Russia Speeds Up Anti-Missile Radar Deployment

June 22, 2013: Russia has sped up deployments of its new Voronezh early-warning radar and will now have seven of them operational by 2018. That’s a few years ahead of schedule. These new radars will replace the Daryal radars and the even older models that Daryal was replacing but are still in service. The older early-warning radars were usually in areas that were part of the Soviet Union but are not in present day Russia. Thus earlier this year Russia decided to shut down its Daryal type long range missile detection radar in Azerbaijan after the Azerbaijanis demanded that a new lease increase annual rent from $7 million to $300 million. Russia refused to pay and will shut down the Azerbaijan radar and dismantle it. The ten year lease ended on December 24, 2012. This radar went operational in 1983, and was supposed to be one of seven. But the end of the Cold War halted that project and only one other Daryal radar was built (on the north coast of Russia). That one detected missiles coming in over the North Pole from North America. The radar in Azerbaijan covered all of the Middle East and India. Its role will be assumed by the more modern Voronezh radar design that recently went into service on the Black Sea coast. Russia had offered to upgrade the Azerbaijan radar and pay more rent but not $293 million more a year. In addition, Russia has always paid Azerbaijan $5 million a year for electricity and $10 million a year for other services. About 500 Azerbaijanis were employed at the radar station, in addition to 1,100 Russians. 

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