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Shmel

Airborne Radar
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Basic Information
Name
Shmel
Designation
Alternate Designation
Equipment Type
Airborne Radar
Manufacturer
Date of Introduction
Description

The Shmel (Cyrillic: «Шмель», “bumblebee”) is an S-band (IEEE designation) or F-band (NATO designation) airborne 3D early warning radar, with a peak power of 1 MW and an instrumented range of 400 km. It is installed on the Beriev A-50 Mainstay, a converted Ilyushin IL-76MD military transport aircraft that also carries optical and radio reconnaissance equipment. The radar features a 10 × 1.7 m frequency-controlled phased array antenna composed of horizontally arranged slotted waveguides, and a fully coherent transmitter using a klystron power amplifier. Designed in the 1970s and 1980s, the Shmel has undergone upgrades (Shmel-M and Shmel-2) that improved data processing, increased fighter guidance capacity from 12 to 30, and boosted target tracking from 50–60 to 300, while replacing the original large-format cathode ray tube color screens with modern LCD displays at its five automated workstations.

Air & Air Defense Specifications
Range 400.0 km
Technical Characteristics
frequency S band
peak power 1 MW
instrumented range 400 km
Details
Category Airborne Radars
Air > Airborne Radars
Classification
Domain
Air & Air Defense
Equipment Status
Active
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