MOSCOW. Dec 21 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister/Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov will take part in the official ceremony of fielding the new commercial-of-the-shelf (COTS) missile attack warning radar in the village of Lekhtusi outside St. Petersburg.
Russian Defense Ministry Public Information Officer Sergei Rybakov told Interfax-AVN that Ivanov was to pay a working visit to the Leningrad Military District on Thursday.
"Ivanov plans to visit one of the Space Forces facilities outside Leningrad and take part in opening a block of flats for families of servicemen, constructed within the framework of the "15+15" program," Rybakov said.
The visit also envisions for Ivanov to take part in official celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Russian basketball.
During a previous visit to the Lekhtusi facility early in the year Ivanov said that COST radars, built in north-western and southern Russia, considerably boosted the combat potential of the missile attack early warning system.
"New radars in northern and southern Russia will provide for early warning of all missile launches, including ICBMs, theatre and cruise missiles," he noted.
According to him, the new radar, deployed outside St. Petersburg, will allow Russia to restore the radar shield, which suffered a blow when the Russian radar outside the Latvian village of Skrunda was shut down.
Ivanov said that the COTS radar outside Lekhtusi had cost about 2 billion Russian rubles ($76 million).