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A US artist's concept of a Daryal-type (Pechora) bistatic phased-array early warning radar similar to the one deployed at Qabala.
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| Country of origin | Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union (now Azerbaijan) |
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| Type | Early warning radar |
| Frequency | 150-200 MHz (VHF) |
| Range | Around 6,000 kilometres (3,728 mi) |
| Diameter | Transmitter 30x40 m Receiver 80x80 m separated by 0.5–1.5 km |
| Azimuth | array faces 162° (true) covering ~110° or from 107° to 217° |
| Power | Initial capacity was 50 MW, and its target capacity is 350 MW |
The Qabala Radar or Qabala Radar (Radiolocation) Station (in many Western sources Qabala is spelled Gabala) is a Daryal-type (NATO reporting name Pechora after the location Daryal was first tested and installed) bistatic phased-array early warning radar,[1] built by the Soviet Union in the Qabala district of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1985 located at ( ).[2] It is now operated by the Russian Space Forces. The radar station has a range of up to 6,000 kilometres (3,728 mi), and was designed to detect missile launches as far as from the Indian Ocean. The radar's surveillance covers Iran, Turkey, India, Iraq and the entire Middle East. It allows not only detection of the launch of a missile but also to track the whole of its trajectory so as to enable a ballistic missile defense system to intercept an offensive strike. The Radar Station hosts about 1000 Russian servicemen.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan negotiated the terms of the lease and in 2002 the two countries signed an agreement according to which Russia leased the station from Azerbaijan until 2012 for $7 million per year.[2]
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The Daryal-type radar is a bistatic phased-array early warning radar. It consists of two separate large phased-array antennas separated by around 500 metres (1,640 ft) to 1.5 kilometres (4,921 ft). The transmitter array is 30x40 m (98x131 ft) and the receiver is 80x80 m (262x252 ft) in size. The system is a VHF system operating at a wavelength of 1.5 to 2 meters (150 to 200 MHz). Its initial transmit capacity was 50 MW with a target capacity of 350 MW.[1]
Originally, at least seven Daryal facilities were planned, however, only the first two facilities completed, Pechora and Qabala, remained as of 2002.[3] Two Daryal-U type were to be built at sites in Balkhash and Mishelevka, Irkutsk, neither were completed. The Clinton administration offered financial assistance in completing the Mishelevka facility in exchange for amending the ABM treaty to allow US deployment of a national missile defense system.[4] Two Daryal-UM systems were to be constructed at in Skrunda, Latvia and Mukachevo, Ukraine. The Mukachevo in the Ukraine was never completed after the fall of the Soviet Union and the Skrunda facility was turned over to Latvia to be demolished.[3] The Yeniseysk (Krasnoyarsk) Daryal-U site caused concern in the west over compliance with the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty during its construction in the 1980s. Following years of negotiations, in September 1989 the Soviets admitted it was a violation of the treaty, construction ceased and the facility was eventually dismantled.[5]
During the 33rd G8 summit in Germany on June 7–8, 2007, Russian president Vladimir Putin made an offer to deploy elements of an American anti-ballistic missile system in Azerbaijan, instead of Poland (see US missile defense complex in Poland) and the Czech Republic, using the Qabala Radar Station jointly with Russia. This offer came after the debate about the U.S. plan to deploy anti-ballistic missile system components in Eastern Europe to defend against possible ballistic missile attacks from Iran and North Korea. The plan met with sharp criticism by Russia which threatened to target Europe with its own ballistic missiles despite US claims that the system was not designed to defend against a large scale Russian attack. The Qabala radar is used as a sensor for the A-135 ABM system which Russia has operated in Europe, near Moscow, since the 1970s.
In the beginning of July 2007 the US announced that the Qabala installation was not an acceptable substitute for the Poland and Czech Republic sites.[6]
There were reports about environmental damage from the activity of Qabala Radar Station [7] which sparked some public debate in Azerbaijan. Similar health concerns were raised about American PAVE PAWS phased array radars, but as of 2005 available data did not support those concerns.[8]
In the Azeri newspaper The Mirror, it was stated that the station is about 210 hectares and 30 hectares - the garbage dump in it. Another 400 hectares of forest were cut down while laying transmission lines to service the station. Underground water level has fallen sharply after it was drilled 16 boreholes to supply water to the cooling system of electronic equipment of the station. Every hour of cooling station requires about 300-400 cubic meters of water, after which the water without any treatment is discharged into a river. Because of falling groundwater surrounding forests are dying. Many species of fish in the river disappeared. The local population continues to use water from the river [6].
The newspaper "The Mirror " reports that in 1984, when the power supply 300 MW of one hectare of land was completely burnt out [6]. In other instances of sources of ignition for trees on the radiation meter range is not described, such fires do not occur when operating a similar radars in Pechora and comparable to the power of the Don-2N radar station in the suburbs.