Ukraine’s newest reconnaissance ship set sail

Ukraine’s newest reconnaissance ship set sail

Ukrainian Navy new intelligence collection ship, commonly known as Lagoon-project, departed its Odesa base August 28 for testing.

This was reported by Defence Blog citing Dumskaya.

The Lagoon military intelligence collection ship is a new addition to the Ukrainian Navy and will join reconnaissance missions in the Black Sea region to monitor Russian military activities.

The new ship is armed with cutting-edge spy tech, the Melkhior shipboard Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) system and carries various detection equipment on board. The Melkhior is the main part of the new spy ship that will use a passive radiolocation technique focusing on the radiofrequency analysis of reflected signals signature for transmitters or operators.

The unique radar can operate over ranges up to 450 km, which is a lot farther than the radio horizon range. This is achieved due to the use of the effect of super-refraction – the bending of the radar beam in passing through layers of air of varying density. The effect of super-refraction is to increase the bending of the radar wave and thus increase the range from which echoes may be returned.

The length of the ship is 55 meters and a displacement of 1220 tons. Range 7200 miles, autonomy 28 days.

Ukraine’s newest reconnaissance ship set sail Photo by Sergiy Smolentsev / Dumskaya