task to reduce the timing of the deployment of new radar stations, told commanders of the East Kazakhstan region Lieutenant-General Oleg Ostapenko on 01 December 2011. The first steps to establish radar stations VZG were taken in 1986 in the development of radar to "Selenga". The high depot readiness concept (HDR) was proposed as a new approach that envisaged the installation of easy-to-assemble frames for hanging large pre-fabricated radar modules. This made it possible to achieve three effects at once with the very first batch-produced Voronezh station.

1. The construction time was significantly accelerated, and the construction costs were lowered, a matter of no small importance under present-day circumstances. According to available data, the turn-key cost of one Voronezh installation is 1.5 billion rubles in 2005 prices [about $US 50 million]. Construction time was reduced to 12 to 16 months to assemble 23 prefabricated modules on a prepared site. The Daryal-type radar like the one at Gabala was made up of 4,000 units of equipment. Its cost in comparable prices would amount to 19.8 billion rubles [about $US 650 million] and the time span required for its construction under the most favorable conditions was between 5 and 6 years.
2. The modular approach provides for easy scaling and modernization. The modular radar can be brought into partial operation while under construction. None of the former models lent themselves to modernization since numerous problems cropped up when it came to installing equipment and laying the service lines inside a concrete shell.
3. The new-generation station can be disassembled and redeployed to a new location relatively quickly. That is not a sign of HDR radars’ mobility, but an option that can be easily contemplated several years in advance.

A station of this kind can be deployed in 12 to 18 months as compared to five to nine years for Dnepr, thanks to module design. The high degree of prefabrication and modular design of the "Voronezh" allowed abandoning the multi-story buildings that were the basis of the Dnepr, Daryal and Volga radars. All equipment is in containers with manufacturers in place of subsequent assembly at a site in advance. The foundation of the radar is the phased array antenna, quickly erected module for crew and several containers with radio-electronic equipment, to provide fast, low-cost upgrade station during the operation.