Russia within the year will activate its fourth "Podsulnukh-E" long-range, over-the-horizon radar system it claims can quickly detect United States stealth aircraft such as the B-2 Spirit flying over the ocean 500 kilometers away.

The new Podsulnukh (a Russian word meaning "sunflower) is located at the Russian-held archipelago called Novaya Zemlya ("new island") in the Arctic Circle, according to sources in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

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Novaya Zemlya is notorious as the most "atomic bombed" island in the world. The former Soviet Union conducted 224 nuclear tests on the island until 1990.

Included in this massive number is the largest and most powerful nuclear device ever exploded by man, the "Tsar Bomba." This nuclear device with a yield of 50 megatons was detonated as an air burst on October 30, 1961.

The ministry source said Russia plans to construct a total of six Podsulnukh stations along the coast of Novaya Zemlya. Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Buklgakov, who visited the construction site of the first radar station, said a runway capable of handling all types of combat aircraft is also being built nearby.

A distinctive feature of the Podsulnukh is its mammoth antenna array up to five kilometers long and five meters tall that can identify aerial targets 500 kilometers away and sea targets up to 400 kilometers away.

Podsolnukh E is a coast-horizon shortwave short-range radar system that can detect both air and sea targets approaching it from the sea. It can simultaneously detect, track and classify 100 aerial targets and 300 maritime targets in an automatic mode.

The system is also able to determine the target's position and give target coordinates to weapon systems such as jet fighters; ships or surface-to-air missile batteries.

Russian sources said short-wave stations such as Podsolnukh can see stealth fighter jets like the multi-million dollar F-35 "as clearly as WWII-era aircraft".

It says the system can become operational in 10 days and needs a team of just three people to remain operational. The radar stations have to be spaced 370 kilometers apart to provide complete coverage.

Sea- and shore-based OTH systems are popular in Russia, which has long coastlines in Europe and Asia.

Russia currently has three operational Podsulnukh radar stations: one each in the Sea of Okhotsk; the Sea of Japan and the Caspian Sea. These fixed stations, however, are easily detected because of their large radar towers.

TagsPodsulnukh-E, over-the-horizon radar, Novaya Zemlya, Arctic Circle, B-2 Spirit