Hello, comrades!

Every military pilot knows how important it is to detect the enemy first — it often decides the course of the entire engagement.

Radars have radically changed the nature of aerial combat — with early detection, there are significantly more opportunities to intercept. If you examine the radar equipment at the end of World War II and that used in the Korean War, you can see the significant progress made in such a short period of time, spanning only 6 years.

It should be noted that it was a transitional period in the history of air defense radars: the equipment was becoming more compact, new energy capabilities became available, new types of antennas were being developed, three-coordinate observation stations began to operate, but at the same time, perhaps, the main qualitative leap — the transition to pulse-Doppler radars — had not yet been made. This step was still ahead, and at that time, all radars could detect targets only against the background of the sky and were also highly vulnerable to various kinds of interference.

This situation made the air battles in Korea truly unique and interesting. All these nuances increased the number of aerial interceptions, but still made it possible to approach the target stealthily without the use of stealth systems, which came much later, utilizing knowledge, piloting skills, and the country’s mountainous terrain.

A total of 5 models of radar stations are recreated in the project "Korea. IL2 Series." The "red" side will utilize a typical 1950s radar station, the P-8 "Volga," which included two mast antenna devices: a two-coordinate observation antenna and an IFF antenna. Despite its archaic look, this radar was new — it was adopted for service in 1950 and could detect a bomber-type target up to 150 kilometers away. Importantly, this radar had good mobility, requiring only two 5-ton trucks for transportation.

The second model of radar used by the "red" side is the P-20 "Periscope." This is already a 3-axis radar, with the antenna post installed on a single chassis. This design solution was used for a long time with various subsequent Soviet radars. The station is capable of providing not only direction and range, but also target altitude. The detection range of a bomber-type target is up to 200 kilometers. Interestingly, the P-20 was adopted into service almost simultaneously with the P-8, another indication of the rapid progress in this field at the time.

The first of the American radar stations in our simulator is the AN/TPS-1C, which was adopted back in 1944. Despite its age at the time of the Korean War, it was a highly successful model that underwent numerous modifications. It was compact, allowing for quick deployment or repositioning, and had a detection range of up to 300 km for bomber-type targets. Since this radar was a two-axis one (it could not determine the target altitude), it was often paired with the AN/CPS-4 height-finding radar.

The second radar of the "blue" side is AN/CPS-1. This was also a World War II design, first used in England in early 1944, and proved effective against small-sized targets such as V-1 rockets. This was made possible by the use of the new, at the time, centimeter radio band, which significantly increased the radar’s resolution. At the same time, the station was two-axis and also required a separate height-finding radar to determine altitude.

The third American radar station was the stationary AN/CPS-6B, which also operated in the centimeter band and was already three-axis, allowing it to determine the target’s height quickly. Commissioned in 1945, it had a detection range of up to 270 kilometers. Such radars were often mounted on specially designed towers, which greatly increased the observed space near the horizon. After all, it was still not a pulse-Doppler radar, and trees, buildings, and other obstacles made it very difficult to detect targets whose projections were near these obstacles. All this made the radar extremely stationary, as it required a team of 25 people to operate a large number of trucks to transport it to another location.

At the end of today’s Dev Blog, we want to reveal a little bit about how the player will interact with these radars, as it is obvious that they will play a crucial role. The player will be able to communicate with the radar stations, receive target information, determine their location, obtain a vector to the nearest airfield, and more. There are also thoughts on how to implement the influence of the radar envelope on the AI-controlled aircraft. Later, in the Dev Blogs about the player interface and radio exchange, we will explain exactly how this interaction will take place.

We’ve already covered a lot of AI-controlled military hardware, but there are more: blue side armored cars, searchlights, ships, and much more. And that’s not to mention aviation itself, to which we’re devoting far more attention, resources, and time than anything else.

Subscribe to our channels, we will show you many more interesting things: YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, X, and Discord. Stay in touch!