P-19 radar

P-19 Radar

In Togliatti Technical Museum
Country of origin	Soviet Union
Introduced	1974
Type	Surveillance/Target Acquisition
Frequency	UHF
Range	260 km
Azimuth	360 degrees
Power	900 kW

The P-19 "Danube" (Russian: "Дунай") 1RL134 (also referred to by the NATO reporting name "Flat Face B" in the west) is a 2D UHF radar developed and operated by the former Soviet Union. The radar was also known by the name "Renata" in Poland and "Dunai" in the former German Democratic Republic.

The P-15 radar was upgraded to the point where it received a new designation, the P-19 "Danube". This new radar completed state trials and was accepted into service with the Soviet Air Defence Forces from 1974. The P-19 like the previous P-15 was designed to detect aircraft flying at low altitude and came to be associated with the S-125 "Neva" anti-aircraft system (NATO reporting name SA-3 "Goa"). The P-19 featured new electronics compared with the previous P-15 including a new magnetron transmitter. The P-19 is still in service today and was widely exported; many companies offer upgrade options to improve the performance and reliability of the radar and to replace out-dated components although the P-19 has been superseded by the newer Kasta series of radars.

The P-19 shares many of the physical features of the previous P-15 radar, the P-19 is a high mobility radar and with the antenna mounted on the single truck (Zil-131) with the electronic equipment contained in a second truck. The P-19 uses two open frame elliptical parabolic antenna accomplishing both transmission and reception, each antenna being fed by a single antenna feed in a similar fashion to the P-15. The radar can rapidly shift its frequency to one of four pre-set frequencies to avoid active interference with passive interference being removed by a coherent doppler filter. Azimuth was determined by mechanical scanning with an associated accompanying PRV-11 (NATO reporting name "Side Net") used to determine elevation. A secondary radar for IFF is generally used in conjunction with the P-15, generally the 1L22 "Parol". The armed forces of the Czech Republic described the P-19 as having "outstanding mechanical parameters, simple maintenance, overall reliability and multifunctionality". This evaluation was mirrored by a French evaluation of a radar captured in Chad in 1987 during the Chadian–Libyan conflict, describing the P-19 as sturdy, with good low altitude detection and high resistance to countermeasures.