How Ukraine armed the U.S. against Iran

24 November, 2008, 10:37

Ukraine has provided the U.S. military with radar used in the S-300 air defence system. The Pentagon is concerned that Iran could acquire the Russian-produced hardware and wants to research ways of counteracting it.

The S-300 is a long-range air defence system developed by the Soviet Union in late 1970s. Armed forces of several ex-Warsaw bloc countries including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus as well as NATO members Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Greece use the system. Part of this system is the 36D6 surveillance radar (or according to the NATO disambiguation – “Tin Shield”) that performs initial identification and tracking of aerial targets at a range of up to 360 km.

Ukraine’s state arms exporter Ukrspetsexport supplied one such radar at the Pentagon’s request, reports Kommersant-Ukraine daily, citing an insider. The requested item was a modification of the 36D6 Tin Shield, which is produced locally in the city of Zaporozhye. No official comment by the company followed.

Military experts believe the American military may have taken interest in the radar after Iranian Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar announced last year that the Islamic nation could buy S-300 systems from Russia.