Vietnam will buy the Belarus-made surveillance radar Vostok E able to detect Chinese stealth fighter

Before the J-20, China's first stealth fighter, enters service with the PLA Air Force, Vietnam will purchase the Vostok E 2-Dimensional Metric Band Surveillance Radar from Belarus with the ability to detect and attack stealth aircraft, reports the Military Analysis based in Moscow.

Developed by KB Radar based in Belarus, the Vostok E VHF band radar is a replacement to the P-18 radar system during the Soviet era. KB Radar claims the Vostok E radar is able to detect stealth fighters such as the US F-117A Nighthawk from 74 kilometers nautical miles away in a jammed environment. In an unjammed environment, the distance can be increased to 350 kilometers.

With a unique wideband "Kharchenko" square ring element radiator arranged in a diamond lattice pattern, the Vostok E radar is designed to improve its frequency agility against earlier generation stealth fighters. Even when facing more advanced stealth aircraft like the F-22, the Vostok E can detect targets from 57 kilometers away and shoot them down with the S-300 SAM. It is a new design to challenge the aerial domination of American stealth aircraft.

However, Vietnam will probably become the first nation to use the radar system in an asymmetric warfare strategy against stealth fighters from China including the J-20 and J-31 over the disputed South China Sea. Military Analysis said Belarus has agreed to sell about 20 Vostok E radar systems to Vietnam, as well as send advisers to train Vietnamese operators to use the hardware.