The Kiev regime wants short-range radars to shield energy facilities during the winter season and factories where they want to build their own weapons from airstrikes, as per Politico.
What is Sentinel?
Sentinel is an X-Band 360-degree phased array air defense radar with a 75 km (46-mile) range conducting constant surveillance to detect, track and identify unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), cruise missiles, planes, and helicopters.
"Sentinel is just a highly mobile radar for searching for aerodynamic targets: drones, cruise missiles, aircraft," Dmitry Stefanovich, security analyst and researcher at the Moscow-based Institute of World Economy and International Relations with the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), told Sputnik. "And, as far as one can judge, it is very tightly integrated, for example, with the NASAMS system. And, accordingly, the number of those radar stations that Ukraine already possess is gradually diminishing. They are trying to replace them with something. […] Plus, it is possible that they want to add an additional layer for detecting Geran [UAVs] and cruise missiles in order to cover a larger number of objects."
While the US media has not yet detailed the requested equipment's specifications, one can assume that the variant in question is the AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel, similar to those destroyed by the Russian military in Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict, per Western reports.
The radars work as part of a missile defense system and could be integrated with a wide array of weapons including National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) Surface Launched Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), and other Short- and Very Short-Range Air Defense (SHORAD/VSHORAD) equipment.
What Challenges Do Sentinel Radars Pose to Russian Military?
The challenges posed by Sentinel radars do not differ much from those already faced by the Russian military in the conflict zone, per the expert. Given that Russia has detected and destroyed these radars before, it already has experience in how to work with this sort of target. Nonetheless, the scholar admits that suppressing air defenses is no walk in the park, and the advancing side can also face losses on the battlefield.
At the same time, one should never underestimate one's adversary, per Stefanovich. He gave some kudos to the Ukrainian military who assembled a "fairly simple but high-quality integration of all systems" from legacy equipment of different origin and "scrap materials."
No doubt, this system works not as good as a unified defense complex, but still it works, the Sputnik interlocutor said, adding that nevertheless Russia is routinely knocking out building blocks of Ukraine's air defenses.
'Battle of Sword and Shield Will Go On'
"We must use anti-radar missiles, we must identify them in advance, with the help of electronic warfare and electronic reconnaissance," explained Stefanovich. "The entire Ukrainian conflict has once again demonstrated that, with the right approach, ground-based air defense is a very difficult opponent for any, no matter how large, aircraft. Moreover, the Russian air defense seems to demonstrate the same thing. So there are no secrets or magic wands here. It is necessary to carry out operations to suppress and destroy layered air defense."
One should bear in mind that the attacking side always has an advantage, continued the scholar: the Russian military can overwhelm Ukrainian air defense systems with drones, false targets, etc. in order to penetrate it then.
"That is, the more forces and means, decoys, and missiles fly in the direction of an object that is covered, including using Sentinel radar stations, the more difficult the task for the defenders," he noted.
In short, the battle of sword and shield will continue in Ukraine, with Sentinels incapable of changing the established status quo in the conflict zone after the profound failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Stefanovich concluded.