The 28-meter tall concrete tower of the NATO radar station has been completed in Medina, Tolna County. According to plans, the radar equipment will be installed in the complex in August, the Ministry of Defence told Hungarian News Agency MTI.

1,166 cubic meters of concrete and 205 tons of concrete steel are used for the complete construction of the radar tower and the service facility. The total cost of the project is HUF 1.05 billion, of which the cost of building the ferroconcrete structure amounts to HUF 360 million, the MoD Press Office wrote. According to the press release, the construction of the truncated sphere, the so-called radome protecting the radar is to start in March 2013, and together with it, the height of the building will be over 45 meters, while the radar itself will be built into it in August. Earlier, the Ministry of Defence announced that instead of the currently operating Russian-made radar, the 3D equipment of the Italian company Selex Sistemi Integrati would be installed.

The deadline for handing over the complex is January 31, 2014. The new radar is scheduled to enter into service in April 2014, the Press Office stated. The Ministry of Defence informed MTI that with respect to the L-frequency band used in the decimeter wavelength, the acquisition range of the radar to be installed at the Medina location is confidential data, but with respect to the S band used in the medium range, it significantly exceeds the 270-300 kilometer acquisition range of the currently operated P-37M Russian acquisition radar.  The press release states that the existing radar types, however, cannot be compared with the devices to be installed because only the old radar systems can be compared with the new ones replacing them. The 3D radar station in Medina will be the third element in the air surveillance system of Hungary, the other two 3D radar stations are operated in Bánkút and Békéscsaba.

The Ministry has confirmed that the three radar stations would be augmented with mobile radars in special situations. Due to the terrain features of the Transdanubian region, Medina will be the base of a mobile radar group, the Press Office of the Ministry of Defence wrote.

(MTI/MoD Press Office)